Research School Network: Reducing the Thinking Overload Oral planning and Writing Templates as Metacognitive Tools

As Kellogg surmises writing can be ​“as cognitively demanding as chess”. Children must be able to generate ideas, select vocabulary, construct sentences and manage transcription simultaneously. For many pupils – particularly those with a limited background knowledge, disadvantaged by socio-economic status (SES) or are younger pupils in a mixed aged class – this can be overwhelming for their working memory and create real barriers to success. Thankfully, The Writing Framework has shown a recognition of some of this, providing a focus on ensuring children have ​‘the basics’ before being asked to assimilate all of these tasks.

However, children still need further support beyond this, especially when it comes to combining multiple disciplines.

The EEF’s Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning Guidance Report provides clear recommendations on approaches to the planning stage of learning. Planning is both a cognitive strategy for writing and part of metacognitive regulation. This is particularly applicable to planning for writing. Metacognition strategies, such as choosing cognitive strategies that support oral planning or which use writing templates, when taught purposefully and well and given enough time, give children the means to explicitly understand how to think before they write, as well as plan what to write.

Oral planning as metacognitive rehearsal

Oral planning separates the act of thinking from the act of writing. By rehearsing ideas aloud – guided and modelled by an ​‘expert’ – pupils can clarify content, sequence ideas, and refine language before transcription begins. This is particularly valuable for pupils disadvantaged by SES and prior low attainers in writing, who may benefit from additional opportunities to develop vocabulary and access shared ideas through talk.

This approach aligns strongly with EEF Recommendation 2: ​“Explicitly teach pupils metacognitive strategies, including how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning.” When teachers model oral planning – perhaps by thinking aloud about purpose, audience, and structure – they make the hidden thinking of a writer visible. Pupils are then taught not just to plan, but to understand why planning improves writing.

In mixed-age classes, oral planning also supports adaptive teaching: younger pupils may rehearse simple sentences, while older pupils plan paragraph structure, cohesion, and tone – all within the same lesson framework.

Writing Templates as Strategic Supports

Writing templates – planning grids, paragraph frames – are sometimes criticised as limiting creativity. However, when used deliberately, they function as temporary metacognitive supports, not permanent crutches. They guide pupils’ attention to key elements of effective writing, such as structure, purpose, and content selection.

The EEF metacognition guidance highlights the importance of guided practice and worked examples when introducing new strategies. Writing templates serve this purpose by externalising the planning process. Crucially, as pupils become more confident, these templates should be adapted and faded so that strategies are internalised. Some schools may have thought carefully about this, having a progression of planning structures and formats which thread throughout the school, providing more structure and support when needed, to then reducing this when writers are confident. These schools also provide a greater amount of time focusing on this stage of the writing process; where schools have fallen short in the past is not giving enough time, thought or focus to the planning stage of learning/​writing, setting pupils up to fail before they have started.

Applying This in Practice – Small School Project in East Riding of Yorkshire

I am fortunate enough to be project managing an EEF funded evidence in action project (Think Aloud: Write Proud) in The East Riding of Yorkshire, specifically looking at how metacognition strategies can be developed in the context of teaching writing in small schools, in the view of supporting learners, especially those with the most disadvantaged backgrounds and/​or limited prior knowledge, achieve.

Oral planning, explicit modelling and metacognition strategies underpin this approach with teachers in the 18 schools involved in the project are developing ​‘Think Alouds’ to explicitly teach the strategies, especially at the planning stage of writing, doing so alongside expert colleagues and coaches. In future blogs, I hope to share the outcomes and findings of this evidence in action, which may be particularly useful for smaller schools or those with mixed-aged classes.


Sources

Kellogg, R.T., 1999. The psychology of writing. Oxford University Press.

Department of Education, July 2025, The Writing Framework

Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning(updated guidance report).

Sweller, J., CHAPTER TWO—Cognitive Load Theory.Psychology of Learning and Motivation; Mestre, JP, Ross, BH, Eds, pp.37 – 76.