Best Practice

Executive function: Teaching vital skills for early years and primary pupils

Teaching and Learning In the classroom
What are executive function skills and why could they be crucial to the progress and achievement of primary pupils – especially those growing up with disadvantage? Laura McPhee explains and looks at the work of one primary school
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The benefits of metacognition are widely accepted in education – but what exactly are executive function skills and how can they help our young learners?

The phrase “executive function” refers to a set of skills including, but not limited to, the capacity to plan ahead, meet goals, exercise self-control, and stay focused despite distractions.

 

How are these skills developed?

Our genes provide the blueprint for learning these skills, but they develop through experiences and practice. The foundation is laid in infancy when babies first learn to pay attention.

Relationships with care-givers are particularly important at this stage. Something as simple as playing a game of “peekaboo” can help build the early foundations of working memory and self-control as a baby anticipates the surprise.

These skills typically develop most rapidly between ages of 3 and 5, followed by another spike in development during adolescence and early adulthood (see Harvard, 2024).

They are developed over a sustained period of time and require significant practice. However as children begin to master executive function skills, they are able to successfully navigate more aspects of their environment.

Adults can play an important role in helping children to learn and practise these skills over time. This is achieved through establishing routines, breaking big tasks into small chunks, and encouraging games that promote creative thinking, imagination, role-playing, and impulse control.

These strategies scaffold the learning for pupils until they are able to perform these executive function skills independently.

 

Why executive function?

As pupils become more proficient with executive function skills, they are empowered to participate more fully in classroom discussions, activities, and enrichment activities. Both the learner and the wider school community benefit.

So, nurturing executive function is important if we want children to grow into adults capable of managing competing priorities such as parenting, employment, further education, and civic involvement.

Competency in executive function prepares children for participation in wider society and life beyond the school gates.

Research in this area suggests that when people with strong executive function experience poor health, they stick to healthy habits and are more able to effectively manage stress (Diamond, 2012).

Executive function measured in childhood can also be an indicator of a range of outcomes including higher socio-economic status, fewer drug-related problems, and criminal convictions in adulthood (Moffitt et al, 2011).

 

What does this mean for learners?

The Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit notes that development of self-regulation and executive function is consistently linked with successful learning, including pre-reading skills, early mathematics, and problem-solving.

Strategies that seek to improve learning by increasing self-regulation have an average impact of three additional months’ progress across the year (although the evidence base for the early years is based on a small number of studies). The EEF also notes that disadvantaged pupils are disproportionately more likely to benefit from this intervention. (EEF, 2023).

Research also suggests that disadvantage is both a social and biomedical issue. In an article in Headteacher Update, poverty researcher Sean Harris (2022) summarises a wealth of emerging research showing that children living in poverty have less grey matter in their hippocampus, frontal, and temporal cortex, impairing their capacity for impulse control, emotional regulation, and memory function.

He writes: “Children living in households experiencing poverty or near to poverty benchmarks were found to have lower average total grey matter volumes. In some cases, this was linked to memory retrieval and processing too.

“Links between disadvantage, reading and early language development have also been made. It is important to note that research is still emerging on this topic. Current studies appear to share a consensus that the influences of poverty on brain development come from an accumulation of factors and the length of exposure to these social environments.”

As Sean’s article usefully summarises, increased scientific attention has focused on the toxic consequences of stress for brain function and mental and physical health.

And as he states, it is important to note that research is still emerging, but given what we know about the brain’s plasticity, evidence suggests that this high-impact and relatively low-cost intervention focusing on self-regulation and executive function skills – in conjunction with high-quality care-giving – has the potential to “repair” the adverse effects of poverty on the developing brain.

 

Firing and wiring together

Executive function skills are malleable, meaning they can change and are influenced by both positive and negative experiences. Stress, poverty, and disadvantage can have adverse effects on executive function skills.

However, supportive care-giving, and high-quality early education and practice can help improve executive function skills.

Experience-dependent plasticity is a well understood principle of brain development. You may be familiar with the phrase “cells that fire together, wire together” (Posner & Rothbart, 2007). This is used to describe how pathways in the brain are formed and reinforced through repetition. The more a brain does a certain task, the stronger that neural network becomes, making the process more efficient each successive time.

Childhood executive function skills provide an important foundation for all learners. However it is worth noting difficulty in mastering executive function skills is often associated with a number of other learning difficulties pupils may face, including neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorders. Therefore strategies for developing pupils’ executive function skills have the potential to help all pupils, including those with protected characteristics.

 

Case study

Headteacher and social justice advocate Naheeda Maharasingam has developed a sophisticated programme of study for executive function. The programme has been co-developed with MindSpark CIC and is underpinned by her school’s commitment to equity.

Rathfern Primary School is a large two-form entry school in Lewisham, south London. Graded outstanding in 2021, the school serves a diverse community and the leadership team’s moral purpose is driven by:

  • Nurturing powerful self-regulated learners.
  • Offering a broad and balanced curriculum which promotes a sense of belonging.
  • Nurturing passionate citizens of the world.

More recently this has included an action research project into the development of the 11 recognised executive function skills:

  1. Metacognition
  2. Task initiation
  3. Organisation
  4. Planning and prioritisation
  5. Impulse inhibition
  6. Sustained attention
  7. Cognitive flexibility
  8. Working memory
  9. Emotional control.
  10. Time management.
  11. Persistence towards goals.

