Assessment

Extended Project Qualifications: The spark to ignite a love of lifelong learning?

If a student can learn how to learn, or more accurately how they best learn, they will outperform those who haven’t. This crucial ability to understand and regulate one’s own thinking processes - known as metacognition – will also set them up for future academic success. Plenty of educators know the value of metacognition and devise classroom routines to help students cultivate it. If done well, this can provide the foundations for effective lifelong learning. Perhaps the best tool for the job is ready made and at their disposal already. AQi looks at the Extended Project Qualification as an avenue for instilling metacognition and a love of learning.

Date21/06/23

AuthorAQi team

EPQs can spark a lifelong love of learning

Ask a teacher what they want for their students academically apart from success in their own subject, the answer may be something like: ‘I hope they fall in love with learning for the rest of their lives.’

They could already be working towards this.

Some teachers may be offering challenges that require strategies to be devised and applied.

The best will then ask students to reflect upon the results and adapt the original strategy in the light of their findings before moving through the cycle again looking for improvement.

What is metacognition?

For the uninitiated, these tactics are designed to embed metacognition – an ability to understand how one learns best and create strategies to harness that.

It also develops self-regulation of the mental processes involved in learning and the motivation to engage with them.

Successful metacognition strategies have been shown to add seven months’ progress over the course of a year for secondary school pupils.

With this proven success, why would any teacher not want them to develop these skills?

Timetable and curriculum pressures or inexperience may make the recurring cycle of development difficult to implement and maintain.

But what if it was rooted in the curriculum somehow?

What is an Extended Project Qualification?

This is where the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) may play a part.

The voluntary year-long self-directed research project is undertaken by Year 12 students alongside their A-levels.

Under the guidance of a supervising teacher, students drive their own learning from conception through research to project completion.

How do Extended Project Qualifications impact students' other studies?

Advocates say completing an EPQ can significantly enhance students' metacognitive abilities.

The self-directed learning, critical thinking, and reflection help students develop deeper self-awareness leading to improved learning strategies and academic performance.

AQA research backs this up.

The impact of Extended Project Qualifications - what the figures say

A study in 2019 found that completing an EPQ was linked to an overall 22% greater chance of students being awarded a good grade (A* - B) in their A-levels the following year compared to those who had not done one.

Not only that. For every unit increase in EPQ grade there was a 6% increase in the likelihood of achieving good grades.

Looking at individual subjects, business students’ chances of top A-levels were 77% higher than their non EPQ classmates.

Those studying English had a 56% better chance and it was 42% for languages students.

Extended Project Qualifications as a tool to instill metacognition

What could lie behind this academic success?

Let’s revisit the metacognition cycle.

Students assess a task, evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses, plan an approach, apply the strategy then reflect on the results and reassess their approach accordingly.

All of these are clearly developed by the process of completing an EPQ.

Firstly, and maybe most importantly, students are not being led by a teacher so have to self-regulate.

Projects are independently conceived, planned, researched and executed.

Reflection happens automatically during the documentation of progress, setbacks and research methods.

Finally, there’s critical thinking.

EPQs promote analysis of information, source evaluation, and the construction of logical arguments.

Extended Project Qualifications: Worth more than the final grade

It is clear that the EPQ carries a value to the student beyond the grades they achieve as the statistics seem to prove.

A-level results appear to improve and students will be better equipped for the demands of higher education and beyond.

But not everyone is ready for the demands of creating an extended project on top of other qualifications they may be taking.

Metacognition is also best embedded when taken in willingly by the learner rather than forcing them to engage with it.

From our research it is clear that not only could EPQ students see the benefits of their work reflected in A-level grades, but also into Higher Education and beyond.

At a time when the government is looking to promote a culture of lifelong learning, retraining and upskilling, EPQs are a ready-made tool to support that.

They could be the catalyst that sparks a desire to learn that lasts a lifetime.

Education Policy

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Public attitude data is key to effective policymaking. Proper polling can reveal what people think about existing policies and what they want for the future. But, if looked at from a different angle, it can also help policymakers question themselves and their assumptions about the public. In this blog, AQA’s Policy and Evidence Manager Adam Steedman-Thake, reveals the lessons he learned about himself while reading a recent public attitude survey.

