Teacher Cognitive Transformation and Support for Self-Regulated Learning: A Qualitative Study in Primary Education

Abstract

This study examines how the transformation of teachers’ pedagogical cognition is reflected in their support for pupils’ self-regulated learning in primary education. Despite the growing emphasis on student autonomy, the discursive-reflective transformation of teacher cognition remains under-researched, creating a gap between reform ideals and classroom reality. The study asks how discursive-reflexive changes in teachers’ pedagogical thinking become visible in pedagogical discourse, didactic decision-making, and the gradual transfer of regulatory responsibility to pupils. An iterative qualitative research design was employed, drawing on focus groups, classroom observations, and microteaching situations. The study addresses a critical gap in the literature by examining the friction between teachers’ declared support for autonomy and the actual discursive transfer of regulatory responsibility in the classroom. Data were analysed through open, axial, and selective coding with the aim of reconstructing process patterns across data sources. The findings indicate that teachers’ ways of talking about learning are closely related to how they organise classroom interaction and support pupils’ regulation of learning. Overall, the findings indicate that support for self-regulated learning is not reducible to isolated teaching techniques, but is closely linked to changes in teachers’ pedagogical cognition and the gradual redistribution of regulatory responsibility in classroom interaction.