The leadership team places a high premium on developing a shared understanding of executive function skills from the outset.

Before any work with pupils took place, staff members were asked to assess their own strengths and areas for development against each of the executive function skills to determine their own profile.

They explored the idea that an individual’s profile may alter in different contexts or when exposed to different stressors. This enabled staff to empathise with pupils who may find certain parts of the school day more challenging – for example break and lunch times as these are traditionally less structured.

The leadership team was also keen that a collegiate approach was adopted. For this reason the art teacher was commissioned to design an icon for each of the 11 executive function skills.

Stakeholders, including the pupils, were invited to name the icons. For example “Deep thinking Dante” – an octopus who has three hearts – represents emotional control.

In keeping with this approach, when the team was trained to deliver and roll-out executive function coaching for pupils, they engaged in “vertical slicing” to ensure a cross-section of the staff body was included, from midday meal supervisors to class teachers, middle leaders to the headteacher.

The co-creation of icons, high-quality professional development, and high levels of stakeholder engagement resulted in consistency of provision and fidelity to the programme.

 

How was the work with pupils implemented?

There is a multifaceted approach to developing pupils’ executive function skills at Rathfern Primary which includes:

 

Foundational Knowledge: The essential information about executive function skills must be learned so that pupils can then apply this learning in a variety of contexts. For example key knowledge and language is modelled by the headteacher in weekly assemblies and rich discussion takes place.

Universal offer: Pupils across all phases are able to take part in weekly executive function lessons. In early years this consists of short 10-minute sessions. The time is increased for each key stage – in year 6 pupils take part in sessions lasting 25 minutes.

Targeted offer: When class teachers identify pupils who are struggling with a particular executive function, they have the autonomy and agency to deliver an intervention directly related to the executive function skill the pupils are struggling with. This may be “on-the-spot” intervention or delivered as pre/post-teaching.

Intensive coaching: Identified pupils are also offered one-to-one coaching from a trained executive function coach. The sessions last 20 minutes and take place three times a week. The parents of children receiving coaching are also offered high-quality training and meet regularly with coaches to discuss strategies for their child.

 

As Naheeda explained: “The more time we invest in developing pupils’ executive function, the more our school community benefits. This has had policy implications for us, we have rewritten our teaching and learning and behaviour policy to reflect our newer way of thinking.

“We identify and plan opportunities for young people to engage in dialogue, practical tasks and take appropriate actions to become thoughtful, curious, responsible citizens of the planet.”

As children move on from the early childhood years and enter primary school, they develop a stronger grasp of their physical world and become more systematic and logical thinkers.

While the development of executive function skills is beneficial for all pupils, champions of social justice will note that the intervention disproportionately benefits those with weaker executive functions and that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to display weaker executive functions.

As such, could early executive function training reduce social disparities in achievement and health by reducing the executive function gap?

 

Executive function: Classroom tips

Working memory

  • Use short instructions and keep information brief. Don’t overload the child with too much information at a time.
  • Use visual reminders and checklists, e.g. use colours, cartoons with speech bubbles.
  • Encourage jottings or notes to reduce the load on their memory and use highlighters.
  • Give them extra time to process information and think about what they see or hear.

Organisation

  • Visual/itemised timetables/kit lists/routines. Chronological to-do lists.
  • Homework diary management.
  • Checking in with an adult at the start/end of the day.
  • Timetabled personal organisation time.
  • Colour-coding or transparent pencil cases etc.
  • Short, timed tasks using a sand-timer.

Sustained attention

  • Introduce short movement breaks. Children who tend to struggle with attention often do better if they have a physical activity break.
  • Break-down tasks into smaller chunks.
  • Remove distractions – remember even clutter within the learning environment can become distracting.
  • Keep instructions short, clear, and simple.
  • Establish routines to reduce the cognitive load.
  • Play focus games that are fun but require attention, e.g. “Simon says” for younger pupils.
  • Positive encouragement (a little praise goes a long way).

Task initiation

  • Learning common routines: What do you need to do this task? What are the steps (beginning, middle, end)? What does “finished” look like?
  • Work with an adult or peer to help them with the first part of a task.

Planning and prioritisation

  • Set-up situations where the child can succeed by starting with tasks that are easier for them.
  • Introduce small “thinking” tasks within the bigger task (e.g. “let’s stop and think about what kind of picture you’re going to draw”).
  • Gradually extend the length of tasks.
  • Use simple verbal or non-verbal reminders – possibly a codeword – to remind them to focus.

Cognitive flexibility

  • Use visual timetables.
  • Give verbal/visual notice of upcoming changes in tasks or routines.
  • Consistent routines for beginnings and endings. Treat transitions as a separate activity; one to prepare and plan for, e.g. spend time talking about changing from one activity to another.

 

  • Laura McPhee is headteacher at Loughborough Primary School in Lambeth. She is a facilitator for the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) on behalf of the London South Teaching School Hub. She is also board member for the Virtual School Management Board, executive committee member of the Lambeth Safer Children Partnership and guest lecturer at London South Bank University. Find her previous articles and podcast appearances for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/laura-mcphee

 

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