Effects of Increased Self-Regulated Learning Opportunities on Student Teachers' Motivation and Use of Metacognitive Skills

This intervention study focused on the relationships between primary student teachers' self-regulated learning (SRL) opportunities, their motivation for learning and their use of metacognitive learning strategies. The participants were 3 teacher educators and 136 first-year student teachers. During one semester, teacher educators and student teachers were monitored by questionnaires measuring opportunities for SRL offered by the program. Questionnaires were also administered monitoring student teachers' motivation and metacognition. During data collection, teacher educators participated in training courses and tutorial conversations aimed at increasing student teachers' SRL opportunities in the curriculum. At the end of the research period, all teacher educators and a sample of student teachers were interviewed. Results indicate that student teachers' use of metacognitive skills increased significantly in learning environments with increased SRL opportunities. Student teachers' motivation for learning was also enhanced, although to a lesser degree. Finally, significant correlations were found between the metacognitive study process construct and the motivational constructs measured.