Module 4
Metacognition, thinking skills
and whole-school
improvement
Module aim
• Understand the concept of developing a wholeschool approach to using metacognition and
thinking skills as effective pedagogy to deliver
whole-school improvement.
2
Module objectives
• Discuss the importance of effective pedagogy.
• Consolidate knowledge regarding metacognition
and thinking skills.
• Explore ideas for practice that have the potential
to contribute to the development and
implementation of a whole-school approach to
metacognition and thinking skills.
3
Recap
• Metacognition is . . .
Corporate
slide
master
• Thinking skills are . . .
With guidelines for corporate presentations
4
Metacognition is . . .
Thinking about your own thinking.
• Reflection – appreciating what we know/prior
knowledge.
• Self-regulation, managing learning and the
application of previous knowledge/experience to
a new learning situation.
5
Thinking skills are . . .
•
•
Making connections, within and across texts,
within and across themes and across a range
of personal experiences.
Gaining deeper understanding and making
reasoned judgements to achieve improved
learning.
6
Thinking skills in the context of PISA
Plan
Asking questions
Activating prior skills,
knowledge and
understanding
Gathering information
Develop
Generating and developing ideas Reviewing outcomes and
success criteria
Valuing errors and unexpected
Reviewing the
outcomes
process/method
Corporate slide
master
Entrepreneurial thinking
With guidelines for corporate
presentations
Thinking about cause and effect
Determining the
process/method and
strategy
Determining success
criteria
Deciding on a time scale
Reflect
and making inferences
Thinking logically and seeking
patterns
Evaluate own learning
and thinking
Linking and lateral
thinking
Researching context,
other precedents,
exemplar material and
applying it
Considering evidence,
information and ideas
Forming opinions and making
decisions
Monitoring progress
Deciding on a time scale
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Informed pedagogy
• How does our understanding of metacognition
and thinking skills inform pedagogy?
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Corporate slide master
Task
1:
With guidelines for corporate presentations
Effective
pedagogy
Effective pedagogy
• In your groups, think of as many words as you
can to define the term ‘effective pedagogy’.
10
Abilities
Knowledge
Pastoral
Teaching
skills
Academic
Standards
Skills
Personal/personal
and social
development of
learners
Challenging
Learning
dispositions
Methods of
teaching
Commitment
Creating the
learning
environment
Craft
knowledge
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Informed pedagogy
• What are the links between metacognition,
thinking skills and effective pedagogy?
• What is a whole-school approach?
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Whole-school approach
… an organisational approach with the aim
of integrating metacognition and thinking
skills within the ethos, culture, routine life
and core business of the school.
National Children’s Bureau, 2006
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Whole-school approach
involves:
• leadership, management and managing change
• policy development
• learning and teaching, curriculum planning and
resourcing
• school culture and environment
• giving children and young people a voice
• provision of support services for children and young
people
• staff continuing professional development (CPD) needs,
health and well-being
• partnerships with parents/carers and local communities
• assessing, recording and reporting the achievement of
children and young people.
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Corporate slide master
Task
2:
With guidelines for corporate presentations
The whole-school
approach
The whole-school approach
Watch the video clip where a teacher discusses
their experience of developing a whole-school
approach to metacognition and thinking skills.
• Identify three key aspects
that are important to you in
taking the whole-school
approach forward.
16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llu5w6S1nAM&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AngYsMofYzw&feature=youtu.be
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Reflecting upon current
practice
• What are you already doing?
• What needs to be done differently?
• What are the challenges?
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Professional learning
communities (PLCs)
A PLC is a group of practitioners working
together using a structured process of
enquiry to focus on a specific area of their
teaching to improve learner outcomes and so
raise school standards.
Welsh Government, 2011 (page 7)
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PLCs
• Building the school’s capacity to contribute to
continuous improvement.
• Supporting the Welsh Government in:
– improving standards of literacy
– improving standards of numeracy
– reducing the impact of poverty on educational
attainment.
Welsh Government, 2011
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Whole-school approach to
improvement
• Whole-school learning environment.
• Metacognition and thinking are explicit.
• Common language/learning strategies for
metacognition and thinking.
• Coherent and well-planned approach.
• Applied across primary and secondary
school.
Kestral Education, 2013
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Corporate slide master
Task 3:
With guidelines for corporate presentations
SWOT audit
SWOT analysis: audit of
current provision
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Corporate slide master
Task 4:
With guidelines for corporate presentations
Moving forward
The road ahead . . .
Action planning
• What actions need to be in place?
• Who needs to responsible for these actions?
• How can these actions be resourced?
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References
• Kestral Education (2013),Creating a Thinking
School. [Online]
www.thinkingschool.co.uk/
• National Children’s Bureau (2006), A wholeschool approach to Personal, Social and
Health Education and Citizenship. London:
NCB.
• Welsh Government (2011), Professional
Learning Communities. [Online]
http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publications/12
0112plcen.pdf
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Further reading
• DCELLS (2008), Framework for Children’s Learning for 3
to 7-year-olds in Wales. Cardiff: Welsh Assembly
Government.
• OECD (2009), PISA Take the Test: Sample Questions
from the OECD’s PISA Assessments. [Online]
www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisa2000/41943106.pdf
• OECD (2010), PISA 2009 at a Glance. [Online]
www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisa2006/41943106.pdf
• OECD (2012), A Guide To Using PISA as a Learning
Context. [Online]
http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/13915/1/120229pisabookleten.pdf
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