What Pupils Learn When We Show Our Thinking
Schools are well practised at working in challenging contexts and still achieving strong academic outcomes for their pupils. The question many of us continue to grapple with is how we sustain and deepen this success while meeting the needs of pupils with SEND, disadvantage, and a wide range of confidence, motivation and prior attainment. When we strip this question back to its essentials, it almost always leads us to the same place. High quality teaching matters, and at the heart of that teaching sits modelling.
Given that our teachers and support staff are our most valuable resource, it is always worth revisiting the fundamentals of effective teaching and learning. Modelling is one of those fundamentals. It is familiar, widely used, and sometimes taken for granted. Yet when done well, modelling does far more than show pupils what a finished product looks like. It actively teaches them how to think.
In November 2025, the Education Endowment Foundation published an updated report Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning. Recommendation 3 focuses explicitly on modelling, urging teachers to “model your own thinking to help pupils develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills.” This recommendation is a timely reminder that modelling is not simply about demonstrating content or technique. It is about making the invisible visible.
The guidance highlights three key principles. First, modelling by the teacher is a cornerstone of effective teaching because it reveals the thought processes of an expert learner. Second, teachers should verbalise their thinking as they approach and work through a task. This might include questions such as:
- “What do I already know about tasks like this?”
- “What strategies have I used before?”
- “What do I need to focus on to be successful?”
Third, scaffolded tasks such as worked examples allow pupils to build both cognitive and metacognitive skills without overwhelming their working memory.
Most teachers already model regularly. We model new concepts, remind pupils of previously taught strategies, and demonstrate what success looks like across subjects and age phases. Many schools use the familiar gradual release approach, beginning with teacher modelling, moving into shared practice, and eventually expecting independent application. This structure remains powerful, but the impact of modelling depends on what pupils are actually being invited to notice.
How do we do it?
In our own setting, we have worked hard to move beyond modelling outcomes and towards modelling thinking. A major focus has been externalising our internal narrative. This means deliberately articulating the automatic decisions and judgements that expert teachers often make without realising it. Initially, some colleagues found this uncomfortable and unnatural. Thinking aloud can feel exposing, particularly when we are used to presenting polished expertise. Over time, however, staff have grown in confidence and skill, and the benefits for pupils have been clear.
Benefits of rehearsing modelling
One practical strategy that helped was rehearsal. Some colleagues wrote example texts or solutions in advance and practised the accompanying verbal explanation. This allowed them to be intentional about which decisions to foreground. Importantly, it also made space to model mistakes. By deliberately including small errors, teachers were able to demonstrate how to notice issues quickly, how to reread, and how to correct without becoming overwhelmed. This kind of live decision-making is central to metacognition. Pupils learn that errors are not signs of failure but prompts for adjustment.
Modelling rereading has been particularly powerful. Narrating the process of rereading a sentence, then a paragraph, reinforces that checking is not an optional extra but part of the task itself. Over time, pupils begin to internalise this habit, moving from teacher-led regulation to self-regulation.
The way modelling is delivered also matters. Writing on a whiteboard or large paper is effective, but using a visualiser has clear advantages. It allows pupils to see the process as it would appear on their own page, from the same visual perspective. Modelling handwriting rather than typing is also important. Writing and typing are related but distinct processes, and handwriting allows teachers to model letter formation, joins, spacing and manual editing. Research suggests that sharing the same viewpoint as pupils, looking down at the page rather than projecting a finished slide, supports learning more effectively.
At its core, modelling is about helping pupils build durable mental schemas. Through repeated exposure to expert thinking, pupils begin to understand not just what to do, but when and why to do it. This is where modelling and metacognition intersect most clearly. We are teaching pupils how to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning.
Key take-aways
1. Plan modelling with metacognition in mind. Ask yourself which decisions you want pupils to notice and remember.
2. Narrate your thinking explicitly, even when it feels obvious. What is obvious to an expert is rarely obvious to a novice.
3. Normalise mistakes and show how to respond to them. This builds resilience and self-regulation.
4. Gradually hand over responsibility, prompting pupils to articulate their own thinking before, during and after tasks.
Modelling remains an essential step on the journey towards independence. When done thoughtfully, it equips pupils not just with knowledge and skills, but with the tools to manage their own learning. In increasingly complex classrooms, that is a goal well worth returning to.
References
1. Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning – Guidance report | Education Endowment Foundation
2. Metacognitive Summary of Recommendations | Education Endowment Foundation
By Vanessa Sullivan, Deputy Headteacher at St Peter's CE Primary School
Originally posted on the Essex Research School blog:
https://researchschool.org.uk/essex/news/what-pupils-learn-when-we-show-our-thinking
Read other Evidence Led Practice blog posts here.