SRL in context: contextual supports for the early development of self-regulated learning

This project was funded by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Early Career Research Award DECRA (DE150100731). It used a longitudinal design to explore children's development of self-regulated learning and executive functions as they made the transition from the first to the second year of compulsory education in Western Australia. It also investigated the role of the home and classroom environments as predictors of children's developmental trajectories.

This project used a longitudinal design which collected data at three different points in time in order to assess children’s self-regulation and academic skills. In addition, measures of the home and classroom environment were taken to identify associations between self-regulation development and contexts relevant to young children.

Children experience significant growth in self-regulation skills in the first two years of schooling and this growth in self-regulation is associated with growth in literacy and numeracy skills. Self-regulation is associated with parental behaviours that are warm and which support children’s autonomy, while also having low levels of conflict. Self-regulation is associated with home environments where caregivers frequently engage with their children in age-appropriate activities, and where children experience low levels of confusion and disorganisation.

• Davis, H., Valcan, D., & Pino-Pasternak, D. (2021). The relationship between executive functioning and self-regulated learning in Australian children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39, 625-652. http://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12391.
• Malpique, A. A., Pino-Pasternak, D., & Sofia Roberto, M. (2020). Writing and reading performance in Year 1 Australian classrooms: Associations with handwriting automaticity and writing instruction. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-09994-z .
• Malpique, A. A., Pino-Pasternak, D., & Valcan, D. (2017). Handwriting automaticity and writing instruction in Australian kindergarten: An exploratory study. Reading and Writing. doi: 10.1007/s11145-017-9753-1 Reading and Writing, 30, 1789-181.
• Neale, D., & Pino-Pasternak, D. (2016).A review of reminiscing in early childhood settings and links to sustained shared thinking. Educational Psychology Review. doi: 10.1007/s10648-016-9376-0.
• Pino-Pasternak, D., Malpique, A. A., & Valcan, D. (2019). Associations between the home environment, parenting and self-regulation in early childhood. In D. Whitebread, V. Grau, K. Kumpulainen, M. McClelland, N. Perry, & D. Pino-Pasternak (Eds.) The Sage Handbook of Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education (pp.487-501). London: SAGE Publishing.
• Valcan, D., Davis, H., & Pino-Pasternak, D. (2018). Parental behaviours predicting early childhood executive functions: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 30, 607-649.
• Valcan, D., Davis, H., Pino-Pasternak, D., & Malpique, A. A. (2020). Executive functioning as a predictor of children’s mathematics, reading and writing. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2020.101196 .