Project Reset: A principle-led approach to initial teacher training

Paul Maiden, Curriculum Leader, King Edward Vi Sixth Form College, UK Inspired by the EEF’s (2018) findings on the effectiveness of metacognition, and hoping to draw positives from the disruptions of the last two years, I initiated ‘Project Reset’ with my classes. Research by Quigley and Stringer (2018) addressed three misconceptions to argue that metacognition should be taught within subjects, alongside content, with a grasp of subject content being necessary to understand the skills needed to apply this learning, and that metacognitive discussion was vital at all ages and levels to develop a shared language of learning across subjects. Instead of using subject content as the basis of lesson plans and objectives, I used eight over-arching principles, mapping subject content to these as a means of enabling the principles to be demonstrated or developed. These principles were prominently displayed and discussed within each lesson, with students periodically being asked to comment