Educator understanding of self-regulation and implications for classroom facilitation: A mixed methods study

Abstract

There is growing concern about the mental health and resilience of today’s children and difficulties with self-regulation are implicated in educational outcomes, cognitive problems, internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety, externalizing problems such as aggression, and physical health problems. Self-regulation is a growing topic of interest in a variety of disciplines and there are 447 different interpretations of what self-regulation means in the literature, which makes it difficult for educators to interpret and apply it in their classrooms. Due to advances in neuroscience, the Ontario Ministry of Education shifted toward a neurophysiological framework for the Self-Regulation and Well-Being Frame of the Kindergarten Program. The current study examined which frameworks Ontario kindergarten educators were using by analyzing the ways they described and facilitated self-regulation in the classroom through surveys, interviews, report cards, and classroom observations. Findings revealed that educators: have little experience and training with resources aligned with the Kindergarten Program’s approach to self-regulation, describe self-regulation as self-control, and facilitate self-regulation using a learning strategies approach. Educators were observed using fewer than a third of ministry self-regulation recommendations in the classroom. Implications and recommendations for aligning educator practices with the Kindergarten Program’s framework are discussed.