CATALYST by Winchester College provides novel programmes aimed at developing and propelling students in their critical thinking and metacognitive skills through current issues.

 

Our immediate climate, whether socio-political, cultural, or environmental has polarised young people’s everyday life – and subsequently their lifestyle.

Social media activism, increasing coverage of protests and nationwide strikes, cuts in social care and health – in addition to global warming and the consequences of globalisation and technology.

These fundamental and immediate issues are inescapable and demand full attention from every corner of society – including education.  

Education and educators are catching up. Whilst the traditional education syllabus might fail to actively address current issues, schools across the UK are increasingly borrowing pedagogy from higher education institutions to better deliver a theoretical framework directly addressing real-worlds problems and solutions.  

By means of incorporating current events, real-world issues and new theoretical ideas, students are much more likely to connect their learning to the world around them.

To ultimately prepare the next generation of young people to become active and engaged citizens, capable of creating positive change to society.  

 

CATALYST by Winchester College 

Novel courses such as Winchester College’s summer programmes by CATALYST, aims to help with just that.

Through a pedagogy of inquiry-led practice which teaches students how to think, challenging established opinions and engendering a passion for discussion and exploration – the courses’ interdisciplinary approach is concurrent with epistemological ways of navigating real issues.   

Through a combination of online seminars, lectures, teamwork, and off-screen activities – students from around the world are connected to top UK educators and wider global leaders.

With this new type of pedagogy in secondary education – it is therefore appropriate to introduce new mediums of study.  

Their course is predominantly taught online through their virtual campus.

Designed specifically for the course (and completely exclusionary to the zoom archetype), the virtual instillation of the Winchester College campus conjoins elements of gamification to foster a space for interaction, idea sharing and cohort community building.    

What is most interesting about their courses, is that they draw on Winchester College’s unique pedagogy, Div. Div ‘defines the liberal character of Winchester academic life’, by teaching students to think, discuss and debate far beyond the syllabus.

Div contextualises students’ metacognitive abilities and ways of processing information and critical thinking – which ultimately bleed into a student’s syllabus, exam preparation, future education and further into their adult lives. Learn more about metacognition here.

CATALYST in the same respect, develops the DIV framework by simultaneously also including themes of dynamic change and theoretical volatility – to catalyse change. Read more on their mission here.  

 

How are the programmes marked?  

A key feature of the course is the opportunity for students to engage in one-on-one sessions with educators from Winchester College, along with the benefit of small class sizes.

This personalized approach to instruction affords students the opportunity to receive invaluable feedback and enables them to acclimate to a learning style closely aligned with that of their future university experience.  

The candidates are subject to thorough monitoring and analysis by their educators, resulting in heightened levels of feedback and attention to individual areas of improvement.

Upon completion of the course, candidates are presented with a transcript that includes personalized feedback on their strengths and weaknesses across six distinct competency areas:

• Negotiation & Resolution  
• Narrative Defence  
• Empathetic Collaboration  
• Critical Analysis & Problem Solving  
• Quantitative Fluency  
• Effective communication  

Typically, conventional marking practices lack the specificity found in CATALYST’s evaluation system. Although traditional methods may provide grades, annotations, and marking criteria, they generally do not offer the depth of categorization and analysis that CATALYST provides. 

Through the rigorous feedback included in CATALYST’s transcript, students gain invaluable insights into their strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to target specific areas for improvement in critical thinking, understanding, and argumentation.

These competencies are essential components for success in higher education and beyond, as students embark upon their future careers. 

 

University Help  

Their courses are particularly suited for ambitious, highly motivated and independent thinkers. International or domestic home-schooled candidates that are thinking about attending top universities or secondary schools would gain an invaluable experience of British Independent education.  

Alongside a critical thinking framework and the study of current issues, CATALYST focuses on developing students for their university and school applications . 

Upon course completion, CATALYST provides outstanding students with a personalised letter of recommendation for Winchester college to the university or school of the student’s choice.   

The course also embeds further assistance to students through their coaching and advisor initiative. Students will get a chance to be coached by expert advisors for university entrance and school exams and admission processes, in addition to establishing their personal statements for university applications.  

The programme also offers funding for students to further develop their individual change projects after completion of the course. 

 

Programmes Available  

CATALYST currently has spaces on just three of their courses. Below is a summary of what they include:

 

• Foundations Programme 

Dates: 10-14 July 2023  

Duration: 1 Week  

Ages: 10 – 13 

Location: Remote/Online  

About: This programme focuses on building skills in communication, critical thinking, negotiation, and narrative defence. The course focus on societal change through a range of different topics such as technology, science, philosophy, and ethics.  

Enquire here

 

• Rethinking Change System

Dates: 17-28 July 2023  

Duration: 2 Weeks  

Age: 13-18 (average age 15) 

Location: Remote/Online  

About: This is the most selective programme offered by CATALYST which explores the foundations of change – particularly exploring how students can facilitate change in their own communities.  

Enquire here

 

• Rethinking Change Systems

Dates: 31 July-11 August 2023  

Duration: 2 Week  

Age: 13-18 (average age 15) 

Location: Remote/Online  

About: This is the most selective programme offered by CATALYST which explores the foundations of change – particularly exploring how students can facilitate change in their own communities.  

