#59 Beyond the Theory

Hi Everyone

When I first started this newsletter, metacognition was not quite the buzz word it is now. I had previously avoided using the term, because any mention of metacognition had to be accompanied by a full explanation of what on earth I was talking about. A few years ago however, I decided to grab the bull by the horns and jump into helping others recognise the priceless contribution that thinking in a metacognitive way has on learning.

Once the word was more widely recognised and schools were starting to look for information, I created a series of events each for; parents/carers, school leaders, teachers, and support staff to help them get to grips with metacognition in practice. Once those 12 training sessions were up and running, it was time to introduce this newsletter for those still looking for information to help them get to grips with the topic!

Initially I focused on helping school leaders to think about creating a whole-school plan for developing metacognition in their learners. I decided to purposefully avoid taking an academic approach, as there’s already plenty of theory available for you to read if that's your vibe. I confess to being personally passionate about research myself, and love the never ending trail of satisfaction when finding references in one paper that lead to more articles, and yet more research.

I have to stick to my purpose now though, which is to get all of that theory off the page, and channelled into classroom practice in a way that has a real impact on learners. I know that developing metacognition is a real gamechanger for students, so I can't in all good conscience continue to be fascinated by the theory without 'using' it to make a difference to the educational and life chances of children and young people.

My mission was obviously assisted by the publication of the guidance report by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) who recommended metacognition as one of the most effective ways to improve student progress. ‘Metacognition and Self-Regulated learning’ (2018, & 2021) became the go-to document for schools because they know that the content has been informed by research into evidence- based practices and so is a trusted source of information.

The report contains advice on the importance of children and young people having knowledge of; ‘how they learn, themselves as a learner, and strategies’.

It also stresses the importance of ‘modelling by the teacher’ as they ‘verbalise their own metacognitive thinking’.

The report mentions that ‘challenge’ is crucial ‘without overloading pupils’ cognitive processes’, and acknowledges the importance of using ‘classroom dialogue to develop metacognitive skills’.

It also emphatically states that; ‘metacognition shouldn’t be an extra task for teachers to do, but should be built into their teaching activities’.

If you’ve attended any of my training events, you’ll know that I’ve been addressing those complexities in detail for some time, particularly in relation to helping learners become more metacognition ready. For that reason I’ve widened out the purpose of this newsletter to incorporate support for parents/carers, teachers and support staff, who can all help prepare learners for the implementation of recommendations from the report, albeit in different settings.

It’s music to my ears to hear that more and more schools are building the development of metacognition into their improvement plans, and appointing individuals to take the lead on implementation. I hope that when the time comes, you’ll find my new book a really useful addition to your ‘how to’ collection. As you might have guessed, it focuses on practice rather than theory, looks very specifically at inclusive methods of input, and emphasises the importance of acknowledging what’s going on inside learners’ heads.

The not so good news is that publication isn’t until 2025, but in the meantime, I hope that you'll continue to find this newsletter helpful, and my heartfelt thanks go out to all of you who’ve taken the time to let me know how valuable you’ve found the content.

For me, developing metacognition in your learners is the closest you’ll come to an overarching solution to many of the issues facing educators today. It’s not a quick fix by any means, but attendance, behaviour, engagement, and deteriorating mental health are all related to what’s going on inside a learner’s head. If you can help to change their mindset, give them back some of the control they need in order to be successful, and support them to take greater responsibility for their own progress, the only way is up.

That sounds like a tall order, but you don’t have to make massive changes in order to kickstart improvement. I love that so many of my connections, followers and subscribers on Linked In, are as passionate as I am about making a real difference for learners in the current post pandemic climate. If that's you, then you're warmly invited to attend a one-off summer special event for those in education who are willing to invest 3 hours of their own time to learn more.

The live, on-line session; Classroom Practice That Support Metacognition takes place on Wed 30th Aug, 6.00pm - 9.00pm (BST) and will be a small group session costing only ￡97 per person, which is a massive reduction on the usual term-time price (of ￡197). Because this is an invitation only event, please e-mail me to register your interest at [email protected] Don’t wait too long, the first place has already been booked and paid for!

Take care till next time.

Warm regards

Liz