As teachers, we often see the difference between pupils who simply complete a task and those who can explain how they approached it. When a pupil says, ‘I checked my answer by working through it step-by-step,’ they’re demonstrating metacognition, awareness, and control of their own learning process. These moments show the importance of helping pupils to develop the habits that enable them to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning more independently.
Metacognition and self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances. hold much promise, with the self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances.?x‑craft-live-preview=85ccaa7868c407c92f058116b3de5b5976de9443114965113e0e777704ddeb22nsrwpqtaqi”>EEF teaching and learning toolkit giving an average impact of eight additional months’ progress. Yet achieving this impact in practice is not always straightforward.
The research evidence suggests that studies with higher numbers of disadvantaged pupils had a high impact. This is a promising area of practice to work towards closing the disadvantage gap.
Why an update?
The first version of this guidance, launched in 2021, remains one of EEF’s most popular resources. Its key messages remain. This update places a sharper focus on the role of the teacher, with new and important emphasis on the strategies that teachers can use to support pupils to develop their metacognition and self-regulated learning.
What’s new?
This refreshed guide offers greater clarity and concrete examples of the different strategies that teachers can use including:
- Examples of effective metacognitive strategies which can be explicitly taught, modelled, and scaffolded to help pupils use them with increasing independence such as activating prior knowledge and thinking aloud.
- Using metacognitive talk through question prompts, structured around knowledge of task, strategies, and self, for example asking, “What strategies are needed here, why?”
- Setting the right level of challenge using the principle of ‘least help first’ through prompting, clueing, modelling so that pupils gradually learn to self-scaffold.
The seven recommendations from the guidance show how effective practices go hand-in-hand with effective implementation carefully guided by school leaders.
Reflection questions
- How well do teachers in your school understand metacognition and self-regulated learning?
- How often are pupils supported to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning
Next steps:
- Explore the updated guidance with your senior teams.
- Look at and share the new tools that help teachers to:
The following tools are available to support classroom use — follow the links to view each one:
- Select one strategy to trial, evaluate its impact, and build from there.