LEARNING TO LEARN
LEARNING
Towards self-regulated learning
Mark Beverley Director of Institute of Teaching & Learning
It feels somewhat self-evident to state that a core aim in education is to foster the capacity of young people for self-efficacy. In part this means developing knowledge of subject disciplines in a way that can be independently applied, but it also requires understanding of how to learn. The Education Endowment Foundation’ s Teaching and Learning Toolkit, published in 2011, makes recommendations of the most effective teaching and learning practices – based on extensive literature reviews. At the top of its list, with an impact score of 8 months of additional progress, comes Feedback. In close second, however, with an impact score of 7 months progress, are‘ Metacognition and self-regulation’, which are said to have‘ high impact for very low cost, based on extensive evidence.’( Education Endowment Foundation, 2022).
This might sound promising, but of course it is important to make accurate sense of this evidence and consider the most effective ways in which its implications can be implemented. Feedback, for example, can have negative impact, as well as positive, and Dylan Wiliam’ s work on formative assessment has in been misrepresented over time- a victim of‘ lethal mutation’- so that in some contexts it has come to signify almost the opposite of what was intended( Christodoulou, 2017).
One issue relates to how we define, and therefore understand, the language in which effective and ineffective practice are described. It is not uncommon for the terms‘ metacognition’,‘ self-regulation’ and‘ self-regulated learning’ to be used interchangeably, for example, which does not particularly help us to consider their implications in a way that attends closely to the evidence. In their recent book, Fear is the Mind
Killer, Mannion and McAllister separate the terms in the following way:
Metacognition is monitoring and controlling your thought processes; self-regulation is monitoring and controlling your feelings and behaviours; and self-regulated learning is the application of metacognition and self-regulation to learning( Mannion and McAllister, 2020).
This helpful definition takes account of the importance of emotion and more affective features of learning, in addition to cognition. How students feel about themselves and about others can make a significant difference to how well they learn, and coming to understand this relationship is an important step towards self-regulated learning.
If we agree on the meaning of these different terms, the next step of course is to consider how and where their implications could be realised practically. One way is to make use of where there is flexibility in the taught curriculum. The various non-examined courses we teach at Sevenoaks – including Society and Change in Year 7, Critical Thinking in years 9-11 and the PSHE programme provide ample opportunity for interrogation of the different ways in which we think about ourselves and the world. Some strands of this programme develop critical thinking and cognition, whilst others focus more on elements of wellbeing and ways in which our feelings can be more clearly understood. This means encouraging the development of self-awareness, as well as personal responsibility, along with thoughtful exploration of the ways in which both personal and social values are adopted. As a result, students are made more conscious of themselves and the world in a metacognitive sense, as well as more able to regulate their thoughts and feelings.
Activity that supports the development of self-regulated learning also happens through the Middle School Diploma. At intervals, students are asked to reflect on ways in which their learning has developed through years 9-11 and to consider choices they might make that will improve learning outcomes in the future.
However, although this works well for some, the reflective tendency does not come naturally for many, and needs to be taught. To ascertain ways in which this might happen most effectively, we undertook a smallscale research project through the course of this year. It was designed to elicit reflection on meaning and purpose in education, as well as investigate how far particular interventions might encourage reflective habits and a more self-regulated approach to independent learning. Students in various Year 9 tutor groups were given a base line questionnaire that asked for responses to questions such as‘ What do you think the purpose of education is? How would you define the middle school
16