Bringing about change in the classroom: strengths and weaknesses of the self-regulated learning approach—EARLI Presidential Address, 2001

In an attmpt to help both students and teachers to change their traditional roles in the classroom, educational psychologists have engaged in two types of projects. The first project can be condensed to “understanding the dynamics of self-regulated learning”. The second project can be summarized as “understanding the dynamics of powerful learning environments as a way to promote self-regulation in the classroom”. In this essay I attempt to establish the centrality of self-regulation as a theoretical assumption and a fundamental psychological construct. I argue that most current psychological models of self-regulation, and by implication the innovation programs that are based on these models, are not well focused, are incomplete, and harbor many misconceptions. I also argue that educational psychologists need to broaden the way they conceptualize the dynamics of learning contexts and find new ways to study the integrated processes that make up self-regulation in the context of the classroom. My main message is that students bring their own goals to the classroom and that these goals are the key to their adaptation system. These personal goals give meaning and organization, or in other words purpose, to a student’s adaptation processes in the classroom. Some of my comments are critical, but I do not intend to discredit the important work that has been done in this area. Rather, I want to argue that educational psychologists nee to broaden the way they conceptualize the dynamics of learning contexts and find new ways to study the integrated processes that make up self-regulation in teh context of the classroom. Doing so requires not only using a kaleidoscope of teaching methods, but also looking beyond these methods to explore the possibilities of theories that remain marginalized in educational research.