What is Metacognition?

Author - Bella Thorburn

Bella provided Maths support to students aged 11-16 during her gap year with Yipiyap.

A lot of the time while you’re tutoring, it can be easy to get lost thinking about all the content you need to cover. Especially when you’re just starting out in any teaching or tutoring role, it’s overwhelming to realise you’re falling behind schedule or that it’s taking longer than expected to teach a new topic.

This is where metacognition can make a real difference. It’s a concept that encourages students to think about how they’re learning, rather than just what they’re learning.

When students understand their own learning processes, they often become more independent and confident learners. This can speed up some lessons as students take ownership of their learning behaviours - and it also means you can feel comfortable letting them take more time on topics they find challenging.

The Three Key Stages of Metacognition

There are three essential stages to effective metacognitive practice: Planning, Monitoring, and Controlling. Below, I’ll explain how I use each of these when tutoring, with practical examples you can try yourself.

1. Planning: Setting Goals and Involving Students

Planning is all about setting clear goals and understanding what steps it will take to achieve them. If you’re a fan of SMART targets, this is a great place to use them.

One way to embed metacognition into planning is to involve students directly in the process. I do this by checking in at the end of each lesson, while students are packing up their bags, and asking them which topics they found tricky. I make sure to note this down in front of them so they can see I’m taking their thoughts seriously. Then, I use that feedback to plan my next session, tailoring resources to their needs.

For younger students, this might mean spending 10 minutes at the end of the session recapping a topic like adding fractions or BIDMAS operations. If you’re not a maths tutor, you could do something similar by revisiting key definitions, discussing a science experiment, or reflecting on key themes from a book you’ve read together. Anything that gets their brains working and thinking about how they’re learning!

With my Year 11 students, they’re usually more confident in identifying which topics they struggle with. In these cases, I might spend half a session setting out the basics of a difficult topic, breaking it into clear steps, and then giving them 5-10 minutes to practise questions independently. This helps them start recognising their own learning gaps.

2. Monitoring: Tracking Progress and Spotting Misconceptions

Monitoring is all about keeping track of student progress:

Are they understanding the lesson as you’re delivering it?
Are they making assumptions that could lead to mistakes in tests or independent study?
Do you need to keep revisiting certain topics to help with long-term retrieval?

One of the best ways I monitor students’ metacognitive development is by giving them options for how they approach problems. For example, when teaching multiplication, I’ll ask students which method they prefer - grid method, long multiplication, or even FOIL for expanding brackets. By offering choices, students can reflect on their preferred learning strategies and become more aware of how they think through problems.

It’s important to be flexible here. There have been plenty of times when a student has preferred a method that’s completely different from my own personal preference. In these cases, I’ve had to adapt my own teaching to match their thinking process - and this flexibility has always paid off.

My biggest piece of advice is: don’t put too much distance between ‘student’ and ‘teacher’. Students, even younger ones, can be very self-aware when given the chance. They’re essentially young adults learning how to learn, and metacognition helps nurture that self-awareness.

3. Controlling: Encouraging Independent Problem-Solving

The final stage, controlling, is all about passing control of their learning from yourself to your students.

If you already use scaffolding or the “I do”-”We do-”You do” approach, this is the natural final step.

The goal is to help students gradually build the confidence to solve problems independently, explaining their reasoning as they go.

Ideally, by the end of a session, you should be able to ask a student to summarise what they’ve learned or explain the steps to solve a question - without referring to notes or discussing it with a peer.

This independence is a key marker of metacognitive success. It shows students are not just memorising content, but actively thinking about how they think - and adapting their approach to problem-solving in real-time.

Making Metacognition Part of Everyday Tutoring

Incorporating metacognition into your tutoring sessions doesn’t have to be complicated.

The simplest way to start is by being transparent with students. Let them know your goals for each session and be open about why you’re structuring lessons the way you are.

Regularly discuss what’s working well and where they need to improve. These open conversations not only improve learning outcomes but also build trust. Students begin to see you not just as someone who gives them work, but as someone who’s invested in their personal learning journey.

This is particularly important for students receiving one-to-one tuition, as they can sometimes feel singled out or self-conscious about being taken out of class. When they understand you’re tailoring sessions to meet their needs - and that you value their input - it humanises the experience and helps them feel more comfortable taking ownership of their own learning.

Metacognition is a powerful tool for tutors and students alike. By embedding planning, monitoring and controlling into your sessions, you’ll not only improve academic progress but also help students develop lifelong learning skills.

Whether they’re solving maths problems, analysing literature, or designing science experiments, thinking about thinking will serve them well far beyond your sessions.

The Power of Metacognition in Tutoring