Early Years Practitioner Guidance

What is self-regulation?

Self-regulation is 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, the most beneficial to short-term and long-term outcomes is their ability to self-regulate.

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

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

Components of self-regulation

Self-regulation development has three interrelated components, each of which needs to be supported by children’s experiences within your setting:

Implementation

Early years practitioners’ own self-regulatory abilities are generally high, and this is associated with high levels of self-regulation support for their learners. However, increased awareness of practices which support children’s self-regulation can further enhance the quality of your practice in this important area. To support the components of self-regulation development, your setting should provide the following:

Watch the video to find out more about how you can support the development of self-regulation:

Links with other teaching and learning approaches

The following two teaching and learning approaches underpin the practices described above and so have a vital role in self-regulation development: