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Supporting Self-regulation
Julian Grenier, director at East London Research School, on the impact of Covid-19 on young pupils’ self-regulation skills.
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In this blog, Dr Jo Castelino, a Science teacher based in West Yorkshire, applies her passion for evidence-informed strategies to home learning.
Homework has always been my sticking point in teaching. Often, it was set as an afterthought, and the tasks themselves didn’t do enough to help my pupils consolidate their learning. However, during lockdown, I was forced to think about it very carefully, as remote learning is essentially an extended period of homework.
But unlike homework, we had no periods of face-to-face teaching in between tasks during lockdown. Several of my lower-attaining pupils struggled with the work during remote learning, and have returned to school feeling less confident.
We know that secondary pupils can really benefit from good homework, and in our current climate of blended teaching, I think it will be particularly important to provide pupils with self-regulated learning strategies to work independently. If I can support them to develop these in lessons, they will do better when they’re at home.
What makes effective homework?
In Science, pupils have to answer questions where they draw together knowledge from a range of topics, and usually feel overwhelmed. For example, in a question on photosynthesis, pupils could be asked about cell structure, plant tissues or abiotic and biotic factors, all of which are taught in different topics.
For homework, I’ve been providing my pupils with opportunities to practice these types of questions, together with plenty of retrieval of key facts, so they’ll have the pre-requisite knowledge, and confidence, required to tackle them.
How do I help my pupils be more successful at homework?
Research implies that my more disadvantaged pupils are less likely to use effective metacognitive strategies when they find homework challenging, presenting particular challenges for blended learning. While I can provide support during lessons, it becomes harder to motivate pupils when they are at home.
Here are some strategies I’ve been using to support my pupils’ independent and self-regulated study:
1) Design high-quality homework
I think carefully about how I can build pupils’ knowledge and confidence through homework.
2) Create and consistently implement routines around homework completion
A good study environment is distraction-free, with relevant resources close at hand, which I know will be a struggle for some of my pupils. I try to help them regulate any factors that are within their control and support them to mitigate others. For instance:
3) Provide resources and explicitly teach pupils how to access them while they’re with me
I use lesson time to help pupils develop the skills and strategies they’ll need when working independently. For example:
4) Get pupils to reflect on their homework
I help pupils reflect on the strategies that work well in different circumstances, such as:
Impact of self-regulated learning on homework standard and completion
By following these strategies, I hope that my pupils will have more confidence to work independently and will be better able to seek help when tasks are challenging, particularly when we go through periods of blended learning.
Blog -
Julian Grenier, director at East London Research School, on the impact of Covid-19 on young pupils’ self-regulation skills.
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Secondary chemistry teacher and EEF science specialist, Dr Niki Kaiser, on the challenges of supporting learning in lockdown.
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