‘Will this be on the exam?’ Teaching what really matters: Accelerating A-level learning by combining high-impact strategies – mastery learning and metacognition – to make time for student enrichment and development

This case study outlines an approach to make time for enriching academic exploration by integrating the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) evidence-based strategies to accelerate A-level Psychology learning. The ultimate goal was to make space, within a packed curriculum, for meaningful student-teacher discussion, and enrichment such as independent student research. The objective was to build students’ confidence in their progress and in their ability to gain value-added outcomes. Central to this process was combining mastery learning with metacognition techniques and tailoring these specifically to the A-level Psychology curriculum. Key outcomes: Effective application of mastery learning in combination with metacognitive approaches to exam technique can yield improved academic performance (estimated mean valueadded A-level outcomes 2014-2024 (excluding Covid-19 years) +0.35; A-level Alis Grade +0.5, 2024) and sufficient space in the curriculum for student development and enrichment opportunities.