A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions based on metacognition and self-regulation in school-aged mathematics

Mathematics is an important gatekeeper for educational and professional opportunities and a useful tool for discovery and expression. Given previous research and theory demonstrating potential for metacognitive and self-regulated learning (MC/SRL) interventions to support mathematics achievement with diverse learners, a systematic review was conducted to evaluate their effectiveness within the years of general education, with pupils of ages three to 18. Appropriately-designed studies that were reported in English between 2005 and 2019 were included. Following a systematic search, with double-reviewing and expert consultation for consistency, 1,761 bibliographic items were screened, resulting in 60 included studies. Qualitative aspects of the designs, contexts, participants, and intervention activities were synthesised narratively. Posttest-only and adjusted, random effects meta-analyses were performed using a single mathematics achievement measure from each study. The results indicate a generally positive effect from the included interventions (combined Cohen’s d=0.46, SE=0.08, 95% CI=0.30 to 0.60). This represents a somewhat more modest effect compared with previous reviews in this area, possibly due to a greater range of included reports. No risk of publication bias was identified, reflecting the breadth and diversity of included studies, but efforts to mitigate heterogeneity were only partially successful. Interventions using structured problem-solving with metacognitive prompts were more effective than those not using it, while dissertations reported lower effects than journal articles. No differences were found based on participant age or intervention dose. Primary studies used a variety of assessments and differed on reporting of interventions and quality-related factors, and there remained substantial heterogeneity in the meta-analysis. Implications of this review for educational theory, research, and practice are discussed, with emphasis on reporting studies fully, using broad-scope, comparable assessments, and investing in comprehensive metacognitive and self-regulated learning interventions that can support lasting change in teaching and learning

Who becomes a teacher and why?

This paper reports on a comprehensive review of international evidence, synthesising the findings of some of the strongest empirical work on the main factors influencing people's decisions to be teachers or not. Four search engines, including Google and Google Scholar and five electronic databases identified 517 studies of which 212 were included in this narrative synthesis. These studies highlighted three main motivating factors: intrinsic, altruistic and extrinsic, although the order of the ranking varies with subjects, phase of education and gender of teachers. In general, these studies reported that women are more likely to report being motivated by intrinsic and altruistic reasons, while men are more likely to cite extrinsic reasons. Across all cultures, men are reported to be more strongly influenced by social norms and expectations and were less likely to choose primary and early years teaching. Women are also more likely to experience higher levels of career satisfaction and less social dissuasion than men. Research on motivation to teach is also often focused only on those who have already made the decision to teach. Therefore, policies based on these studies might only be attracting those who are already persuaded. This paper argues that to improve recruitment of under-represented groups (e.g., males and STEM subject graduates), attention should instead be on those who might otherwise have gone into teaching, but have not. For this group, the review found that it is the status of the profession, the working environment and salary over the long term that are important

Improving Attendance and Enrolment at School for Children Living in Poverty

This paper summarises the findings of a large-scale structured review of 73 studies to iden-tify promising interventions to increase school enrolment and attendance, particularly in less developed countries where school attendance is not mandatory. Evidence from the stronger studies suggests that for children living in poverty, provision of easy access to schools, making schools free at point of delivery and incentivising attendance/enrolment with cash offers are the most promising interventions. Incentives with conditions attached are more effective than non-conditional incentives. Paying cash to parents is more effective for young children, while cash incentives are more effective for older children if given directly. Providing easy access to free schools seems most promising in improving school attendance and enrolment in low and middle-income countries