ABSTRACT
The second meta-cognitive function is reflection: awareness of the process of learning. Reflection is a key element in all forms of practice; it involves standing back and having a good look at the way we do things. Without such reflection, we are prone to sink into mindless habit and unthinking routine, with all the inherited assumptions and habitual baggage we have picked up along the way. Moreover, there is little chance that we will actually learn from our mistakes and develop new approaches. Learning is no different from any other form of practice. Students bring to it a bundle of habits, techniques and assumptions that they have put together from their previous experience, good or bad. By the time they get to the post-compulsory stage, those habits may have become firmly entrenched, even unconscious. (How many people think about the way they read?) But the need for reflection does not arise simply from the continuity of old practices. It stems from the change in demands on the student that post-compulsory education makes. This is particularly true of transitions from one sector (eg, school) to another (FE, HE) where the whole ethos and pattern of study may be different. It can also apply to the progression from one year or stage to the next. Above all, these changes relate to assessment and the different criteria and methods that may be involved. For all these reasons, learning at the post-school stage really needs to happen on two levels: learning, and learning about learning.
