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EEFmetacognition ). It was only a year before that when Ofsted concluded much the same. Evidence shows us that where individuals improve their metacognitive skills, their outcomes will also improve. Six pillars As to why this happens, first we need to better understand the six pillars of the metacognitive process: • knowledge of task (what we’ve been asked to do) • knowledge of self (how we learn, and what content knowledge we have) • strategies (how we can tackle the task) • planning (what tools to use, and in what order to tackle the task) • monitoring (how our strategies are going as we complete the task) • evaluation (what worked and what didn’t) If an individual can excel in all six of those areas, then they will do excellently in their education, and make swift and deep progress. If metacognition covers all this, it is clearly as fundamental as clear modelling, effective questioning and actionable feedback. And we wouldn’t argue that those areas aren’t for SEN students, would we? So why would we argue that metacognition isn’t, either? I often challenge the notion that metacognition is too complicated or overwhelming for SEN M etacognition is not only a hard thing to define, but it’s also very difficult to actually realise in the classroom. Metacognitive thoughts are often not spoken about, but rather, left to be subconscious and hidden away. When metacognition does eventually come to the surface, it can be messy, hard to communicate and complex. And for this reason, SEN students couldn’t possibly be metacognitive, could they? It’d be too overwhelming. Too overloading. Too difficult. Rubbish. Let’s backtrack a second, to understand what metacognition actually is. Though I’ve said it’s hard to define above, let me take a crack at it. I usually define metacognition as the little voice inside your head that is constantly informing and evaluating your actions (Burns, 2023). In effect, metacognition is the constant cycle of planning, monitoring and evaluation through which we work to continuously improve our output. The more metacognitive we are, the better we get and the quicker those improvements are made. But it was only a few years ago (2019) that the EEF concluded that of all the interventions, approaches, and programmes that we can utilise in our schools, metacognition is the one which is most likely to turbocharge pupil progress ( tinyurl.com/tp- students by suggesting that it isn’t a pupil problem, but rather the way that the metacognitive strategies are being introduced and fostered. If the children are being overwhelmed by the metacognitive strategies that we are using, then we need to reflect on what we are doing and why. 46 | www.teachwire.net Out of REACH? The idea that metacognition is beyond our SEN pupils is absolute rubbish, says Nathan Burns . We just need to make sure we’re using it properly... Do as I do But how exactly can we go about embedding this approach? I think the best place to start is through the illumination of our own thinking. We are experts, well versed in the content that we’re teaching, with a deep understanding of the curriculum and assessment T EACH PR I MARY S END SPEC I A L I N AS SOC I A T I ON W I TH