What the Toolkit says about metacognition and self-regulation takes the mystery out of it:<\/p>\n

‘Metacognition and self-regulation approaches (sometimes known as ‘learning to learn’ approaches) aim to help learners think about their own learning more explicitly. This is usually by teaching students specific strategies to set goals, and monitor and evaluate their own academic development. Self-regulation means managing one’s own motivation towards learning. The intention is often to give students a repertoire of strategies to choose from during learning activities.’<\/p>\n

The Toolkit goes on to indicate what a teacher might consider when devising teaching strategies that improve students’ metacognition and self-regulation. For example:<\/p>\n

‘Teaching how to monitor: Have you asked students to consider where the task might go wrong? Have you asked the students to identify the key steps for keeping the task on track?’<\/p>\n