METACOGNITION
Plan, monitor, evaluate
Explicitly teaching pupils to plan, check and review their own learning averages +8 months. Teachers model it by thinking aloud through a problem.
Compare approachesWHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Small habits,
months of progress.
Some of the best-evidenced teaching costs almost nothing.
Compare approaches
+8 MONTHSfor learning to learn
The Education Endowment Foundation's Teaching and Learning Toolkit sums up research as months of extra progress over a school year. Its highest-value approaches are about how teachers talk, model and respond, not new kit.
At a glance
- Show your thinking
- Say what's right, too
- Link home to class
- Evidence, not fashion
+8 months
Extra progress from teaching how to learn
The EEF rates it high impact for very low cost, but warns it can be difficult to realise in practice: teachers need support to teach the strategies explicitly.
METACOGNITION · EEF
−2 months
Progress compared with similar pupils
Negative effects are rare in education research, the EEF says, so this is striking. It is also very high cost and likely to increase educational inequality.
REPEATING A YEAR · EEF
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
The best and
the worst value.
Both figures are averages over a school year,
from the EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit.
The Toolkit's 'months of progress' compares children who received an approach with similar children who did not. It is an average across studies, so the EEF also rates the cost and how secure the evidence is.
A QUICK EVIDENCE CHECK
How much does
it add?
Pick an approach to see the EEF Toolkit's average impact. The bar shows the size of the effect, from negative to high.
Figures are averages from the EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit. Individual studies vary widely, and the strength of evidence differs between approaches.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Teach the how,
not just the what.
Average extra progress over a year,
compared with similar pupils who did not get the approach.
FEEDBACK
Specific, and when it's right
Feedback averages +6 months. It works best when it says how to improve, and when it also tells pupils what they got right. Verbal feedback averages +7.
What good feedback is
HOMEWORK
Quality over quantity
Homework averages +5 months at secondary and +3 at primary. It works best linked to class work, with feedback, and is not used as a punishment.
See the numbers
FOUR THINGS TO TRY
In class
or at the kitchen table.
These come straight from the Toolkit's key findings. Most cost nothing but a change in how adults talk about work.
Think out loud
Talk through how you would plan an answer or break down a maths problem, so the learner hears the steps.
Say what's right and why
Feedback should give specific information on how to improve, and point out what was done well, with an explanation.
Plan, check, review
Before a task, ask how they will tackle it; during it, how it is going; after it, what worked.
Make homework count
Link it to what was taught in class, explain its purpose, give feedback, and never use it as a penalty.
WHAT GOOD FEEDBACK IS
About the task,
not the person.
The EEF defines feedback as information about a learner's performance against learning goals. It can be about the task, the process, the learner's self-regulation, or about them as a person, which tends to be the least effective.
Feedback can work during, straight after or some time after learning, and from teachers, peers or technology. Impacts are highest from teachers; digital feedback averages a slightly smaller +4 months. Some studies show feedback can make things worse.
Questions
Questions people ask
What does 'months of progress' mean?
It is the EEF's measure of the average additional progress made over a year by pupils who received an approach, compared with similar pupils who did not.
What is metacognition?
The EEF describes it as a learner's ability to be aware of, reflect on and direct their thinking. Teaching it means showing pupils strategies to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning.
Is written marking the best kind of feedback?
Not necessarily. The EEF says feedback should not be limited to written marking: verbal feedback shows slightly higher impacts overall (+7 months), and marking workload should be monitored.
Does homework help primary school children?
On average a little: the EEF reports +3 months at primary against +5 months at secondary, with very limited evidence overall. Quality matters more than quantity.
Does repeating a year help a pupil catch up?
On average no. The EEF finds about two months' less progress than similar pupils, with greater negative effects for disadvantaged pupils and those who are young for their year.
Sources
Where the facts come from
ABOUT THIS NAME
doodleteach.com could be yours.
doodleteach.com is part of the DoodleSale portfolio. Check the current listing and available purchase or lease options.