Developing trainee teachers in secondary schools: the effect of whole-class metacognitive questioning on trainee teachers’ confidence in understanding pupil progress

Thesis

A study to see if whole-class metacognitive questioning techniques can improve trainee teachers’ confidence in understanding their pupils’ progress. The study took place in a national teacher training organisation that works with schools with socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. The organisation does not currently carry out in-practice metacognitive training in any of the hundreds of schools involved in the programme. A review of literature examined the value of metacognition in secondary education and its relevancy to the organisation; what metacognition actually is, and if the iterative nature of metacognition means it is well defined and understood nationally; how progress is defined in this instance and where metacognition sits in initial teacher education programmes – flourishing or floundering; and finally trainee confidence as a construct in understanding pupil progress using metacognitive questioning. Following an initial mixed methods study of personal views, and current practices employed by semi-autonomous teacher trainers, it was found that varied belief systems in the field of metacognition mirrored current literature in the initial teacher training space and that metacognition was particularly effective with socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Extensive collaborations took place across two domains within the organisation – strategically and operationally. A longitudinal intervention with trainee teachers was conducted in the form of a downloadable toolkit. A constructivist ontology and interpretivist epistemology using mixed methods with explanatory sequential design was used. It acknowledged the subjective nature of confidence, and explored the complex, interpretive processes trainee teachers engage in. By focusing on personal experiences and perceptions, this approach facilitated an understanding of the intervention's impact. The intervention took place nationally in all subjects across many English secondary schools. All trainees reported that they were more confident understanding pupil progress following the intervention, and 91% of trainees reported that it had improved their confidence generally as a trainee teacher. Whilst the literature suggests participant overconfidence in self-reporting metacognitive benefits, and other limitations are noted in this study, there is nevertheless promising scope for future follow-up within my organisation to facilitate metacognitive support of socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils.

Authors: Potts, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-mz6rx2ykj
• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: mixed methods; LT; interviews; confidence understanding pupil progress; surveys; qualitative; quantitative; metacognition; LT2024; metacognitive questioning; ITT; trainee teacher; ITE
• Subjects: Students; Metacognition; Surveys; Questioning; Education; Interviews; Quantitative research; Teachers--Training of--United Kingdom; Training; Qualitative research; Teachers