#117 Unlocking Potential with Metacognition

Hi Everyone

This issue provides further material from my contribution to the Professional Learning Pathway adopted by St Christopher’s School in Bahrain. I’m so grateful to Lauren Binnington for the privilege of working with a group of staff from the school to consider how developing metacognition in learners improves the results achieved in any classroom. I’m hoping that by sharing some of what they’re learning in this newsletter, you will feel inspired to make a difference too.

Last time, I covered how any conversation about metacognition has to start on the inside of a learner’s head. That’s where metacognition happens, and we know that whatever else a student brings with them mentally into a learning situation is the biggest influencing factor on what they can achieve. The sad thing is that even with a great teacher, no learner can ever hope to reach their true potential if they’re unable to use metacognition.

One dictionary definition of potential is; ‘capable of being, but not yet in existence’, so what can we do to release that capability and help it to emerge in every student? If we want to support significant improvements in the educational and life chances of ALL children and young people, we need to ensure that every one of them has the opportunity to develop metacognition.

Ordinary ‘cognition’, (a catch all word for the inherent mental skills required to gain knowledge, understand, and put to use what has been learned), is hugely helpful during the early years whilst children are absorbing information through their own experiences. It is however nowhere near sufficient once a child becomes involved in formal learning. They need the ability to reason on how they’re learning and feel comfortable with changing their approach when necessary.

Changing the way they think, does not come naturally to many learners and yet, they need to make a shift in their thought processes before they can start to learn effectively from being taught. Your most able learners have instinctively discovered metacognition without needing to name or identify it as a separate skill, so to be truly inclusive we also have to ‘naturalise’ it for everyone else through the classroom environment and the way that we teach.

If you read the previous issue, you will be aware that it included a range of responses from various educators, (in relation to the subject of metacognition), all of which contained at least a smidge of a misconception (and sometimes more than a smidge). Those excuses can sound very reasonable, making it easy to ignore how vitally important it is to ensure that every student learns how to think in a more metacognitive way. I hope therefore that the following section will help clear up some of those misconceptions.

Metacognition is not a resource that you as the teacher can use to support learning, because it’s a process that goes on inside students’ heads. Only THEY can use it to support their own learning, whilst what’s needed from you, is a teaching practice that encourages and supports the development of metacognition for all learners. The good news is, that there are plenty of tangible and effective ways of doing that.

You don’t need to use the word metacognition with students any more than you would refer them to their own cognitive abilities. Neither should it be introduced as ‘thinking about thinking’ which stems from using the Latin word ‘meta’, employed when something turns attention on itself. When John Flavell first created the word, he used the Greek word ‘meta’ which is used to denote a change in position, like going beyond or rising above. Metacognition therefore literally means ‘going beyond the learning’.

You do not need separate lessons in thinking, as metacognition can be developed in the classroom whilst delivering the curriculum. It needs to promote personal reflection on the part of each learner about their own thought processes in any given setting, it’s not the time for philosophical debate, which (although can be a good addition if you have the time) does not specifically build all the transferable skills required.

The challenge for us is that children and young people often face personal or general barriers to the development of metacognition. Just think for a moment about what percentage of your students might in fact be affected by the following;

? Physical or mental health problem

? General or specific learning difficulty

? Poverty or neglect within the home environment

? Previous trauma or poor educational experiences

? Autism or delayed development

? Disrupted education or being taken into care

? Lack of attachment or emotional support

Further to that, there are also some general barriers that can get in the way of students being able to develop their thinking further. Just consider some of these limitations on student progress;

? Many students attend school resentfully, because they ‘have to’

? They wait for the teacher to ‘educate’ them (passive learners)

? Some have a poor self-concept and feel unable or unworthy

? Others lack the motivation to find out what their potential is

? Some feel that everyone’s born talented or not, so there’s no point trying

? A percentage are naturally less resilient in the face of ‘challenge’

? Others habitually remain within their comfort zone in order to feel safe

Now, suddenly, the percentage of students unable to use metacognition effectively becomes quite high, explaining why so many schools find it difficult to improve their ‘results’ without training staff how to naturalise metacognition in the classroom for all learners. That begs the question then; how can a teacher cater effectively for ALL learners, wherever they’re starting from academically speaking?

The next issue will look at this dilemma, so make sure you join me by subscribing now or clicking the bell on my profile so that you don’t miss it.

Take care till then.