METACOGNITION, PUPIL EMPOWERMENT AND THE SCHOOL CONTEXT

The purpose of this article is to explore the notion of metacognition with a view to clarifying its signficance for the development of teach ing and learning strategies which enhance pupils' capacities as autono mous learners. It is argued that metacognition is a form of self-knowl edge which is not fundamentaLly different from a form of self-knowledg e; and that such knowledge can be interpreted as involving understandi ng of a wide range of social and psychological processes. Two key ques tions which relate to the specific context of the school are then disc ussed: one to do with the relationship between metacognition and schoo l subject knowledge, and the other with the connection between metacog nition and the various discourses of school learning. A number of stud ies of intervention strategies derived from different theoretical and methodological contexts are then briefly reviewed.