Research School Network: A recap of recommendation 5 from the ​‘Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3’ guidance report. Develop pupils’ independence and motivation.

Regardless of the subject, we know that as practitioners we have a role to play in really supporting children to become independent and self-motivated.

Early on in children’s learning journey, children will likely need lots of external motivators and, let’s be honest, we all still as adults appreciate some quiet (or not so quiet) recognition. It is good to be rewarded for our efforts. However, we are trying to support children to become the most effective learners they can be, and this does not, and cannot, rely on external motivators only or indeed indefinitely. If children are to become self-motivated and independent adults who are successful in whatever area they choose, our role in the classroom to develop the learning habits, which will pay dividends, is crucial.

With this in mind, it is worth identifying a few of the strategies identified in the ​‘Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3’ guidance report as part of recommendation 5.

There are a number of ​‘tips’ which are offered to us as part of the research findings.

A key one is to encourage pupils to take responsibility for, and play an active role in, their own learning. This then is vital for us to deliberately foster and develop in the classroom. One of the ways in which the report suggests that we do this is through a focus on metacognitive strategies.

Giving children an opportunity to plan their own goals, working patterns, task completion, timings, silent work time and so on are all ways in which we can increasingly give children ​‘responsibility for their own learning’

The idea of supporting children to create checklists and time planning sheets (for example) which enable them to map out their work encourages them to reflect and become familiar with their own capacity, capability, strengths, weaknesses and work rate.

A big part of this metacognitive development focuses on giving students the opportunity to reflect on their thought processes, success rates and misconceptions. Giving students the chance to reflect using guided questions could be a useful tool here e.g.

Which questions did I find easiest?

Why?

Which questions/​part questions did I struggle with?

Why?

What am I still unclear on?

What helped me to remember?

And so on.

These are some examples of reflection questions as a starting point for consideration, however, in order for children to really gain from their individual reflections (or peer discussions), they need training and supporting in order to understand ​‘What A Good One Looks Like’. This is where the role of teachers ​‘modelling…their own thinking’ (another top tip from the guidance report) comes into play.

Teachers should try to make their own thinking visible for the pupils. Visualisers are a helpful mechanism for this, but are not a guarantee of quality. The effectiveness of the modelling is dependent on teacher levels of confidence and vulnerability, and it thus, requires significant practice to improve the articulation of our thought processes.

Phrases such as those listed below can support practitioners to develop their competence, confidence and effectiveness at modelling the metacognitive practices that we want children to emulate.

Possible phrases to practice:

​‘When I first read this question, I thought…’

​‘I started off by thinking about possible solutions such as …’

​‘I linked this to the work we did…because it seemed to have some similar traits such as…’

​‘I listed the possible solutions in my head first… I am going to show you all of the options I considered and why I dismissed them…’

​‘I decided that this strategy wouldn’t work because…’

​‘I checked my answer by…’

And so on.

The guidance report offers us further examples.

This kind of open and articulated reflection (and signposting) from the teacher will allow pupils to at first, perhaps merely mimic the process, but eventually, they will be able to improve their awareness of their own thinking in relation to the mathematical processes. This will increase independence and self-motivation as the children grow in confidence with the familiarity and flexibility with which they can apply, move between and combine mathematical concepts.

Read the full report here.