This paper presents the findings of a study focused on teacher-students interactions within primary classrooms in relation to the promotion of cognitive autonomy and self-regulated learning (SRL). The data was obtained from analyzing videos filmed for a centralized teaching assessment system implemented by the Chilean Government (Docentemás). 60 videos were randomly selected from the universe of teachers assessed in 2007-2008, considering different levels of teaching performance, content-domain (math or language) and school grades (1st-4th grade). A coding scheme was created considering the interaction as a unit of analysis. The codes described the ways used by teachers to promote the development of cognitive autonomy and SRL. The findings show that Chilean teachers do not actively promote these aspects of development. Moreover, the interactions are characterized as having low level of cognitive engagement and challenge. Findings are also analysed in light of the different scores given by “Docentemás”. Docentemás provides a holistic rating whereas this study uses an analytical one. Finally, we discuss issues related to (a) the convergences and contradictions between both ways to look at videos, (b) the advantages and disadvantages of using the interaction as unit of analysis and (c) the challenges of observing and comparing subject specific classes.