Supporting pupil independence through questioning

Recommendation 2 from the EEF’s Self Regulation guidance report Metacognition and Self Regulation guidance report suggests that explicitly teaching pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning can increase pupil independence in the classroom.

Simply put, it encourages pupils to use what they know and apply it to their learning, monitoring their progress and adapting their approach accordingly as they go.

It’s vital that we acknowledge that this doesn’t always happen automatically – we must make deliberate tweaks to our teacher habits, proactively prompting our pupils to think metacognitively. Getting into the habit of planning questions that encourage learners to follow this process in their learning can be a good starting point.