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Self-Regulation is the ability to regulate our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to meet a given goal. It plays a central role in planning, along with thinking and behaving flexibly, when dealing with new information. Self-Regulation is a limited capacity resource meaning that it can become depleted over the course of the task or day, or can become drained when students are spending much of their energy working to focus in the classroom. Self-Regulation is supported by executive functions (i.e., Working Memory, Inhibition, and Cognitive Flexibility) and helps students regulate learning across several domains: cognitive, behavioral, and emotional. Importantly, some students may lag behind others in their executive functions which can contribute to slower development of Self-Regulation. Students who have ADHD often have co-occurring difficulty with Sensory Integration, which also impacts the ability to self-regulate. Development of Self-Regulation in early childhood is often considered a key marker for school readiness, and predicts developmental outcomes and later life success, including academic achievement throughout primary school, adult educational attainment, feelings of higher self-worth, a better ability to cope with stress, and less risky behavior in adulthood.
Self-Regulation develops rapidly in early childhood, matures throughout adolescence, and is typically fully developed in early adulthood. Young children are dependent upon their teachers and caregivers to create safe and stimulating environments appropriate for learning how to Self-regulate through co-regulation, whereby educators or caregivers provide extensive scaffolding at the outset. Over time, adults begin fading support as children become more independent with the strategies developed together. As children's capacity for Self-Regulation grows, co-regulation becomes the ability to self-regulate without the support of another. As such, caregivers and educators play a key role in modeling skills and shaping the learning environment to promote Self-Regulation.
Self-regulated learners use Metacognition to consider their strengths and weaknesses relative to what they are tasked with, and identify strategies that will help them succeed. Similar to Metacognition, Self-Regulation includes recognizing behavioral responses and aligning them with standards, such as social expectations. Students can successfully accomplish Self-Regulation by flexibly monitoring and controlling Emotion, Attention, Motivation, actions, or impulses in pursuit of a goal.
It is important to note that the perception of appropriate behavior in schools may be influenced by dominant social norms in a culture and may not match students' own cultural norms, attitudes, and beliefs. Students who have been historically and systematically excluded, and those with disabilities, particularly those with ADHD, are at greater risk of disciplinary actions such as suspension for what is perceived as disruptive behavior. To reduce this bias, educators and students may benefit from incorporating social aspects of Self-Regulation, such as shared Regulation or socially responsible Self-Regulation, that bolster and support culturally responsive and inclusive practices. They emphasize communal aspects of learning, responsibility, and mutual respect, for instance, through creating opportunities for students and teachers to share strategies, and to use knowledge of heritage languages and cultures in the classroom. Additionally, students with learning disabilities and ADHD often have more difficulty with Self-Regulation in certain classroom contexts, which may be due to the additional demands of the learning environment or task, and may benefit from supplementary explicit instruction in self-regulated learning strategies.
Structure plays a key role in supporting Self-Regulation development, especially in early childhood. Learning environments with consistent, predictable routines and explicit expectations and goals promote a sense of Safety and security, allowing students to anticipate upcoming activities and expectations. It is important to note that Self-Regulation should not be equated with seeking compliant behavior, that is, seeking alignment between instructor and learner goals. A child who demonstrates “good” behavior may not necessarily demonstrate “good” Self-regulation on their own.
Teachers should build warm, responsive relationships with their students to promote students' self-efficacy, as well as model Self-Regulation skills, providing opportunities for practice. Curricular activities and approaches, such as play, can be a safe space to support children's development of Self-Regulation and agency as children learn to manage themselves physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively.
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