Metacognition: Moving forward with new evidence

[Music] I'm delighted to introduce our latest episode of the Education Endowment Foundations Evidence Interaction Podcast where we explore all sorts of important topics to educators, from practice to policy and diving into the evidence. This episode is on the popular top of Metacognition and Self-Regulation and a bit more specifically we talk about the new updated E.F. Guadangepal which has been really popular already in the system. We get to hear first from Beverly Jennings, whose E.F. colleague who led the authorship of the update and also my co-host current settle. We're also listening to practitioners who are putting evidence into action, deploying Metacognition in classrooms with pupils and we'll speak to Tom Callhoon and Emily Smiton. We'll hear from how different ends of the country in different classrooms with different pupils of all ages how Metacognition is translating into powerful learning. So back to yourself, Corinne, my co-host, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why Metacognition is of interest? Thanks Alex. Well I'm delighted to be here, my first time co-hosting. I'm content and engagement specialist for teaching and learning here at E.F. 18 years teaching, many years working on teaching and learning after that and now here at E.F. My dream job. It's been really exciting to join E.F. And to really start to dig in into the Metacognition guidance and I think what's been particularly exciting this time is that real shift to looking at practical classroom application, looking at what strategies, what the evidence says and how we can use those in the classroom. Yeah that's great and I think we all know Metacognition can be quite a sophisticated topic and so we need to break it down. What exactly is it? What's it look like and sound like in the classroom? What are those practical strategies you've just talked about? So without further ado let's speak to our first guest and that's Beverly Jennings. Thanks Alex here. Hi my name is Beverly as you said and before I started at the E.F. I was a secondary English teacher for a couple of decades so lots of experience in schools and then I moved to the E.F two years ago and work as a programme manager so lots of work on the trials that we do and also on some of the themes and one of the themes that I've worked on most recently has been the Metacognition one with the update to the new guidance report. And we know a lot of people are interested there's been really great attention on the new guidance and the update but just to go beneath the surface a little bit can you tell us we've done a new recent evidence review and we know that the evidence is just shifted and changes there's a lot of research studies about Metacognition. Can you tell us about some of those changes and how it's impacted the new guidance report and why? Yes so the new evidence review has given us a lot more detail to work from really so it backed up the already strong finding that was on the E.F toolkit so that's still a very strong impact finding of overall an average plus eight months when using Metacognition strategies but also the new evidence review had a little bit ever shift in focus and looked specifically at the teaching strategies that we used so that we can then bring that to the guidance report and hopefully give lots and lots of practical ideas and examples about how teachers can bring Metacognition into their classrooms and support their pupils to improve their metacognitive skills so that has really helped us in the new guidance report to shift the focus so whilst none of the recommendations change they all remained the same from the previous guidance report we've changed some of the language we've got more details on the specific strategies we updated all the case studies vignettes and examples we've got new visuals and graphics and also some new explainer boxes as well so hopefully lots of practical guidance in their teachers. Yeah I think we know with Metacognition it can be quite a complex concept so having that practicality having those concrete examples is really important there is a real breadth to that guidance people know it's one of our most popular gun support there's lots in there what would you say are some of the key messages you'd like practitioners to take from the new guidance? Well I think the first thing that it's really important to understand is that Metacognition isn't sort of a standalone skill that can be taught separately and then applied to different subjects it really works best when it's tied in with good subject knowledge and when it's taught as part of the curriculum so to show that all our case studies and vignettes in their guidance report are embedded in kind of subject specific examples so there is one that's about organising and connecting ideas and that's shown through an example of creating a concept map in a year nine history lesson so thinking about ways of connecting social, economic and technological change through the use of a strategy that helps pupils to think through what's going on and connect those ideas together. The second key message I would say is that Metacognitive talk was really very well evidenced in the evidence review so we really wanted to bring that to the fore and all sorts of different types of talk in classrooms can support the development of Metacognitive skill but the talk has to be purposeful and guided by teachers so it's not just talk for talk safe but really well structured opportunities for talk so one of the new things in the updated guidance report actually is a self-talk continuum visual and so that shows that talk can move from one end of the continuum where a teacher is maybe modelling by thinking aloud something really really new to their pupils and then at the other end pupils are using the Metacognitive strategies independently and the