Abstract

The development of metacognition is often considered to occur primarily during secondary education. Teachers play a vital role in fostering students’ intellectual and metacognitive skills, helping them become self-regulated learners capable of achieving academic success. However, if teachers lack confidence in or understanding of metacognition, they may struggle to integrate it effectively into their classrooms. The present study is set out to explore the knowledge and views of Greek secondary general education teachers on metacognition and whether they apply metacognitive strategies to support students with or without learning difficulties. A qualitative research method for data collection was applied. The results revealed that their understandings of metacognition were rather fragmentary. Hence, their metacognitive teaching instruction is at a preliminary and exploratory stage. Lack of awareness of metacognition, the content of the subject, lack of time, lack of a specialized framework of metacognitive teaching, children’s lack of interest, and the curriculum itself appear to hinder the implementation of metacognitive strategy instruction. To improve their metacognitive skills, most teachers recommend participating in training seminars on metacognition. Additionally, they recommended incorporating metacognitive instruction into preservice teacher education programs.