Moving into sixth form or further education brings a subtle but important change for students. After years of being told what to learn, when to revise and often how to approach a task, young people are suddenly expected to take far greater responsibility for themselves.
We tell students to revise effectively, organise their workload and become independent learners. The problem is that we sometimes assume they already know how.
This is where metacognition in post-16 education becomes particularly valuable.
Teaching Students to Think About Their Thinking
Metacognition sounds rather academic, but the principle is straightforward. It involves learners planning how they will approach something, monitoring how well their chosen strategy is working and evaluating what they could do differently next time.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recently explored its importance for 16 to 19 learners at an EEF-Gatsby conference attended by more than 100 college leaders, teachers and education professionals.
The EEF notes that evidence for metacognition is already strong among younger learners, with emerging evidence suggesting it can also be effective for 16 to 19-year-olds.
Read more in the EEF article on why metacognition matters for 16 to 19 learners.
Independence Needs to Be Taught
This is perhaps where metacognition becomes particularly relevant in further education.
At 16, students may be embarking on A Levels, T Levels, vocational qualifications or GCSE resits. Each route brings different expectations, yet all require learners to take increasing responsibility for their progress.
Simply telling a student to “revise more” offers little help if they don’t know which revision methods work for them or how to recognise gaps in their understanding.
Metacognitive teaching makes that thinking visible.
A teacher might ask:
- What strategy are you going to use?
- Have you tackled something similar before?
- Is your current approach working?
- What could you change?
- What could you do differently next time?
Over time, students begin asking those questions themselves.
What Does Metacognition Look Like in FE?
One useful aspect of the EEF discussion is its focus on practical application rather than abstract theory.
In a T Level mechanical engineering lesson, for example, students working on quality control might be asked to consider their strategy before beginning. As they explain their ideas, the teacher can question why they structured an explanation in a particular way and encourage comparisons with approaches taken by other students.
Metacognition can also support GCSE English resits, writing, construction and exam preparation. Teachers might model their thinking aloud while tackling a problem or help students deconstruct exam questions before deciding how to answer them.
These are small changes to teaching rather than entirely new activities.
Confidence Matters Too
There is another reason metacognition deserves attention with this age group.
The EEF highlights its relationship with self-regulation and motivation. For students who have previously struggled academically, particularly those facing GCSE resits, beliefs about their own ability can become a barrier.
Learning how to identify a problem, select another strategy and try again gives students something more useful than simply being told to work harder.
Preparing Learners for What Comes Next
The goal of post-16 education extends beyond passing the next examination or completing a qualification.
Students are preparing for university, apprenticeships, employment and adult life, where someone will not always be standing beside them explaining the next step.
Helping 16 to 19-year-olds understand how they learn gives them a toolkit they can carry into whatever comes next. Independence, after all, doesn’t suddenly arrive on a student’s sixteenth birthday. Like most worthwhile skills, it needs to be taught, practised and gradually handed over.