talk is going on in their head and then on the continuum obviously there's lots of things that can support students to gradually move from one end to the other to the more independent end when they're able to use it. Examples of that kind of scaffolding of moving pupils along that continuum might be pupils talking to teachers, pupils talking to pupils with the teacher kind of suitably scaffolding those opportunities and again if I give an example from the guidance report we've got a little right up of a year for science lesson where pupils have been set the task of discussing whether materials are a solid liquid or gas and the teacher has provided a planning scaffold so really important to scaffold that Metacognitive strategy of planning some sentence status to help the pupils kind of monitor and evaluate what they're doing and there's some paired talk between pupils going on as well as some teacher to pupil talk so I think that's a really important thing to take away is the importance of that Metacognitive talk in lots of different ways in the classroom. Really well explained and actually I think it's one of those areas that can be tricky to implement because just the very nature of talk as every teacher knows you've got years of practice background knowing that it talk doesn't always go the way you expect and it can be you need to marshal it and carefully scaffold it and have clear roles and goals and I think Metacognitive talk for me is one of those areas that I need to like focus a bit more on to understand that I think I think for people reading the guidance that's a good one to properly spend your time on reflect upon it and then try and see what's that match in the classroom and I think those examples really help. I mean bring Corrin in so Corrin you're both co-hosts but also you've been part of developing some tools and resources for the Metacognitive guidance working with Beverly and the team so we know that implementing Metacognitive challenging just talking there about Metacognitive talk and how rich and powerful and impactful it can be but sometimes tricky to manage. What was some of the reflections about this challenge of implementation? I think what's been really interesting is having that what do we do about it that really clear what strategies can we use? So and of course how we build that as Beverly's already said into curriculum planning so we developed sort of three new tools as part of this guidance and of course the key one around Metacognitive talk was about how we promote that and previously there'd been some separate resources and we've pulled those into one resource so you can look at the key questions whether you are modelling that for the first time for students or you're structuring that in things like sentence stems as well but giving them key questions to help that planning monitoring and evaluating their thinking as they're working through different tasks. What tool do you think is going to be most helpful just kind of getting leaders thinking about implementing Metacognition in their schools? I think probably the most important tool is the new Metacognitive strategies so it gives a framework of strategies that we took directly from the evidence so these are evidence-based strategies that came through that framework that really we know support that Metacognitive development. So within that tool it's looking at different strategies that teachers can use in the classroom for different purposes as well and tied into that is the scaffolding tool that we've developed because what that really nicely exemplifies is how each of those strategies can be used in different ways so that those strategies can be scaffolded verbally so again teach a modelling they could be written scaffold as well and so it's sort of really developing different ways those strategies can be used because it's not just about one strategy being [BLANK_AUDIO] used in one way. So it's about how that strategy, so for example, think aloud can be used by the teacher themselves, by the pupil, in partners as well, and how they can use that in different ways to support those next steps towards independent learning. Yeah, that's a great example. And I think that point about the breadth of options here is a really important one. And it's both a challenge of implementation, but it's also why Metagonist can be really powerful because there's lots to go at. There's lots of implications, different recommendations, but making them concrete and translating them into people behaviors where they're reflecting, they're planning, they're better monitoring, they're learning. Actually, we know there's really sound evidence. If we get to that, it makes a real impact. So I think there's lots of, lots of scope, both in the guidance and the resources for people to really dig in and find useful insights. And, Beverly, I want to ask you a question. So given all your teaching experience and then you've got your really close to this guidance and like really getting digging into it and making updates, was there anything that stood out when you were writing it thinking, oh, this bit's good. I'd love to have applied this and this kind of really got me thinking about teaching and learning. Yeah, I think the purpose to the Metacognitive talk, I thought back to sometimes where I'd struggled with like you say getting discussions or group work or collaboration correctly. And I think having the knowledge of the Metacognitive skills that pupils need and thinking about how the talk task that you're setting can be working along that continuum of them, become more independent is a really great way to structure those talk opportunities when you're providing them. Yeah, one of the things that struck me with the guidance as well is that it takes things like talk and independence, but it really breaks it down into manageable steps and it really makes you think