Why We’re Teaching Executive FunctionBackwards
Building the foundations before teaching the strategies, featured in Issue 71 of Teachers Matter Magazine
More often than not, when educators think about executive functions, we jump straight to time management, organisation, and planning. But consider this: professional organisers, wedding planners, and executive assistants have built entire careers on those exact skills. Which means something important: these are advanced executive functions. So what are executive functions? Executive functions are the brain-based skills that help us manage ourselves in order to achieve a goal. They allow us to start tasks, stay with them, adjust when needed, and follow through. They include skills like attention, working memory, regulation, and cognitive flexibility. And here is the part we often miss: not all executive functions are created equal. Some are foundational, and some are advanced. When we skip the foundation, the advanced skills do not stick.
The Foundational Executive Functions
1. Attention
Attention is the entry point. If a student cannot attend to information, they cannot process it, store it, or act on it. Attention allows students to take in directions, notice important details, and stay engaged long enough to begin. Without attention, nothing else activates.
2. Working Memory
Working memory is often described as “memory in action”. Cognitive scientist Nelson Cowan’s research has been instrumental in establishing working memory’s central role in learning and performance, demonstrating how deeply it shapes a student’s ability to follow directions, retain steps, and apply information in real time. In the classroom, this shows up constantly: following multi-step directions, remembering what to do next, and holding onto key information during a lesson. A student may remember the first step but lose the last one along the way.
3. Regulation
Regulation is not just behaviour. It is the ability to manage thoughts, emotions, and actions. When students become overwhelmed, frustrated, or fatigued, their ability to access executive functions decreases. The brain shifts away from the prefrontal cortex, and everything becomes harderto manage. This is why a capable student can suddenly appear off task or unmotivated.
4. Cognitive Flexibility
Most people think of cognitive flexibility as all-or-nothing thinking, and while that is part of it, cognitive flexibility goes much deeper. It isthe ability to shift thinking, adapt strategies, and approach tasks in different ways, especially when something is not working. In the classroom, this showsup in subtle but important ways. In maths, a student can solve a problem one way but struggles when asked to try a different strategy. In reading, a student interprets a word one way and has difficulty adjusting meaning based on context. In writing, a student resists revising because they are stuck on their original idea. What can look like resistance is often rigidity, and what can look like not trying is often a brain that does not yet know how to shift.
From Foundation to Application
Once these foundational systems are in place, students are far more able to engage in advanced executive functions like planning, organisation, and time management. Without the foundation, these advanced skills break down, not because students are unwilling, but because the system cannot yet support them. As author and educator Eric Jensen has emphasised, the brain must be ready for learning before it can effectively manage complex tasks. Cognitive flexibility is what allows students to move forward when things don’t go as planned.
What This Means for Your Classroom
As executive function researchers Peg Dawson and Richard Guare have consistently argued, meaningful change in executive function begins with the environment long before it shows up in the student. Before we expect students to manage complex tasks independently, we need to look at the supports, structures, and demands we are placing around them. So where do we begin? Not with planners or colour-coded binders, but by looking at what the environment is asking of the student and whether the foundational systems are in place to meet that demand. To reduce the working memory load, give one to two steps at a time both verbally and in writing, keep directions visible, and ask “What is your first step?” rather than “Doyou understand?” To support regulation, build in pause moments by saying “Take a moment to think” before students are expected to respond. To build cognitive flexibility, ask “Is there another way to approach this?” and normalise having an A plan and a B plan. Before intervening, observe whatis actually happening. Did the student lose the steps? Did they shut down? Did they get stuck? Each of those points to a different foundational system, and when we understand what is driving the behaviour, our responses become far more targeted and effective.
A Final Thought
Executive function is not a checklist of skills. It is a system. When we understand that system, we move from reacting to student behaviour to responding with intention.
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