An important purpose of education is to enable pupil and students to independently put into practice what they have learned, in a context different from the one in which they were taught. For example, the aim is for a student to be able to pass his final exam independently, without a teacher still standing next to him to tell him which thinking steps comprise that complicated calculation. Subsequently, that pupil will become a student who has to start practising a profession independently, without an expert beside him who constantly makes adjustments. But despite – or perhaps because of – this task, in education we struggle with the question of how to guide pupils and students on their way to that independence.
Is repression the solution?
Indeed, teachers run into a lack of independence in their pupils or students much earlier. Thus, pupils and students do not do their homework, fail to meet deadlines, plan badly, do little with feedback they receive and are far too late studying for a test. As a result, teachers start using extra means of repression to make sure they do: adding deadlines, punishment if students do not hand in their homework on time, extra points if students have incorporated their feedback.
On paper, this might produce the desired results: deadlines are met, homework is done, feedback is processed. But in this way, teachers take over regulating the learning process from pupils and students.
Moreover, this way they teach pupils and students that they only have to do something if they get points for it or to evade sanctions.
Should we just wash our hands of it and leave pupils and students to their own devices under the guise of ‘independent learning’, like that colleague who once said: “With me, the lesson consists only of my explanations. They can do the processing of the material themselves at home, I’m not going to help them with that, because well, that’s independence”.
In effect, this means throwing pupils into the deep end without swimming trunks in the hope that they will learn to swim before they drown.
And this too does not lead to independence, because often it is precisely the pupils who were already able to shape their learning process independently who manage to do so, but the pupils who cannot do so automatically, drop out: they drown, or at best they teach themselves survival strategies that just help them reach the shore, but which in the rough sea will ultimately be of no use to them.
Again, this will not help many pupils in the end, and it also ensures that pupils who are helped to shape their learning process from home or who have learned it in another way are given a huge advantage over pupils who are not so talented in this area and, moreover, receive no external help. Besides, this way, education can never be the raging sea we might aim for.
But how? The importance of metacognition
Before answering this question, it is important to figure out what students actually need to shape this learning process. To do this, it is important to realise that learning actually takes place on two levels all the time.
The first level is the object level – performing the requested task – and the second is the meta-level – thinking about how you are performing that task[1]. For example, when you are reading a text, you are performing that task and at the same time you are constantly switching thoughts about the task. Think: ‘I’ve read something about this before’, ‘I can’t keep my concentration on it’ or ‘I don’t think I quite understand this word’.
These kinds of thoughts influence learning because they determine the consequence we give to them: looking up a word, for example, or perhaps quitting the learning task. This last level is also known as metacognition: thinking about the thinking you do.
Research shows that the extent to which pupils can make targeted use of this metacognition determines more than 40% of their learning performance[2]. More than elements such as motivation or intelligence, things we often attribute great importance to. The way in which pupils can assess their own learning and adjust accordingly makes a big difference to study success.
But also, self-regulation
Besides metacognition, self-regulation also plays an important role in monitoring and adjusting one’s own learning process. Whereas metacognition is more about the learner’s thoughts about the learning process, self-regulation is more about regulating feelings and behaviour[3]. Thus, when a learner performs a learning task and feels very proud because she seems to have finally mastered it and that expresses itself through even more practice, this learner is self-regulating.
Although there are many different definitions and models in circulation, all of which interpret the relationship between these concepts slightly differently, we would like to posit this definition, based on James Mannion & Kate McAllister’s definition[4] and that of Jeltsen Peeters[5]:
Self-regulated learning is the process by which a learner (in the broadest sense of the term) monitors and adjusts thoughts (metacognition), behaviour and feelings (self-regulation) in a learning task to achieve a particular learning goal.
Zimmerman’s model
One of the most widely used models to interpret self-regulated learning in practice is Barry Zimmerman’s 2009 model[6]. This model divides a learning task into three phases: the preparation phase, in which a task is planned; an execution phase, in which monitoring and adjustment take place during the task; and the reflection phase, in which self-evaluation takes place. All these phases consist of a number of strategies that can be deployed, 21 in total.
Before, during and after
During any task, you will (consciously or unconsciously) use strategies for self-regulated learning. For example, when I read a research paper for my work, I will think before I start about how much time it will take approximately, when I will be satisfied, which parts of the text I want to read more thoroughly or perhaps I might skip.
While reading, I check whether I really understand the text, how it fits in with my knowledge on the subject, whether I can still keep my concentration on it or perhaps stray to my to-do list, and whether it is worth continuing to read or not. And when I close my laptop to start vacuuming the house before continuing, I think about why I couldn’t keep my attention and what I want to do differently next time.
From students, we also expect them to shape their learning in this way. And we often assume that students just can or simply can’t do that, or that we can’t teach it to someone else, because it is something that has to be learnt through practical experience. And so we often expose students a lot to situations where they have to adjust themselves. That creates situations like the one outlined at the beginning of this blog, in which we as teachers either externalise the shaping of that learning process through sanctions or rewards, or leave students to their own devices in the hope that they will ‘learn it by themselves’. Often with the best of intentions, but nevertheless not very effective.
Self-regulated learning can be learned!
In fact, various studies show that self-regulated learning is very learnable[7]! In fact: it is necessary to receive explicit instruction in these skills in order to be able to do this well, to provide appropriate support in this (the support that the learner needs at that point in his learning process) and to phase it out, because eventually the learner will have to be able to do it himself. How to go about this will be described in a follow-up blog. Also formative action can be useful for this.
Conclusion
Moving towards independence is thus a complex process, in which the teacher must provide appropriate support, both in the content and in the design of the learning process. This means that teaching must also pay attention to pupils’ metacognition and self-regulation during that learning process: self-regulated learning. This is not something learners can do on their own. A follow-up blog will address how to give pupils the help they need so that they will eventually be ready for the raging sea!
Notes
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3UX5XjWFOE ↑
- Veenman, M.V.J. (2013). Training metacognitive skills in students with availability and production deficiencies. In: H. Bembenutty, T. Cleary, & A. Kitsantas (Eds.),Applications of Self-Regulated Learning across Diverse Disciplines. (p. 299-324). Carlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. ↑
- Mannion, J. & McAllister, K. (2020). Fear is the mind killer. Why learning to learn deserves lesson time – and how to make it work for your pupils. Woodbridge: John Cat Educational Ltd. ↑
- idem ↑
- Peeters, J. (2022) Zelfregulerend leren. Hoe? Zo! Leuven: Lannoo. ↑
- Zimmerman, B. J., & Moylan, A. R. (2009). Self-regulation: Where metacognition and motivation intersect. In D. J. Hacker, J. Dunlosky, & A. C. Graesser (Eds.), Handbook of metacognition in education (pp. 299–315). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group ↑
- O.a. Sins, P. (2023). Zelfregulerend leren gaat niet vanzelf. Maar hoe dan wel? Rotterdam: Hogeschool Rotterdam ↑