about scaffolding. And I think sometimes even for really experienced teachers, but particularly for new teachers, sometimes you just need that step-by-step approach and it can really, it seems small, but as you say, it just makes you think differently. It's kind of that knowledge can really transform practice. I think that's a nice point to end on in terms of there's so much in there for teachers and leaders to dig into. There's some complexity without doubt, but that knowledge can be really powerful and it can lead to impact in the classroom. So Beverly, thank you for your time, really appreciate it. Your time in the podcast and also all this work on the update, which has been so useful. Yeah, thanks Alex. I'm delighted to introduce our next to podcast guests, Tom Kohlhoon and Emily Smeaton. I'm going to ask you to talk a little bit about yourself and your backgrounds, Emily, can you introduce yourself first, please? Hello, everyone. So I'm Emily Smeaton. I'm director of North Yorkshire Co's research school and have been teaching about 20 years, predominantly early years in key stage one and really specialising small schools. And I'm also my other role is that I'm a lecturer at York St. John University within ITE, particularly specialising within medical vision and self-regulated learning. Hello, everybody. My name's Tom Kohlhoon. I'm director of summer set research school, which is based at the Blue School in Wells in summer set. Blue is a large comprehensive secondary school with 1,400 students and I'm also assistant head teacher there. I've been teaching 26 years, I think it is 12 or 13 as a senior leader. I'm also working with a group of schools across summer set called the summer set partnership. Okay, brilliant. Thank you both. And that's a lot of years practical experience and also really interesting perspectives on this topic, medical mission. So we've already heard a lot about the update to the guidance and there's not been a radical change in the evidence base, but there's been a bit of a new emphasis and we also recognised this is often a tricky area for teachers to make sense of. So I wanted to get you all take on it and this new emphasis on specific medical and active strategies and what they might look like in your classroom in your school just in real practical terms. Tom, can I start with you and just get your take on that? I think I really welcome this update, this updated version of the guidance in that yes, we're still referring to what the evidence suggests, but I like the way that you've got much more focus on practical actionable strategies to use in classrooms. What I really like for the from the from the new version is the call for reflection, pull out points there and all the vignettes and case studies are included within the guidance. So that really helps to bring what can be quite complex, quite messy, quite difficult to interpret guidance to life a little bit. I think it gives us permission in our classrooms to take time to not be, you know, to remember not to rush through content just because we have to because there's pressure to do that and to take time to really try to explicitly support children in whatever context to, you know, explicitly develop those metacognitive strategies. You know, I think the message that still comes through really loud and clear is around plan monitor evaluate. I think that still rings true and that's easy to pick up and understand. But it allows us, I think, space and time to consider our classroom context. You know, they're very different being metacognitive in year six. Drama is different to year 13 chemistry, isn't it? So, you know, I think this real focus on practical application really helps us in this in this new version. Yeah, thanks, Tom. I'm now intrigued by parallels and differences between year six drama and chemistry a few years later. Emily, can you offer your take, please? Yeah, I think picking up on what Tom was saying about the plan monitor and evaluate, I really kind of welcome that with the promoter metacognitive tool, but particularly how it's been kind of categorising to kind of knowledge of task, knowledge of strategy, knowledge of self. I think that really helps pick up areas that may be a little bit more trickier for some of our teachers than other areas and really kind of evaluate which knowledge of they perhaps more focus on and which they do less on. And the metacognitive strategies are totally again, agree with Tom that kind of it's really made it more explicit. I mean, we love that word with metacognitive, but it has those strategies. It's kind of really kind of categorising them explicit instruction, modelling scaffolding and helping again, teachers kind of get to grips with something that is quite it is quite nebulous. It is quite a big thing and quite an abstract concept in time. So yeah, I really welcome that. I think it's got clarity and I think those exemplifications really support our teachers as well. Thanks Emily. And I think what's really interesting that both of you mentioned was about being explicit with our learners when it comes to metacognition, which sort of leads me to this next question, which is thinking about that modelling particularly and how we model metacognition to our learners. What thinking are you sort of making visible to the pupils and what does that talk actually sound like in practice? Tom. So I think modelling and the think allows I think especially are about the expert in the room, the teacher, the adult looking to externalise or to reveal those that internal monologue you know that they were used readily. Once again, we're trying to be explicit in our thinking. We know that this is the stuff of good teaching. We know that good experience teachers do this quite naturally. But for those earlier in their career, those who are less experienced, less expert in this I suppose, this guidance