Critical thinking and working together are key skills for lifelong learning, but current assessment practices do not necessarily support their acquisition, given the instrumental attitudes to learning of many higher education students. A small-scale action research project was undertaken within the context of tutoring on a research module of an undergraduate early childhood studies course. This research module offered a fruitful context for an examination of the potential for collaboration to act as a catalyst for the development of critical thinking. The data are explored principally through the theoretical framework of critical thinking dispositions devised by Norris and Ennis (1989). (Contains 2 tables.)