Know the Strategy Itself

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Strategy Knowledge & Use in 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

"Go and revise" assumes pupils own methods to revise with. Many do not, which is Flavell's point: students cannot deploy a strategy they have never been taught. What fills the gap is usually re-reading and highlighting, because those need no instruction.

Retrieval, spacing and self-explanation have to be taught explicitly, as named methods with steps, before independent use can reasonably be expected.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

A teacher spends part of a lesson teaching self-quizzing as a method in its own right: what it is called, how to build questions from notes, how to check answers honestly. The class practises it together on current content, the steps go onto a reference sheet, and only after guided practice does it appear in homework instructions by name.

Try it

A way to begin

Pick one strategy your instructions currently assume, and teach it explicitly this half term: name, steps, practice, the lot.

What to notice

Reading what happens

• Whether pupils use the method's name themselves. Named strategies get chosen; vague ones dissolve back into re-reading.
• What revision actually looks like when you ask pupils to show you rather than tell you. The gap between claimed and real methods is usually instructive.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

• Explicit teaching, then guided practice, then independence, in that order. Expecting the third without the first two is where "go and revise" fails.
• Teach the strategy inside the content it serves rather than in the abstract; a method learned on real material travels better into use.

Related strategies

Where this connects

• 🧰 Know When to Use Each Winne: conditional knowledge, knowing which strategy suits which task, is what separates skilled learners. Teach not just the method but the cues that signal when it is the right one. 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation · Strategy Knowledge & Use
• 📜 Pick a Strategy on Purpose Flavell: planning means selecting an approach, not defaulting to one. Have students name which method they will use for this problem and why, before the first line goes down. 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation · Forethought & Planning
• 💡 Tie Strategies to Content Willingham: strategies do not float free of subjects. Teach each one inside the content it serves, so students learn to self-regulate this topic, not metacognition in the abstract. 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation · Strategy Knowledge & Use
• 🧪 Study Strategy Audit Dunlosky's review rated ten strategies: re-reading scored low; practice testing scored highest. Ask students how they revise, then show them the data. That conversation is the intervention. 01 Retrieval Practice · Metacognition & Calibration
• 🧠 Retrieval Beats Re-reading Replace re-reading with retrieval. Instead of reviewing notes, ask students to write down everything they remember, then check. The testing is the learning, not the preparation for it. 01 Retrieval Practice · The Testing Effect

Inclusive practice

The lens this connects with

Through the inclusive practice lens, this is one of the approaches that may reduce barriers around:

• Independence and self regulation

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

Flavell counted knowledge of strategies among the foundations of metacognition; the EEF's guidance draws the same line, putting explicit strategy instruction before independent use. The card’s attribution stands as published: Flavell.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Metacognition & Self-Regulation.