Enquire here

 

Get in touch 

Get in touch with our expert team of consultants to find out if CATALYST is right for you or if you need more information on these programmes. Gabbitas offers an expansive list of summer schools to choose from. If you are interested in viewing our full summer schools list for 2023, email info@gabbitas.com or call +44 (0) 203 026 7443. 

Metacognition can be defined as an awareness and understanding of a person’s thought processes. In education, metacognition is the ability to think about one’s own learning, Playing a critical role in effective teaching and learning.

By helping students become more aware of their learning processes and strategies, metacognitive pedagogy can enhance academic performance and promote self-directed learning. Teaching practices that promote metacognition shares many similarities with those of Academic Mentorship.  

Academic Mentorship is a form of private tutoring that can be a powerful tool for promoting metacognitive development among A Level, Undergraduate and Master’s students, as they make the transition into ever more challenging academic realms.

Using a combination of pastoral, holistic and academic approaches, academic mentors support and guide a student’s understanding of critical and intentional thinking approaches to their studies. Read our guide on Academic mentorship. 

 

What research suggests 

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity, supporting educational institutions in helping reduce the trend between family income and attainment.

The EEFs’ work specifically aims at distilling the myriad of studies and research into concrete strategies and tactics for excellent teaching practice. 

It has produced extensive guidance for teachers on how to promote metacognition in the classroom. The guidance recommends a range of teaching strategies, including modelling, explicit instruction, questioning, and peer-to-peer learning.

These strategies are designed to help students become more aware of their own learning processes, and to develop the skills and strategies they need to learn effectively. 

Recent studies have provided strong evidence to support the effectiveness of metacognitive pedagogy.

A meta-analysis conducted by the EEF found that teaching metacognitive strategies had a positive impact on students’ academic performance across a range of subjects and age groups, claiming that metacognitive strategies “can be worth the equivalent of an additional +7 months’ progress when used well.”  

Other studies have shown that metacognitive strategies can be particularly effective for students who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, or struggling academically, be it in their mandatory GCSEs, or their undergraduate modules at top universities. 

 

Peer tutoring  

In recent years, several studies have highlighted the benefits of metacognitive pedagogy for student achievement. Recent studies have explored the potential benefits of using metacognitive pedagogy within the context of academic mentoring in university.  

For example, Backer and colleagues (2011) investigated the impact of reciprocal peer tutoring on higher education students’ metacognitive knowledge and regulation.

The study found that students who participated in peer tutoring showed improved metacognitive regulation skills, including self-evaluation and planning. 

In institutions in which peer tuition can be difficult to carry out, the role of an academic mentor, as both as an experienced alumnus and professional tutor, can be a peer, developing and modelling their own study skills, research and articulate their learning processes alongside the student in tailored tutorials.

To learn more on Academic mentors, read our Academic mentorship Q&A with Gabbitas’ Director of School Placements and Higher education.  

 

English Language Development  

Another study by Al-Jarrah and colleagues (2018) investigated the attitudes of ‘English as a Foreign Language’ (EFL) students when using metacognitive strategies in their writing. Download their study here. 

This study found that students who received explicit instruction in metacognitive strategies demonstrated greater motivation and engagement in their writing, as well as improved writing skills. This is particularly pertinent for students coming to the UK to study.  

English is the global lingua-franca for business, international relations, research and the arts. Having a native, bilingual or fluent mentor upon whom a student can lean on to check the nuances of English for Academic Purposes, is hugely beneficial and provides that ‘edge’ in essays and dissertations. 

 

Enhancing Performance, Engagement and Motivation  

Dunn and Mulvenon (2009) examined much of the research on the impact of metacognitive instruction on students’ ability.

For solving maths problems, they report that students who received explicit instruction in metacognitive strategies performed significantly better on problem-solving tasks than students who did not receive this instruction.  

Perhaps students who articulated the thoughts in approaching difficult problems triggered verbal memory to recollect previous similar problems? The research concluded that “metacognitive instruction is a powerful tool for enhancing student learning in mathematics.” 

In addition to improving academic performance, metacognitive pedagogy has also been shown to enhance students’ motivation and engagement.

A study by Yan and colleagues (2018) found that metacognitive instruction increased students’ intrinsic motivation to learn and their confidence in their ability to learn.

The researchers noted that “metacognitive strategies can help students feel more in control of their learning, which can lead to increased motivation and engagement.” 

 

Practical Applications of Metacognition  

Real studies have provided compelling evidence to support the effectiveness of metacognitive pedagogy for enhancing student achievement, motivation, and engagement.

Mentorship can be a powerful vessel for exploring metacognition in learners, providing the scaffolding for a student to implement this ‘thinking about thinking’ into a student’s learning process.  

By analysing a student’s unique learning methods, and drawing upon a wealth of experience in tuition and academic study, Gabbitas Academic Mentors will provide tailored guidance and support to help students develop the skills and strategies they need to become self-directed learners and achieve their academic goals. Enquire to speak to our mentors and tutors here.  

 

To find out more on how specific metacognitive strategies tailored to an individual student can help their learning in exponential ways, email our experts info@gabbitas.com, or call +44 (0) 203 026 7443.  

 

 

This article was written by Gabbitas’ Head of Tuition, Johnny Reynolds, and is part of Gabbitas, a section providing in-depth, first-hand coverage of the UK education landscape and global market trends.