Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a key capacity enabling people for lifelong learning. Defined as “an active, constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation and behaviour, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features of the environment” (Pintrich, 2000: 453), SRL represents a strategic dimension of learning connected to the autonomy, commitment, and responsibility (Gargallo, 2012). And from this perspective, it is a key component of teacher education. SRL equips teachers with the capacity to continuously learn in order to prepare them for a challenging profession.

As SRL is related to the idea of control and autonomy on cognitive processes, it is identified with the knowledge control (Flavell, 1976), regulation and organisation of cognitive processes (Nisbet & Shucksmith, 1987) and knowledge and self -conscience on own’s cognitive mechanisms and processes (Brown, 1978). Thus, a self -regulated person actively participate in its cognitive, motivational, and behavioural processes (Zimmerman, 1989). However, achieving SRL capability it is not straight forward. It depends on a wide range of factors and the use of strategies and mechanisms needs to be put in place. The initial training represents a key moment in the way to achieve SRL capacity and prepares students with sustainable competencies for a future profession, where they must teach and support the development of such competencies to their own pupils. The current COVID-19 situation requires once more the teachers’ capacity to continually adapt to unpredictable conditions and to act upon them in order to ensure pupils education at least at the same high-level standards.

Developing SRL capacity depends on different factors and it is not a solitary achievement but requires participation and support of others (Tan & Koh, 2014; Ramírez Echeverry & García Carrillo, 2016). So, peers and teachers play an important role and cooperative and shared learning is a way to achieve it in a strategic and significant manner. Among different strategies to plan, monitor and control, the assessment and especially self and peer- assessment modes have a special place enabling students to develop their SRL capacity. Because of their capacity to engage students in their own learning, self-assessment strategies and tools play a strong and substantial role in developing students SRL capacity. However, their contribution is less understood and studied (Panadero, Brown, & Strijbos, 2016) in the field of education. Due to their complexity and lack of antecedents, “what is not yet clear is why and how self-assessment works” (Andrade, 2019), and studying its implications for pedagogy can contribute to moving forward the knowledge in the field.

On this regard, this study aims to analyse the processes of self-regulated learning of student teachers and the role it has in the development of professional skills. The paper proposal is part of a four-phase multi-method study, in which a survey study has been carried out in order to identify the processes of SRL of student teachers enrolled in Education Studies of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The survey used is an adaptation of Turan, Demirel and Sayek (2009) scale of SRL.

The study specifically addresses the following research questions: What is the student-teachers perception regarding their level of SRL development? How they perceive the development of different SRL dimensions? In order to respond to both questions, a survey study has been carried out. Among the gathering tools designed to analyse SRL, the research team decided to adapt and translate the scale proposed by Turan, Demirel and Sayek (2009). The decision was made since this scale addresses both teaching and learning aspects if we compare it with other similar scales. The tool was facilitated by its authors who also gave us instructions regarding its content, validation and guidance for its administration and analysis. The final questionnaire of 41 Likert items was translated into Catalan language and was specifically adapted to the education context, while keeping its four main categories: Motivation and Action Learning (M), Planning and Goal Setting (P), Strategies for learning and Assessment (S), and Lack of Self Directedness (L). The survey was administrated to a sample of 326 students from the Bachelors’ of Primary Education and Education Studies of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The participants were selected because they were enrolled in subjects in which SRL activities were implemented during the academic year. As a result, the participants are higher education students enrolled in several degrees of Education Sciences (83,1% in Teaching Education and 16,6% in Pedagogy) mainly from 2nd year (1st year = 29,8%, 2nd year= 63,5%, 3rd year= 6,7%). Overall, their age is 19 years old (M = 19,67; SD = 2,09) and 80,1% are women. The data has been analysed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS v.20). Univariate statistical analyses were performed using a Descriptive analysis. Specifically, we analysed means and the variance. Our future intention is to either validate the scale used and to analyze in deep the results of the four categories of the survey among degrees and courses, even though some of them are over-represented in the sample.

Data analysis shows that the highest means are mainly those related to Motivation and Action learning (M = 4.16, SD = 0.39). Students take action to face a problem (M = 4.52, SD = 0.57) and to learn according to their interests (M = 4.42, SD = 0.63). They also affirm that they search for possibilities to learn new things (M = 4.35, SD = 0.60). Regarding Planning and Goal Setting (M = 3.72, SD = 0.52), students acknowledge prioritizing their goals (M = 3.82, SD = 0.68), they manage their time to learn as efficiently as possible (M = 3.78, SD = 1.00) and they make a plan to use resources and strategies to reach their goals (M = 3.78, SD = 0.83). When asked about the Strategies Applied for Learning and Assessment (M = 3.69, SD = 0.39), they choose the most appropriate learning approach to reach their goals (M = 4.01, SD = 0.56) and they strive to eliminate any difficulties they face (M = 3.99, SD = 0.60) and to improve their weaknesses (M = 3.98, SD = 0.65). Lastly, the lowest means are related to the Lack of Self Directedness (M = 2.75, SD = 0.49). Students prefer no to wait for someone else to instruct them as to how to study (M = 1.95, SD = 0.86), they do not want others to solve their problems (M = 2.19, SD = 0.93) and they do not consider their instructor as the primarily responsible for their learning (M = 2.55, SD = 0.92). Thus, students mainly associate SRL with the motivation for learning and learning through action, give less importance to the planning phase and put even less emphasis to the assessment strategies in order to monitor and adjust their learning process. In addition, the role of peers or instructors to accompany them during the learning process appears to be a secondary issue. Results indicate that evaluation should take a more central role in education training, involving students in self-assessment activities systematically.

Andrade, H. L. (2019). A Critical Review of Research on Student Self-Assessment. Front. Educ (4)87. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00087 Brown, A. L. (1978). Knowing When, Where, and How to Remember: A Problem of Metacognition. In R. Glaser (Eds.), Advances in instructional psychology (Vol.1, pp. 77-165). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem-solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The Nature of Intelligence (pp. 231-235). Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Gargallo, B. (2012). Un aprendiz estratégico para una nueva sociedad. Revista Teoría de la Educación: Educación y Cultura en la Sociedad de la Información. 13(2), 246-272. Nisbet, J., & Schuksmith, J. (1987). Estrategias de aprendizaje. Madrid: Aula XXI. Ed. Santillana. Panadero, E., Brown, G. T. L., & Strijbos, J. W. (2016). The future of student selfassessment: A review of known unknowns and potential directions. Educational Psychology Review, 28(4), 803-830. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9350-2 Pintrich, P.R. (2000). The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. In M. Boekaerts, P. Pintrich & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of Self-Regulation (pp. 451-502). San Diego, CA: Academic Press Ramírez Echeverry, J. J., & García Carrillo, À. (2016). Self-regulation of learning and the skills of learning to learn and autonomy in learning for training in project engineering. In, 19th International Congress on Project Engineering: proceedings (15th-17th July 2015) (pp. 2443-2455). Granada, Asociación Española de Ingeniería de Proyectos (AEIPRO). Tan, L., & Koh, J. (2014). Self-directed learning: Learning in the 21st century education. Retrived from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lynde_Tan/publication/285591239_Self-Directed_Learning_Learning_in_the_21st_Century/links/5660f6d608ae4931cd59b54e.pdf Turan, S., Demirel, Ö., & Sayek, I. (2009). Metacognitive awareness and self-regulated learning skills of medical students in different medical curricula. Medical Teacher, 31(10): e477-483. Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning. Journal of educational psychology, 81(3), 329-356.