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What are the misconceptions around

metacognition and self-regulated learning?
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Published on December 18, 2019

Susannah Schoeffel 1 article Follow

Parent at The Pregnancy Pause

At Evidence for Learning, and with the support of our UK colleagues at the Education Endowment
Foundation, we are proud to have released four Guidance Reports in 2019. Each has been written for school
leaders and teachers, based on global evidence and tailored for Australian schools.

Our most recent Guidance Report [i] unpacks the practical side of metacognition and self-regulated learning – we
would love to hear what you think about it – you’ll find it here. Through the provision of seven evidence-based
recommendations, we hope that schools will be able to drive improvements in student outcomes.

The Guidance Report explores what these terms (metacognition and self-regulation) actually mean, what they look like,
and misconceptions which may get in the way of these translating to the classroom.

What do the recommendations say?

1. Teachers should acquire the professional understanding and skills to develop their students’ metacognitive
knowledge

2. Explicitly teach students metacognitive strategies, including how to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning

3. Model your own thinking to help students develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills

4. Set an appropriate level of challenge to develop students’ self-regulation and metacognition

5. Promote and develop metacognitive talk in the classroom

6. Explicitly teach students how to organise and effectively manage their learning independently

7. Schools should support teachers to develop knowledge of these approaches and expect them to be applied
appropriately.

You can read about these, and examples to support them, in the full report. For now, let’s dive into the misconceptions.

Misconception 1: Metacognition is only developed in older students

Even the youngest students can learn and demonstrate metacognitive skills, but it may require us as educators to
broaden our view of what this looks like. Typical examples draw from the middle years of schooling, where the
research is most prevalent, and so recognising age-appropriate expressions can take time. A student in Year 7, for
example, is likely to have a greater repertoire of strategies than a student in Foundation – but the Foundation student
has learnt to, and is able to, set goals for them self.[ii]

Misconception 2: Metacognition is a general skill that can be separated from subject knowledge

Metacognition is specific to the task being undertaken and stronger where learners are more confident with the content.
While we can describe metacognitive skills generically, putting them into practice requires subject knowledge which
can influence how the strategy is applied. A reading comprehension strategy employed for investigating a scientific
report, will not be effective if the student has no background or understanding of the concepts within the report or the
language of that style of report.[iii]

The clue is in the word: without cognition, there is no metacognition.[i]

Misconception 3: Metacognition represents ‘higher order’ thinking and is therefore more important than mere
cognition or subject knowledge

For simplicity, or in order to prioritise activities, some have tried to express metacognition as a higher order task,
specifically with reference to cognitive activities. To see the greatest impact, we should look to develop metacognition
and cognition concurrently. This plays out in a Year 10 English class, where students are drafting essays on
Shakespeare. The students employ strategies they have in order to plan the essay (metacognition), and their
understanding of Shakespeare’s plays, language and social context to bring meaning to the essay (cognition or subject
knowledge).

Misconception 4: You can easily teach metacognitive knowledge and strategies in discrete ‘thinking skills’ lessons

While it is important that metacognition is taught explicitly, there isn’t strong evidence to suggest that this is effective
when implemented as dedicated ‘thinking skills’ lessons. Within the regular learning program, students should be
supported to draw on their suite of strategies and employ those most appropriate to the challenge. While they may look
similar from task-to-task, and subject-to-subject, students should be given suitable scaffolding to transfer these
strategies to new contexts. It is likely that as a student develops and has greater experience to draw on, they will be able
to do this with increasing independence.

Unpacking misconceptions is a useful part of building a shared understanding of any concept or practice in your school.
Ensuring everyone is ‘singing from the same songbook’, as it were, is a precondition for success when implementing
any change.

In 2020, we will be supporting a number of schools to explore metacognition and self-regulation through the Guidance
Report. Through this partnership, we will be developing new resources to support the implementation of this work.
We’ll also be developing other Guidance Reports on high-priority topics. If your school is experiencing success in
building students’ metacognition and self-regulation, or if you are starting out on this journey and using this Guidance
Report to inform your thinking, I’d love to hear from you.

[i] Evidence for Learning (2019) Metacognition and self‑regulated learning, Sydney: Evidence for Learning

[ii] Whitebread, D. & Coltman, P. (2010). ‘Aspects of pedagogy supporting metacognition and self-regulation in
mathematical learning of young children: evidence from an observational study’, ZDM Mathematics Education, 42 (2),
163–178 link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11858-009-0233-1

[iii] Willingham, D. and Lovette, G. (2014). ‘Can Reading Comprehension be taught?’, Teachers College Record.
Accessible online: danielwillingham.com/uploads/5/0/0/7/5007325/willingham&lovette_2014_
can_reading_comprehension_be_taught_.pdf

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Published by
Susannah Schoeffel 1 article Follow
Parent at The Pregnancy Pause
Published • 1y

Introducing our latest Guidance Report - Metacognition and self-regulated learning. Read more here about the recommendations and misconceptions!
#metacognition #selfregulation #evidencebasedpractice #evidenceinformed #research #latest #christmasreadinglist

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Susannah Schoeffel
Parent at The Pregnancy Pause

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