#11 - Making the Difference

Welcome back to the weekly newsletter that provides support to schools and anyone else working with children and young people, to help learners become 'metacognition' ready. In adult life, it's metacognition that allows us to analyse decisions we've made in order to assess whether they will lead us to the results we want in life. The kind of life that each of us experiences has, in the main, resulted from the cumulative effect of all the decisions we made along the way.

Metacognition is therefore a vital skill for reaching our goals and having a purposeful life, so the sooner we learn how, the better. You can see the benefit of being able to think metacognitively in school, where you have the ability to rummage around in your own head to work out whether the way you are tackling a learning task is the best way to do it. Will it lead to the result you're looking for?

Unfortunately, only the most capable students are able to think in this way. They have developed metacognition naturally and use it, often without being aware, to improve their learning and to make academic progress in school. These students transition relatively smoothly into higher education and cope with the demands of independent study, because they know how to think for themselves. But, what about the rest?

We have been considering ways to ensure that all those other students, who appear on the surface to be academically less able, are able to develop the metacognitive abilities that will allow them to rise above expectations. They are not helped if we spoon feed them information in order to make it 'easier', and we are doing them a great dis-service by not allowing them the opportunity to 'grow' by teaching them how to think differently.

Having a whole school approach to metacognition ensures that we don't put a ceiling on what students can achieve. Just look at the difference it made to one student who was struggling and not expected to do well in exams.

“Since working with Liz my teachers have noticed a real difference in my performance in class. I’m confident to answer questions and I’ve gone up at least 2-3 grades in my topic tests. My GCSE exam no longer scares me and I’m confident I can get at least a grade 5 or 6 which I’m really happy about as last year I was only getting 2-3’s on my tests.?I enjoy my sessions with Liz and she explains things in a really easy to understand way”.

That experience backs up and even surpasses the statement from the 2018 Education Endowment Foundation report that metacognition was able to provide a 7month advance in student progress. This student's actual exam results were even higher than expected as she gained levels 6 or 7 in all her subjects. Notice that she made progress across them all. That was down to the fact that she started to believe in herself, finally understood the learning process, and appreciated her own role in it!

Now, this student received one to one tuition to support her progress, but the same principles can be applied across the board for a whole school approach. I have previously covered how to kickstart the development of metacognition through some minor changes that can have a massive impact. (See Issues #1 -#10) Much of the guidance you will come across in relation to metacognition, presumes that your learners are mentally and emotionally ready to start questioning their own thoughts. But are they?

Without preparation, many students will be as confused by the addition of that questioning process as they are by other experiences in the classroom. So, if you want to make a real difference, and embed strategies that supports the progress of all students not just the most able, do think carefully about how you are going to transform learning in your school. Think in terms of 'developing' metacognition in your learners before you consider expecting them to 'use' it.

Achieving that is my speciality, so if you want support with that next term, please get in touch. I am planning a series of events in the Autumn term for all those who can make a big difference to the preparedness of students for 'metacognition'. There will be free webinars (where I will share a valuable information about getting started as well as providing Q&A opportunities), plus paid workshops for those who want more advice about putting it into practice, again with a Q&A feature.

In the meantime, I will continue to support you through this newsletter. See you next time!