01 The four phases of the cycle
M
Metacognition
The teacher designs tasks that require planning, monitoring and adjusting.
The student reflects on how they are learning.
I
Inner life
The teacher creates spaces to connect content with personal experience.
The student asks why what they learn matters to them.
R
Resilience
The teacher designs tasks with real and unavoidable difficulty.
The student treats error as information, not as failure.
A
Agency
The teacher designs authentic products with real decisions.
The student acts without waiting for instruction and produces something new.
02 The four environmental constraints that MIRA answers
Constraint ①
Digital immediacy
Erodes sustained attention and tolerance of waiting. MIRA responds with deliberate cognitive friction in phase M.
Constraint ②
Family overprotection
Produces students with no experience of managed error or real decisions. MIRA responds with planned difficulty in phase R.
Constraint ③
Low tolerance of failure
Error is experienced as a threat to identity. It blocks Metacognition because someone who avoids error cannot reflect on their process.
Constraint ④
Void of meaning
With no purpose or vital anchor, learning does not take root. MIRA responds by creating personal connection in phase I.
03 Empirical foundation — effect sizes (Cohen's d)
M · Metacognition
1.33
Student self-assessment (Hattie 2009). The greatest effect available.
I · Inner life
0.47
Academic self-concept. Intrinsic motivation predicts deep learning.
R · Resilience
0.73
Feedback on the process (Hattie). Desirable difficulty improves retention.
A · Agency
1.44
Student expectations. The leading overall factor in Visible Learning.
d ≥ 0.60 = large, pedagogically significant effect · Source: Hattie, Visible Learning (2009, updated 2023)
"
The factor with the greatest impact on learning is not the teaching method but the student's capacity to self-assess. When students can see their own learning from the teacher's perspective, the effect is transformative.
John Hattie · Visible Learning (2009) · Meta-analysis of more than 1,800 studies
04 Vertical progression of self-assessment
Early Years
Learning Hands
The child signals their level with their hands: I watch it, I try it, I do it myself.
Years 1–4 Primary
Star sheet ★ with descriptors
The student rates with stars. The teacher contrasts and adjusts if necessary.
Years 5–6 Primary
Rubric by level
The student assesses before submission using the rubric with the A–D criterion.
ESO (Secondary)
Checklist YES / PARTLY / NO
The student indicates where in their work the evidence for each item is.
05 MIRA compared with other reference models
| Pedagogical dimension |
IB |
H2020 |
MIRA |
| Explicit, assessable metacognition | ◑ | ◑ | ✓ |
| Resilience as an explicit assessable dimension | ◑ | ◑ | ✓ |
| Applicable without external accreditation | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Compatible with LOMLOE without adaptation | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Two formalised teacher–student tracks | — | — | ✓ |
| No spatial transformation of the school | ◑ | — | ✓ |
| Shared descriptors ages 3–18 | ◑ | ✓ | ✓ |
06 Wellbeing and demand are not opposites
Extractive demand — to avoid
Demand without support. A challenge that exceeds available capacity with no relational or cognitive resources. Produces exhaustion, disengagement and anxiety.
Generative demand — the aim
A challenge calibrated to each student's real capacity, with the resources needed to get through it. Produces real competence, pride in the process and sustained intrinsic motivation.