Supporting self-regulation


What is self-regulation?

Self-regulation is the awareness and control of your own thinking, learning and emotions.

Research shows that, of all the many ways in which children develop in their early years, one of the most beneficial to short-term and long-term outcomes is their ability to self-regulate. Therefore, self-regulation impacts a child's ability to develop in other key areas.

At birth, babies are entirely dependent on adults and older children. A baby’s mental processes, physical activity and emotional expression are simply a response to events. As children grow and develop into toddlers and young children, they become increasingly able to do things for themselves. They also start to gain self-awareness and start to be able to control their mental processes, physical activity and emotions. Children move from being ‘other-regulated’ to being ‘self-regulated’.

Child pointing out a path to a young child.

Children’s early social experiences have a significant influence on their development of self-regulation, so, high-quality early years education is key.

This video shows one example of how children can demonstrate self-regulation:    

           

 Video transcript - Self-regulation


Components of self-regulation

Self-regulation development has three linked components, each of which needs to be supported by the children's experiences within your setting, including with the adults that are supporting their learning. These components are:

Executive functioning

Executive functions are the basic brain functions that enable us to get things done efficiently. They help us stay focused and to remain organised. The main elements are:

      • Self-control. or control of attention. For example, persisting with tasks and avoiding distractions, and setting goals for ourselves
      • Working memory – the ability to hold information in mind while applying it. For example, being able to remember instructions while carrying them out
      • Mental flexibility –  the ability to consider actions. For example, trying different approaches to tasks to avoid repeating the same errors.

Metacognition

Metacognition is a child’s increasing awareness and understanding of their own thought processes, and their use of this awareness to develop more effective ways of learning. 

This might be, for example, talking about how they plan to make a den, including how they want it to look, and what resources they might need. The child then starts to make the den but discovers some difficulties in their original idea, or realises that they need additional resources. Instead of giving up, they adapt their original plan and carry on. Finally, they may talk about what they like about their finished den, what’s worked well or what they might do differently if they were to build a den again. 

Effort control

Effort control is a child’s ability to manage their emotions in order to apply executive functions and metacognition, therefore enabling successful outcomes. For example, finding enjoyment in a challenging task and persisting with it to achieve it successfully.