This study employs a qualitative descriptive–analytical approach and an analytical–inductive method to examine the barriers that impede the development of critical thinking in Iranian schools and to explore how these challenges can be transformed into pedagogical opportunities. The research is driven by two central questions: (1) What are the primary barriers to critical thinking in schools? and (2) How can these barriers be converted into opportunities for fostering critical thinking? Data were collected through content analysis of national educational policy documents (laws, regulations, and directives) and a systematic review of prior studies. In the first phase, open and axial coding produced initial concepts, which were then categorized into four types of barriers—structural, cultural, content-related, and procedural. Logical inference from theoretical and empirical sources was used to analyze teachers’ instructional paradigms and to formulate the study’s foundational premises. In the second phase, strategies for converting each barrier into an opportunity were designed around two key mechanisms: “positional shift,” aimed at reengineering static educational structures, and “groundwork,” focused on creating a supportive ecosystem to strengthen critical thinking. Proposed interventions include redefining assessment frameworks, developing inquiry-based workshops, establishing Socratic dialogue spaces, and integrating real-world problems into the curriculum. The findings reveal that the identified barriers are not intrinsic but rather products of modifiable structures. By simultaneously applying repositioning (process redesign) and enabling (environment creation), these challenges become levers for educational transformation, ultimately nurturing students who, with a researcher’s mindset, critically examine their own thinking and that of others.