helps us to try and bring that to life. When I see it done well in my school, in my context, I see teachers and teacher assistants importantly putting themselves in the place of a learner, facing a challenging task and saying things like, you know, if I was to do this or if I was to approach this particular challenge, I would start by. Do you know what? I think I've done something similar to this before. Perhaps we did this last week actually in the lesson previously. So can you remember, you'll be started in this particular way? So it's about revealing those inner thoughts, those processes as well as specific approaches or strategies. I totally agree with that. The think allow Tommy is one of my absolute go-to's. I'm a massive fan of thinking allowed and that modelling. And I think we all model definitely. That's absolutely our bread and butter of teaching, isn't it? But actually a really good think allow that really takes advantage of, you know, the gaps in the children's learning, their understanding, their meta cognitive strategies, is really can be quite tricky to plan. And I think, I know we're working at the moment with an evidence into action partnership that we've got with East Riding, with small schools and English Hub and looking at that more within writing, within the writing stage. And it's quite a tricky thing that thing allowed. But I love it, especially with my early years kind of doing it with, you know, really emphasising the planning, thinking about the tasks, thinking about the strategies. One thing we found really tricky though is strategies. It's really interesting, cognitive strategies thinking about what cognitive strategies for different subject domains. And actually, what they are. And it's really come to light teachers reflecting on actually if I'm going to support my pupils in controlling these strategies and choosing these strategies and knowing which one's going to be the best in evaluating them. As teachers, we've got to have a really good understanding in that thing cloud of what we're going to draw on, what they've known from previous, you know, what everything they know about those strategies. I find that really fascinating. Where it works well, Emily, is where it's carefully thought out and planned in advance. You okay? Experience, knowledgeable teachers can do this on the hoof, but it's definitely works best when it's been thought through considering the column misconceptions and pitfalls. The other bit I was going to add is what I've seen done really well here at the blue is where teachers intentionally model making mistakes or coming up against you know tricky situations and getting themselves unstuck and bringing that to life because again that's that's really common. It's it's nice for children to be able to see how that's done. And it normalises that doesn't it? So if they're struggling with something or struggling with a particular aspect it's absolutely normalising but equally demonstrating what do we do when we get stuck? What do we go to? What supports us? And that's really essential because some of our children, particularly our disadvantaged children, really really benefit from that explicit, comes back to that current again does that explicit making it really really clear. And sometimes I think it's easy for us to think we have, we've modeled that. But actually I think and think aloud really brings it to home and makes you when when it is planned and carefully thought out it really does bring it to home the bits that we might be missing. We've got this theme haven't we now developing about being explicit and of course it is it's about taking that journey and taking our learners to that point where they internalise that thinking and of course that starts with that modelling but really what we're aiming for that long journey is to shift to how they think, how they talk internally as they're working through different strategies and approaches you know shifting that responsibility from the teacher to the learner over time. So how do you scaffold those next steps? So moving from the modelling to that sort peer and self talk so it genuinely supports that meta cognition you know rather than just task completion at the time in the lesson. I think they need they definitely need like little prompts and things. I find the question prompts particularly from promoting meta cognit talk that we've got as a kind of additional resource. Having the prompting those questions first that we might have done a think aloud and we model it so all of our children are getting that really high quality modelling of that meta cognitive thinking and then it might be prompting using those questions that then prompts them to respond and for them to think but within kind of within our context of early years in key stage one it's a lot of modelling a lot of scaffolding and supporting and just slowing it down perhaps just really focusing on one element. One particular question like for example something like have you seen this task before modelling that and then getting them to do it and that takes time it needs to become part of your everyday practice you you part of just what you're doing so that the children start to pick it up as with anything we model they kind of start to pick it up but definitely that's scaffolding almost like kind of I do we do it together and then following that more independence you do. I think the you know with any scaffolding approach that thinking about fading principle thinking about carefully removing scaffolding over time you know consider to approach that rather than all model once and then over to you folks that to have a try you know I'm thinking about where it doesn't work so well you see things you know in terms of talk you see scenarios where a teacher might say to a class okay now discuss with a partner in some cases that'll work okay won't it and you know those