submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology of the University of Zululand, 1997. / The present study examines the relationship between metacognitive strategy instruction and academic performance among children with learning problems. The metacognitive strategy instruction was based on a metalearning model. Thirty nine pupils with learning problems from grades 4 and 5 participated in the study. Academic performance data on curriculum based history tests and data from the self-report Metacognitive Learning Process Questionnaire (MLPQ) were collected. Baseline pretest data from History Test 1 indicated that pupils attained average percentage scores. Subsequent to training in the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies pupils produced significantly higher performance scores on History Test 2. No statistically significant differences were found between the pre- and post application of the MLPQ. Increases in the cognitive and metacognitive strategies and test writing abilities sub-tests of the MLPQ were indicated. The results clearly indicated that training in metacognitive strategies coincided with an increase in academic performance. The broader implications and limitations of the study are discussed.