Metacognition in a secondary school : the development of a collaborative and iterative professional development programme

Abstract

RESEARCH QUESTIONS: 1. What do teachers currently believe and do that is considered to foster students’ metacognition? 2. How might teachers conduct a collaborative inquiry into building capacity for developing metacognition in their students? 3. What recommendations can be made about a Professional Development framework that is collaborative, meaningful and sustainable?

ABSTRACT: There is a growing body of evidence in support of explicit metacognition instruction as a means of supporting the learning and development of secondary school students. The common appreciation for the value of metacognition is not reflected in practice, however, and there exists a need for professional development programmes to support teachers in explicitly bringing this into the classroom.

A review of the literature identified the aspects of professional development that are most likely to promote meaningful and sustainable changes in practice. This theory was used to inform the development of a professional development programme for eight participant teachers from a co-educational Auckland secondary school, justified by the influence that individual teachers have on student outcomes.

Qualitative data from focus groups, semi-structured interviews, an online document, and questionnaires, were gathered on the experience of these participants as they inquired into fostering their students' metacognitive capacity over a period of two and a half school terms.

The results indicate that a critical, collaborative inquiry is an effective means of shifting assumptions, beliefs, and practices of teachers over time, however this does not occur uniformly. Providing encouragement for autonomy and support, together with opportunities to synthesise research and models of best practice, empowers teachers to enact changes and challenge assumptions.

Whilst the developed programme was focused on fostering metacognition, a distillation of the research findings confirmed that teachers benefit from explicitly developing their own metacognitive awareness regardless of the context of the professional development which they are undertaking, reinforcing the value of a lifelong learner disposition.