with the skills in place the knowledge required will get away with being okay in that scenario but actually where a teacher can foresee that's discussion for some children maybe all of the children it might be it might be challenging they'll set it up with much more structure like Emily says with with prompt sheets and cards and sentence starters with you know connectives and so on all sorts of options there but again being conscious being well prepared setting up so that children know and understand exactly what the task requires and have some structure in place to get that quality taught going is is hugely important I was talking the other day to a teacher that was really struggling with this and saying I don't I can't get them to respond and them to think so we're saying things like like I wonder if or I've noticed so you're starting to kind of support them with that stem sentences again or a really good way of supporting that but it can take time for some of our children to become really metacognitive about themselves and it also is a classroom culture as well isn't it then being really honest about strengths weaknesses things of work things that haven't worked and again culture that classroom culture can take time to develop and but it's about consistency you've got it is not just a one hit one draw just do it in one subject you've got to just weave it throughout your practice your day-to-day bread and butter yeah thank you and one thing that Emily have noticed from both your responses is this mention of different subjects and those differences um I wanted it maybe a bit broader in terms of just the whole guidance but you mentioned earlier Emily about early writing and I wondered how you feel like metacognition specifically plays out there is there anything that you think well and if I think about developing early writers metacognition really foreground itself in this way yeah I think for those so we we've been really looking at developing oracy in that way and then thinking really carefully about what they're saying and where things are coming from where their vocabulary is coming from where their ideas are coming from and making those explicit links with strategies that support them with that we've been doing a lot on that and saying so where is this where where we got this word and actually identifying if there's a piece of vocabulary that's quite tricky what strategy will help us become more familiar with using this word should we really practice it and or really rehearse it and do stem sentences together for that day that really high quality speech and language that's involved in that like communication and language and of course it's it's overcrossed with those that executive functioning as well within early years within metacognition as well which is really interesting but I think it's all those were were really looking on the early stages of writing and planning and thinking where those ideas are coming from first and that modeling as well so it's it is really interesting within early years yeah and I think writing itself lend itself quite directly to that plan monitoring and evaluation doesn't mean you have to with any sort of developed writing you have to have processes and strategies in place and and you describe the nice one that monitoring your vocabulary use that's quite specific kind of thing to develop isn't it yeah and that planning I think really carefully considering what you're doing takes more time you know we obviously have the cognitive strategy of planning within writing but we have the metacognitive strategy of planning and I think the planning and then that monitoring with the children you know what can we think of really verbalising that modeling that and then the evaluation at the end and our younger children absolutely love that they really enjoy they thrive on it and we can also incorporate it into their play you know like plan the good old plan do review which would but just more struct more focused on that metacognitive knowledge of task strategies and self and really focusing it in on there yeah thank you and and if we fast forward Tom a few years later we get your reflections on kind of older students and specific subject strategies is there any example like new you read guidance or you think about metacognition and you jump to practices you know classrooms at your school yeah I think I think there are there are plenty and of course you get a vast array of different subjects and domains in secondary settings but the one that springs to mind for me because perhaps a little bit more left field is thinking about core PE because I'm a PE specialist by training we love taught maths and science recently but in core PE particularly in key stage 4 core PE using a kind of sport education kind of approach you often try and you know release responsibility for learning a progress a little bit more to the students you know as they get older and progress through the curriculum and I'm just thinking about you know where I've personally tried to try to develop slightly more structured metacognitive talk in core PE lessons you know recommendation 4 of course and I'm thinking about those kind of review moments sometimes even within a within a sort of a half time team talk kind of analysis moment thinking about an approach or a strategy that's been taken you know in the first half reviewing how that's gone looking for perhaps three three positive elements of the performance so far and looking for one one potential improvement or tweak or change we can make for the second half overall and I think that's that's better than saying gather together and have a chat about the first half isn't it I've I found it you know having done this for years before even getting to the task to be really clear on on roles within that within a team so even if it's a team of 4 or 5 or 6 you know being really