The degree of satisfaction of student teachers with the optimal investment project for educational cadres (critical thinking program as a model)

          The present study aimed to identify the degree of students' satisfaction with the optimal investment project for educational cadres (critical thinking program) and the difficulties that students face while joining it. To achieve the objectives of the study, a tool for determining the degree of students' satisfaction with the critical thinking program was built by the researchers. This tool consisted of (18) phrases distributed in two dimensions, one of which deals with the degree of students' satisfaction with the academic aspects of the program, and the second-dimension deals with the degree of students' satisfaction with the program implementation. Also, a tool was prepared to detect the difficulties faced by students during their enrollment in the program. The study tools were applied to the sample of the study (167) male and female teachers enrolled in the Critical Thinking Program: The Optimal Investment of Teaching Personnel who were chosen randomly. The results of the study showed that the degree of students' satisfaction with the critical thinking program was high, and there were no statistically significant differences in the average degree of students' satisfaction with the critical thinking program as a whole according to the demographic variables of the study. There are statistically significant differences in the degree of students' satisfaction with the implementation of the critical thinking program that relate to specialization. In this regard, the satisfaction of social studies was higher than that of Islamic studies students, and at the regional level, the degree of satisfaction of students in universities in the eastern region was higher than that of students in universities in the western region, as the study showed. The study revealed that the most significant difficulties faced by the students enrolled in the program were the large number of courses in the one semester, and the failure to unload the teachers enrolled in the program. The study suggested some recommendations, including the expansion of attracting teachers to optimal investment programs - Critical Thinking Diploma - through incentives as well as financial and moral benefits that help teachers join the program.