#80 Journey's End

Happy New Year Everyone!

At the end of last year, I was sharing with you my very personal backstory that explains how I came to specialise specifically in ‘metacognition’. In part one, we looked at my own school background which left me with no qualifications, and feeling rubbish about myself, (as many school leavers still do nowadays), but how I was able to turn that around to gain a degree in Combined Sciences and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education. As proud as I was of my achievements at that point, I still found it hard to believe that I had become a teacher.

The second part looked back over two decades in education, where I gained a range of skills both from direct experience in the classroom, as well as through various leadership roles. Over that same time period I also took advantage of several extensive training opportunities, all of which supported my goal to improve teaching and learning in the classroom, so as to enhance the student experience. Eventually, I reached a crossroads as many of us do, where I had to make a decision about what came next.

That last account finished with the moment when Learning Pockets UK was born as the vehicle through which I could provide consultation and training. One thing was missing though, and that was my desire to have an impact directly on learners who needed it most. I therefore offered my services to schools as an independent Success Coach and very quickly became oversubscribed. There was a sense of relief that somebody was willing to take on the students they were most concerned about and actually make a difference.

To support progress, I adapted a range of materials that I’d created over many years for myself and other school staff, including some commissioned by a group of headteachers for support materials to help students through times of transition. I wanted to use concepts that would affect the learners thought processes, so that they could take responsibility for their own progress rather than being dependent on others.

As I worked day in day out, with the struggling students that schools were desperate to help, it slowly dawned on me that although they all had different underlying problems, the solution was the same in every instance. They didn’t need yet another person trying to unpick whatever issue they were facing, they needed the confidence to move forwards from where they were now, in order to change their relationship with learning.

That required helping students to change the way they were thinking about their own abilities and the educational opportunities on offer to them. Over time I discovered which materials worked every time for every learner, and in what order the concepts needed to be introduced in order to have the most impact. I finally grouped the worksheets together as the ‘Learner Success Pathway’ (LSP), and have used it ever since to help students get back on track.

During this same time period, I found that my conversations with staff about the remarkable progress that some students were making as a result of the LSP, kept including the word metacognition. We all began to realise that’s what I was doing, helping these learners to analyse their thought processes and to change the way they were thinking in order to achieve more purposeful results.

Each of those students began to believe in their own ability to engage successfully with learning activities, as well as having a greater understanding of ‘how’ to learn through active participation. If you’re interested in reading some of those success stories , you might enjoy ‘The A-Z of Supporting Learner Achievement’, which is free to download from my website at www.lizkeable.com

During the pandemic I started training school staff to deliver the LSP on a one-to-one basis in-house, to build their capacity to support students in need of help. With growing demands on SEND and Pupil Premium budgets, it makes more sense to cover one lump sum for support staff to receive the intensive training, and subsequent license to reproduce the materials, than to pay me throughout the year to be in school for one day a week. Just get in touch if that sounds like something you’d like to take advantage of at; [email protected]

Over the last few years, I have spoken at conferences, delivered webinars, guested on podcasts, done radio interviews, provided training for parents and school staff, and written articles and newsletters, all for the purpose of spreading the word about the importance of metacognition. Without it, no-one can learn effectively in formal educational settings. The way a learner needs to think in order to make academic progress is very different from our natural inclination to learn through personal experience.

The only problem is; if you formalise the metacognition process itself, you will lose the very students you most want to help. Join me next time, to learn more about how to successfully develop metacognition in the learners you care about!

Take care till then.

Warm regards

Liz