Mastering Metacognition Course
Engineering Independent Learners
Break the cycle of learned helplessness and equip your pupils with the cognitive architecture to self-regulate, adapt, and thrive.
All the flexibility of on-demand combined with expert 1:1 inputs
A common frustration across all key stages is the heavy reliance on teachers doing all the cognitive ‘heavy lifting’. Mastering Metacognition is a highly practical, on-demand masterclass that provides educators with the exact blueprint to shift the thinking from the teacher to the pupil. Moving beyond the vague definition of “thinking about thinking”, this course translates robust cognitive science into everyday classroom routines, ensuring your learners can independently plan, monitor, and evaluate their own academic progress.
The course will provide participants with:
- Over 90 minutes of bite-sized, actionable video lessons to digest at your own pace.
- The Metacognitive Process Framework: A definitive mental model to help pupils understand and control their core cognitive processes.
- Proprietary Questioning Protocols: Concrete scripts and calibration techniques to force deeper reflection and eradicate superficial answers.
- Cognitive Modelling Strategies: Learn how to construct highly effective “Think Alouds” that make expert, invisible thought processes visible to novice learners.
- Measurement and Diagnostic Tools: Move beyond guesswork with specific rubrics and inventories to accurately measure metacognitive growth in your classroom.
Suitable for …
On Demand Course: Individual teachers, coaches, and tutors looking for immediate, actionable professional development.
Hybrid On Demand Course: Heads of Department, Lead Coaches, and School Leaders wanting tailored implementation strategies.
- Once you have registered you will receive access to our learning platform that contains all the micro videos for each module of the course.
- At any time to suit you, work your way through the on-demand modules.
- The course contains a range of activities to cement your learning and resources to enable ease of implementation.
- If you sign up for the hybrid course then you can book a 30 minute, one to one session with one of our cognitive coaching team to explore and review the content and its practical application.
- On completion of the course participants will receive practitioner accreditation from Thinking Matters.
Phase 1: Decoding the Metacognitive Learner
We must establish what metacognition actually looks like in practice. In this foundational phase, we dismantle the misconceptions around what metacognition is, what it looks like and provide a concrete, science-backed framework for how to develop it.
What you will learn:
- The critical difference between cognition (doing the work) and metacognition (managing the worker), and why teaching one without the other limits pupil progress.
- How to use the Metacognitive Process to explicitly teach pupils how to navigate complex, unfamiliar tasks.
- The robust evidence base behind self-regulation and why it is the most cost-effective intervention for disadvantaged and SEND learners.
Phase 2: The Architecture of Questioning
Standard classroom questioning often only checks for factual recall. Here, we explore how to re-engineer your questioning to target the desired underlying cognitive processes, enabling pupils to take ownership of their learning.
What you will learn:
- How to deploy “Calibration” and “Intentionality” questions to instantly expose fragile understanding before an assessment takes place.
- A structured questioning sequence to help pupils securely plan their approach to a task, rather than rushing to completion.
- Evaluative questioning frameworks that ensure pupils capture specific learnings from their mistakes to improve their future performance.
Phase 3: Making Thinking Visible
Novice learners cannot replicate expert thinking if that thinking remains hidden inside the teacher’s head. This phase translates the theory of cognitive apprenticeship into highly practical classroom routines.
What you will learn:
- The precise mechanics of an effective “Think Aloud”, allowing you to verbalise your inner monologue without causing cognitive overload.
- How to script and sequence your modelling to demonstrate the planning, monitoring, and evaluating stages of a complex task.
- Strategies for fading your metacognitive scaffolding over time, ensuring pupils do not become permanently reliant on your prompts.
Phase 4: Tools for Self-Regulation and Reflection
Metacognition requires structured, deliberate practice. The final phase equips you with the tangible classroom tools and assessment metrics required to embed these habits permanently into your school’s culture.
What you will learn:
- Highly effective visual tools and graphic organisers that reduce working memory strain while pupils plan and monitor their work.
- How to utilise specific diagnostic inventories and observation rubrics to accurately measure the metacognitive awareness of your classes.
- Concrete reflection protocols that move pupils away from passive learning and towards relentless self-improvement.
On Demand: £79 (+vat)
- Full lifetime access to c.90 minutes of micro video masterclasses, downloadable PDF workbooks, and a Metacognitive Inventory.
- Best for individual teachers, coaches, and tutors looking for immediate, actionable professional development.
Hybrid on Demand: £149 (+vat)
- Everything in ‘On Demand’ PLUS:
- 30 min 1-on-1 online session with the course author to discuss your specific classroom challenges.
- Best for Heads of Department, Lead Coaches, and School Leaders wanting tailored implementation strategies.
Included free in both editions – A Metacognitive Inventory so you can see how metacognitive you are.
NB: All members of the Thinking School Network receive a 15% reduction on this course.