Teachers' beliefs about classroom practices that develop students’ metacognition and self-regulated learning skills

Lavinia Șuteu

doi:10.24193/adn.14.1.13

Abstract

Abstract: Teachers have an important role in promoting the development of metacognition and self-regulated learning in students. This study aims to reveal the beliefs and practices of preuniversity teachers regarding the best teaching strategies that can be used in the classroom to facilitate the development of students' metacognition and self-regulated learning skills. Teachers from pre-primary and school levels (ISCED 02-3) (International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) - Statistics Explained (europa.eu) participated in this research. Participants, 120 teachers, had to filled in an online form of the adapted version of the 'Self-Regulated Learning Opportunities Questionnaire', developed by Vrieling, Bastiaens, and Stijnen (2012), and to answer three open-ended questions. The questionnaire assessed the extent to which teachers use the following two strategies to promote metacognition and self-regulated learning in their classroom: planning (including goal-setting, metacognitive knowledge activation, task value activation, and time management) and monitoring of the learning process (including metacognitive awareness and monitoring of cognition). The open-ended questions aimed to reveal the participants' opinions about the best teaching practices that facilitate the development of metacognition and selfregulated skills of students, the factors that hinder the development of these skills and how teachers can promote self-regulated learning in their classrooms. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software for the quantitative data, and the thematic-analysis for the qualitative ones. Results show that teachers create some opportunities for students to develop their self-regulated learning skills, but face various problems in trying to develop these skills in the classroom context. The results of this study are discussed in relation to both classroom and school contexts, and the broader level of educational policies.

Highlights

Being an effective learner is of high importance in today's society if we consider the amount of information that can be found in various environments
There are some contexts in which students are encouraged to set learning goals, monitor their learning, activate metacognition and task value, and organize their learning time
Promoting and developing self-regulated and metacognitive learning in school is of high importance nowadays if we consider the large volume of information that students have access to and the changing role of a “good professional” who must unceasingly learn and adapt to new tasks and working contexts

Summary

Introduction

Being an effective learner is of high importance in today's society if we consider the amount of information that can be found in various environments. There are many ways in which a student can improve his/her learning and one is through the use of metacognition and self-regulated learning. Learning is a complex activity that involves the use of various strategies, including planning, knowledge activation, monitorization, assessment, and reflection. In the literature, these strategies have become known as self-regulated learning strategies. There are many studies on this topic, which are important for the research focused on learning. Research shows that students who use self-regulated learning have higher motivation and academic performance compared to students who don't use these strategies

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