1. Metacognition: Helping learners to self-regulate

2. Introduction
The purpose of this material is guide you through some of the key areas of metacognition:
Thinking about the thinking
Learning how to learn
Becoming a self-regulating learner

3. Rationale and Overview
Learning intentions
Know what metacognition means
Know why it’s worth doing (for teachers and pupils)
Know where it fits with curriculum goals
Know how to start using it
In educational terms, metacognition is a cognitive skill of directing thinking, built up over time by making use of pedagogical approaches that develop pupils’ habits of self-reflection.

4. What is Metacognition? Cognitive monitoring
Having strategic control of thinking
Understanding thinking strategies in general
Becoming aware of your own thinking strategies
Evaluating your own thinking strategies
Planning and thinking in more skilful ways
See Swartz and McGuinness, Developing and Assessing Thinking Skills Project: Final Report Part 1 (February 2014, page 12), available from:

5. Evidence Base for Metacognition
Education Endowment Foundation: Teaching and Learning Toolkit
Metacognitive strategies can advance pupils' progress by up to 8 months
Metacognition is one of the key educational strategies that lead to real benefits for pupils. There is good evidence for this assertion.

6. Benefits Makes learning deeper and more secure
Makes transfer to new situations more likely
Has the potential to motivate pupils
Pupils shift towards a growth mindset
Builds habits of self-regulation
Builds independence
Prepares pupils for lifelong learning
The benefits here follow the sequence of developing skill in metacognition.
As pupils are led to reflect on what they did in order to master a new piece of information, they begin to consolidate their learning, making it more likely to be retained and reused in similar situations. By recognising where they can reapply existing knowledge, pupils build a repertoire of strategies to use when facing new challenges.
Confidence in coping when presented with novel applications can be motivating, both in terms of a growing sense of self-efficacy, and in the stimulation of moving on to new territory. As learners increasingly recognise that their developing knowledge and skills result in greater mastery of subject content, they are more likely to adopt a growth mindset, recognising the rewards of effort and practise.
All of these experiences encourage habits of self-regulation, such as resilience, perseverance and tolerance of ambiguity. Improving their ability to self-regulate and manage emotions is necessary if pupils are to achieve the kind of independence necessary for them to engage in lifelong learning.

7. Fit with Curriculum Metacognition is central to the
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities Framework

8. Metacognition and TS&PCs

9. Encouraging Pupils to Think
When Planning
While Working
When Evaluating
How am I going to do it?
Is it similar to anything I’ve done before?
Is it one of those?
Do I understand it so far?
Do I need to ask a question?
Am I on the right track?
Am I still on task?
Is there a better way?
How did I do it?
What worked?
What did I learn?
Did my plan work out?
Can I learn from my mistakes?
What can I do better next time?

10. EU Key Competencies
Metacognition and the European Union Key Competencies Learning to learn is the ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organise one’s own learning, including through effective management of time and information, both individually and in groups. (European Commission, 2007) Learning to learn: what is it and can it be measured?
Metacognition in the sense of learning to learn is also referenced in the EU documentation about education.

11. Teaching Using Metacognition
Metacognition will support pupils' progress if you:
use effective questions to check understanding
don't assume that pupils will think reflectively without prompting
take time to explicitly teach
how to plan
how to evaluate
how to manage time on a task
Metacognition refers to a pupil’s ability to understand the learning and thinking processes, how they think and learn. It helps them to develop the positive habits, dispositions and attitudes necessary to take control of their own learning.

12. Using Metacognition: What's Involved?
Encourage pupils to do the kind of planning and evaluation that you want them to use.
Don't assume classes already know how to:
follow routines
make notes
use diagrams or sketches
ask questions
manage their time
meet deadlines
Developing skill in these areas is cyclical. Repeat them again and again to build pupils’ independence.
It may seem that many of the suggestions that follow are already recognisable parts of standard classroom practice.
The purpose of repeating them here is to emphasise that pupils will build habits of skilful metacognitive thinking through regular and repeated adoption of reflective strategies.
The shift is to use the pedagogical measures in formative ways to check that pupils are successfully assimilating subject content and at the same time recognising how they are incorporating the new information into their stock of knowledge.

13. Asking Better Questions
Plan and frame at least some of your questions in advance.
Ask yourself:
What do I want my pupils to learn?
How do I want them to learn it?
How will I know if they have learned it?
Many of the suggested actions will be readily recognisable, such as effective questioning, formulating learning intentions and introducing pupils to success criteria.

14. Different Ways of Planning
Demonstrate different ways of planning to pupils, such as:
storyboards
mind maps
writing frames
bullet point lists
notes
sketches
flow charts
breaking a task down into smaller sub-tasks
giving them success criteria in subject language
Planning activity
Use the suggestions in this slide to customise an approach to planning for an activity that you do with your classes.
Pause session and complete Planning activity here

15. Time Management Make sure classes are familiar with:
how much time to allow for an activity
anticipating what might cause delays or bottlenecks
keeping an eye on time and when to hurry up
spotting when something is causing difficulty
spotting when attention is drifting or being distracted
sticking to deadlines
Note that managing time tends to start with the teacher acting as the timekeeper.
Over several rounds of completing assignments in class time, train classes to develop good habits of keeping track of time, until pupils are used to pacing themselves.
Be consistent in enforcing deadlines. It is helpful if there is a whole-school approach to deadlines that backs you up if you refuse to accept late work.

16. Checking Work in Progress
Ask pupils to report what stage they've reached, and how they got there
Ask another group to comment on similar or different experiences
Set a format for a project diary with comments including:
screenshots
vocabulary notes
records of sources/URLs
product comparisons
rough drafts
prototypes
feedback comments from ‘critical friends’
As for planning, most of these approaches start by being led by the teacher, with the aim that over several rounds of completing assignments, classes gradually internalise the routines.
Use the suggestions in this slide to plan a format checking pupils’ work in progress, and apply it to activities from your scheme of work.
Pause session and do WIP activity here

17. Pause session and do Debrief activity here
Debrief/Reviewing
Set clear learning intentions and success criteria for the activity
Prepare key questions in advance
Prepare examples that illustrate what you want pupils to produce
Prompt pupils to develop their own effective questions to use
Use thinking frames to reflect on different stages in the work
Use routines of displaying and discussing pupil work
Run end-of-topic debrief sessions to draw out the learning
Build familiarity with thinking language to discuss how things went
Use the suggestions in this slide to plan a debrief session for an activity that you do with your classes.
Pause session and do Debrief activity here

18. Summary
Metacognition is widely recognised in many high-performing systems
Shift in emphasis away from transmission model of knowledge
Not about ‘covering’ content of the subject curriculum
Linked with pedagogy that helps pupils master subject content
Helps pupils to assimilate knowledge and skills
Suggestions need to be adapted to your own teaching practice

19. CCEA Resources These are available on the CCEA website.
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities for Key Stages 1 & 2
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities for Key Stage 3
Assessment for Learning for Key Stages 1 & 2
Assessment for Learning for Key Stage 3
Thinking Cards
TS&PC Unit 6 – Metacognition: Thinking about Thinking and Learning

20. Links Metacognition: an overview Metacognition: Designing for Transfer
Synthesizing Metacognitive Interventions
Metacognition in Primary Classrooms
Developing Metacognition: ERIC Digest
Metacognition: Study Strategies, Monitoring, and Motivation