Assessment

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and life. And yet, for many children, opportunities to develop them are missed. Educationalists are engaging in a growing debate about where oracy fits into the school system. Labour has put it at the heart of its plans to improve social mobility and an independent commission is looking at how it is taught in the classroom. This renewed focus on oracy means it is more important than ever that teachers have a way to reliably assess and understand their students’ attainment and progression. Amanda Moorghen of oracy education charity Voice 21 explains how Comparative Judgement can help with that and why it may be a game changer.

Education

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

Jack Black is probably best known in educational circles for playing a renegade substitute teacher in School of Rock. But the Hollywood star has made a more conventional foray into education by backing the use of TV subtitles to improve child literacy. Stephen Fry and the World Literacy Foundation also want parents to use their TV remotes to get children reading. So, could this simple click of a button be a solution to boost pupils’ reading skills? AQA’s resident expert on language teaching, Dr Katy Finch, casts her eye over the research to see whether it stacks up.

Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Is data the solution to all education’s issues? About a decade ago the prevailing wisdom said it was. Advocates of this Data Wave argued that harvesting internal statistics would help schools solve issues such as teacher accountability and attainment gaps. As with all waves, after crashing onto the beach they recede, leaving space for another to roll in. In this blog, teacher, author and data analyst Richard Selfridge looks at the legacy of the Data Wave to see what schools can take from it.

International Approaches

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Finland was once recognised as one of the most successful educational systems in the world. At the turn of the millennium, it topped the PISA rankings in reading, maths and science. But by 2012, decline set in. The last set of results showed performances in maths, reading and science were at an all-time low. In this blog Dr Jonathan Doherty of Leeds Trinity University outlines some reasons that may account for the slide.

Briefing

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

According to the latest PISA results, England’s science scores are still on a downward trajectory that started a decade ago. Yet TIMSS, another respected study, has science performances rising. Which of them is right? Is one more valid than the other? In this blog AQi examines three International Large-Scale Assessments and finds that, although they may look the same from a distance, get up close and you’ll find they are very different beasts.

Adaptive Assessment

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

The number of students resitting their maths GCSE is growing, but the proportion getting a grade 4 or higher is falling. This situation is not only dispiriting for the young people striving to get the qualifications they need, but also for the teachers working hard to help them. How can outcomes for this cohort be improved? Bart Crisp, associate director at the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education, thinks adaptive assessment may be part of the solution.

SEND

Student success: Every milestone matters

Baroness Morgan is calling for students to be given ‘self-belief’ lessons as a way of developing their characters and preparing them for the future. She is not the first to notice that a student’s sense of their own ability and their level of success are part of a virtuous circle. But how can teachers get the snowball rolling for students with SEND or in alternative provision? In this blog, former headteacher, John Tomsett, pulls out a swimming certificate he earned more than half a century ago to use as an inspiration for others.

Assessment

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 has come in for criticism in recent months for the way it combines with the Ebacc to skew schools’ focus towards academic subjects at the expense of creative and technical options. Both Labour and a Lords committee have called for reform to boost uptake of declining subjects such as D&T, dance and drama. In the second of two blogs looking at Progress 8, AQi examines whether the accountability measure could be realigned to address these concerns and if so, how could that be done?

Assessment

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

Eight years after Progress 8 came into existence it is facing calls to be updated. Some say reforming the schools accountability measure can halt the decline in take up of the arts, while others want it to boost numbers taking vocational and technical subjects. Are its shoulders broad enough to take on such a load? In the first of two blogs on Progress 8, AQi looks at how it came into being, what problems it was designed to solve and whether it is flexible enough to be reformed.

Download a PDF version.

Download a copy of this content to your device as a PDF file. We generate PDF versions for the convenience of offline reading, but we recommend sharing this link if you'd like to send it to someone else.

Extended Project Qualifications: The spark to ignite a love of lifelong learning?

What is metacognition?

What is an Extended Project Qualification?

How do Extended Project Qualifications impact students' other studies?

The impact of Extended Project Qualifications - what the figures say

Extended Project Qualifications as a tool to instill metacognition

Extended Project Qualifications: Worth more than the final grade

Through the looking glass: How polling the public can help policymakers learn about themselves

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

Student success: Every milestone matters

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

Join the conversation on Twitter

Download a PDF version.

Sign up to our newsletter