clear about who's the manager you're setting it up at the start who's the sort of half time pundit you know doing the team talk doing the analysis and the review who's the on field captain looking to implement you know the approaches and the tactics that you're on you know live on in the moment where that's worth even better I think is where you I've got laminated cards for example with those prompts and those sentence stems and starter questions to develop that talk again rather than just leaving it to chance and hoping that someone will say something setting it up with explicit instructions guidance and role has really helped resting time you say about kind of having little prompt things we've done that before where we've put the prompt questions on lanyards and had them there or even you know put them around you white board so you constantly remind it as well isn't it about those just structuring it a little bit more yeah thank you and those words structure explicit high quality talk they seem to be the real themes like pretty three things and I think that's one of the the challenges of metacognition you know all the recommendations is it can if we're not careful be a bit of everything a bit of everything in the classroom actually there's a real focus that you've both displayed now my question is if a teacher wants to act on the the new guidance the updated metacognition guides next week what's one concrete change you'd be talking to them that they potentially might consider first Emily do you want to go first on that one okay um I would really really get them to look at their metacognitive regulation. I would be really getting them to kind of monitor and reflect and implement planning, monitoring and evaluation within their sessions or within the weekly sessions. And I think that's a really great go-to. You've got some prompt questions there, get you thinking. I think there is really quite easy to pick up can be applied in a range of settings and it's a really nice way to begin with metacognition. And then you can start on picking those more subject domains and the differences with ages specifying more for the needs of different learners. I personally would go to recommendation two and take the really practical model, the seven step model and recommend that teachers use that to consider how they plan the activities, the learning episodes within a lesson. That model isn't intended to be just all done and dusted within a one hour lesson. It can obviously be used over a series of lessons. But to think really carefully about activating prior knowledge moving first and then moving through those steps can be a really useful planning tool. I'd urge people to get their eyes on that and to make use of it. Brilliant, thank you. Thank you for the concise responses, but a bit more broadly across the podcast and for you, just your brilliant experience distilled in those answers. So yeah, big thank you, Emily. Big thank you, Tom. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. That was really great, Corrin, to hear from Beverly about the guidance update and also then to hear from Emily and to hear from Tom about those practical applications, children, young and old and it struck me that a lot of parallels but some differences age differences, subject differences, et cetera. What was the one thing that really struck you reflecting on those interviews? I think the one thing is is that common theme that very much came through of specific things, doing one thing and doing it really, really well because Metacognition has got such a broad set of concepts across it. So I really liked that idea of sort of shrinking the focus, do really clear modelling, really careful scaffolding, thinking about it really carefully from subject to subject and taking it from there. Yeah, really, it stands out for me, I think, with lots of recommendations in an area that's already quite vast, Metacognition self-regulation, your potential in picking a lot of teaching and learning, I really agree with that about shrinking the problem, focusing on something and kind of fit to all that implementation, knowledge that we're really conscious of of doing a few of things really well. I think to execute that, doing a few things well and doing Metacognition well, I think for me, what kind of stands out is it maybe it's implicit through everything that was said, but getting that shared understanding, do we think it's the same thing, even if it's planning writing or the seven step model or Metacognitive talk, what does that mean to teachers have a shared understanding, because I think this is one area where, if we're not careful, it runs away, and it's not quite the thing we started. The evidence is really strong that, you know, when you get that clarity and then you get that focus that you described, Metacognition can be really impactful, but that requires, I think, a bit of front up effort, getting on the same page, getting those priorities right and shrinking those, that focus, and really answering teachers' problems as well, but we've had lots of ways that that can happen. Really great to talk this all through and kind of here about your role in the process and for Beverly and practitioners who both using it in schools, but using it in partnerships with lots of other schools, and we know that Metacognition is really popular and people are always searching out more on that. So that's a nice finishing point, obviously for colleagues who've listened, and make sure you've subscribed to the evidence into action podcast and share it with all your friends, of course. But if you're wanting to know more about Metacognition, we'll be following up with future resources. We've got exciting plans around teaching and learning. So keep tuned into the podcast, sign up for the EF Newsletter, and we hope to hear from you in the future. Thank you very much. (gentle music)