In September 2020, when we were still grappling with the challenges of the pandemic, we recognised inconsistencies in our pupils’ learning. They were struggling to retain knowledge in some subjects more than in others. We turned to focus on metacognition, drawing upon insights from the EEF’s ‘Metacognition and Self-regulation guidance report’, to address the issue.
Designing an evidence-informed curriculum
We began by focusing upon the cognitive science of learning and ensuring that every teacher understood how long-term memories are made and strengthened. Professional development focused on all teachers establishing a clear understanding of a model of memory, whilst also reflection upon the implications for curriculum design of John Dunlosky’s Strengthening The Student Toolbox, and John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory.
Engaging with evidence to inform our thinking on curriculum design helped to develop the following active ingredients for curriculum design across our schools:
- Schema building. Careful thought is given to how schema build, with the right amount of essential knowledge identified, prioritised, and sequenced systematically, deliberately building upon prior learning.
- Spacing content. Opportunities in the short, medium, and long term for retrieval to strengthen memory.
- Organising key concepts with repetition in mind. Developed through planned repeated encounters of key concepts and ‘big ideas’.
Helping pupils make sense of a challenging curriculum
Following on from our work on curriculum, the next question on our implementation journey was:
How do we take this well-designed, evidence-informed curriculum and enact it in a way that really does secure long-term retention of knowledge for our pupils?
That was when we integrated metacognitive strategies to inform teaching of our curriculum. Each school in the Trust implemented strategies to fit their context, whilst maintaining fidelity to the evidence.
We went about explicitly teaching metacognitive strategies so that pupils could successfully grapple with challenging curriculum content. For example, at Dane Bank Primary, implementation of metacognitive processes started with zooming in on key steps within the seven-step model from [Recommendation 2 of the Metacognition and self-regulation guidance report]:
Step four of the 7‑step model provides the opportunity for teachers to check whether pupils have understood what has been taught: the ‘memorisation of the strategy’. At this stage in a learning sequence, teachers focus pupils’ attention onto the essential knowledge and consider what is most important for pupils to remember and how they might remember it (including how it links to what pupils already know).
They refer to this as anchoring the pupil’s learning and create an ‘Anchor sheet’ to represent this knowledge (a mixture of visuals, key words, short phrases).
Anchor sheets then support teachers to ask deliberate questions that support pupils to reflect on their learning and what they will do differently next time they are faced with a similar learning challenge. This stage is prioritised by teachers who recognise that a significant part of the metacognitive process is that future learning behaviours adapt because of pupils’ ability to monitor and evaluate the success of their learning.
At the beginning of the next lesson within the sequence, teachers use anchor sheets to activate prior knowledge using a range of retrieval strategies, including teaching pupils to employ the powerful, self-testing strategy using the anchor sheet resources.
Metacognitive strategies and remembering more
The implementation of this approach has been closely monitored by the school, enabling leaders to evaluate the impact. What we have seen is that this approach to learning is now embedded practice. Most importantly, pupils’ retention of knowledge has improved. This has been shown through pre- and post- unit assessments, along with pupil voice approaches.
Recently, I asked a group of Year 5 pupils the question:
‘What helps you to be successful learners?’
One pupil commented:
‘We use these anchor sheets; the teacher makes it really clear what we have to learn and focuses on it so well that we really do learn it. I remember so much more now than I used to…it’s like the teacher is magic.’
As we near the end of our third year of implementing metacognition and self-regulation strategies as a Trust, we are beginning to reap the benefits of embedding metacognition into our everyday practice. It has involved shrinking the focus and being explicit around our expectations for teacher and pupil behaviours, but ultimately it is making a difference for all learners and so remains at the heart of our vision for teaching and learning.