‘Metacognition and self-regulation’ and ‘collaborative learning’ remain high in the EEF Teachers’ Toolkit of effective teaching approaches, and with good reasons. These reasons can be framed through the following hypotheses. Firstly; that to become metacognitive and self-regulating learners need to experience learning situations, activities and content that can best be resolved, understood and applied through opportunities to engage in dialogue with others. Secondly; that through engaging with collaborative learning learners become more adept at grappling with the complexities and challenges that they encounter through the curriculum and in life. And finally; that to teach for metacognition and self-regulation teachers need to experience both for themselves in their own learning to teach. These three hypotheses form the basis of this case study, focusing on a PGCE module through which student teachers use an adapted lesson study approach to develop a repertoire for teaching thinking skills
