Kindergarten programs around the world are required to balance having to integrate developmentally appropriate practices such as play-based learning (Lynch, 2014) and standards-based curriculum (Gullo & Hughes, 2011). However, this balance has resulted in some kindergarten curricula integrating academic learning outcomes into play sessions. For example, in Singapore, there has been a focus on ‘purposeful play’ which posits that play sessions are intentionally planned and facilitated in order to achieve the predetermined learning outcomes (Nicolopoulou, 2010). A study by Bautista and colleagues (2019) examined Learning Centre Time (LCT) in 108 Kindergarten classrooms in Singapore. Following the collection of video data, they found that certain subjects were prioritized more (literacy and arts) than other subjects (numeracy and science). Teachers were present 68% of the time at the learning centers and were found to be interacting with children or observing them. Some of the students were also provided with the opportunity to choose materials and resources in 80% of the classrooms. However, it is important to note that the materials and resources had already been pre-selected by teachers. The classroom observations highlighted that teachers acted as facilitators to varying degrees. Further, the quality of instructional support was low across learning centers. The authors concluded that the current curricular vision was not adequately integrated across the 108 Kindergarten classrooms citing a theory/practice gap.
Numerous learning benefits resulting from changes to Kindergarten programming include increased instructional time, improved academic outcomes, and a focus on developing self-regulation (Youmans et al., 2018). Self-regulation develops across the lifespan, but there is evidence suggesting that the first five years of life are particularly important for self-regulation development (Timmons et al., 2016, 2019; McCain et al., 2011). Self-regulation skills in kindergarten are related to improved learning outcomes and achievement (Blair & Raver, 2015; Edossa et al., 2017; McClelland & Cameron, 2012). Furthermore, measures of self-regulation in the early years have shown to predict future academic success, physical and mental health, income, occupational attainment, and risk taking behaviors (Blair & Raver, 2015; Duckworth, 2011; McClelland & Cameron, 2012; Moffitt et al., 2011; Pandey et al., 2018; Timmons et al., 2016, 2019; Zimmerman, 2002).
Self-regulation involves the ability to monitor one’s behaviors, emotions, cognitive processes, and social interactions within academic contexts (Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001) and within specific academic domains or skills such as mathematics (e.g., Blair & Razza, 2007; Cleary & Chen, 2009) and reading (Becker et al., 2014; Lonigan et al., 2017). The various aspects of self-regulation have different developmental trajectories with emotional regulation typically developing prior to behavioral regulation skills (Howse et al., 2003). Researchers emphasize that by the time children are three years of age, behavioral regulation skills develop at a faster rate than they have previously (Best & Miller, 2010; Rothbart et al., 2006).
Research over the past decade has broadened to include an examination of how individuals can support others in regulating their behaviors often referred to as co-regulation and socially shared regulation (e.g., Hadwin et al., 2010, 2011). Co-regulation occurs when one learner is supported by another or multiple learners to perform a specific task and develop self-regulatory skills (McCaslin & Hickey, 2001). Socially shared regulation is the process of multiple learners regulating an activity at the onset of the task which includes co-construction of the goals and strategies used (Jackson et al., 2000). More recently, researchers are beginning to examine the role of motivational beliefs in self-regulation (e.g., Scholer et al., 2018) and conceptually relating self-regulation to classroom assessment (e.g., Chen & Bonner, 2019). Generally, research has focused on connecting one specific aspect of classroom assessment to self-regulation, formative assessment which is the process of collecting data and sharing feedback to further direct student learning. The process of formative assessment can be facilitated by the teacher or by the students. Encouraging students to self-assess, reflect, or peer-assess puts them at the center of the assessment process (Clark, 2012; Panadero et al., 2018). By engaging students in the process of formative assessment they can better understand the learning conditions including the expectations while also providing them with a sense of agency (Clark, 2012; Smith et al., 2016). Formative assessment provides students with the opportunity to select different learning strategies, implement the strategies, and then reflect on the extent to which their strategies allowed them to attain their learning goals (Clark, 2012). Metacognition and self-regulation are related concepts; students need to be able to think about their learning and understand their cognitive processes (metacognition) in order to regulate their behaviors (Zimmerman, 2002). The conceptualization of self-regulation is broadening as it now encompasses the involvement of others as a strategy to help develop regulatory behaviors, thus, there is increased interest in how student involvement in various assessment processes can also encourage co-regulation (Panadero et al., 2018).
Conceptualizations of self-regulation
Traditionally, self-regulation was defined as the ability to control behaviors and emotions (Bandura, 1982, 1986). This conceptualization has evolved to include individual and social aspects including the ability to regulate behavior, cognition, and emotions, when working to accomplish a goal (Bauer & Baumeister, 2011; Diamond & Lee, 2011; Zimmerman, 2000). A facet of self-regulation, termed self-regulated learning, focuses on how a learner plans for their learning, uses various strategies, and engages in ongoing efforts to meet their desired goals. Through a social psychological lens, self-regulated learning can be understood through a cyclical process consisting of the forethought phase, the performance phase, and the self-reflection phase (Zimmerman, 2002). The forethought phase includes processes and an individual’s beliefs before they start engaging in the learning process. This might include self-efficacy beliefs or setting goals. The second phase, performance phase is centered around processes that occur during the period of learning such as using strategies and maintaining focus. Lastly, the third phase, termed the self-reflection phase includes processes after the period of learning such as evaluating the extent to which the goal was met, and the amount of satisfaction experienced by the learner.
According to Stuart Shanker, self-regulation is focused on how an individual manages stress and recovers through five domains: biological, emotional, cognitive, social, and prosocial (Shanker, 2017a, 2017b). Further, this model acknowledges the difference between self-regulation and self-control, emphasizing that self-control is not part of self-regulation as it is a short-term strategy. In this model, a child is unable to regulate their behaviors because they are not in a calm and focused state. Therefore, the role of educators and other adults is to help keep children calm and decrease their stress levels so that they are able to regulate their behaviors (Shanker, 2017a, 2017b). The process of self-regulation can be achieved through five steps. First educators and guardians need to be able to identify the signs of stress followed by identifying what is causing the stress. The educators and caregivers then need to work to decrease the stress and reflect to develop further awareness about the stress witnessed. Lastly, educators and caregivers can help teach the child how they can manage and alleviate the stressors themselves working towards restoring their body to a state of calm.
Despite the models of self-regulation discussed above, self-regulation as a construct remains fragmented and lacks a unified definition across contexts. This lack of a unified definition adds an additional barrier as practitioners work to develop students’ self-regulation skills (Boekaerts & Corno, 2005; Burman et al., 2015). Despite the fragmentation of the field, it is well understood that self-regulation is malleable and can be developed from a young age. Thus, early childhood educators and teachers are in a unique position to support the development of self-regulation in students in the early years. More specifically, this can be accomplished by providing students with explicit opportunities to practice regulating their behaviors, emotions, social interactions, and cognitive processes with direct feedback (Meusen-Beekman et al., 2015).
As mentioned earlier, one strategy used to develop students’ self-regulatory skills is co-regulation, a type of social regulation and scaffolding strategy (Bailey & Heritage, 2018). Co-regulation is the process of a ‘more capable’ individual regulating another individual (McCasslin, 2009). Teachers are in an excellent position to act as the ‘more capable’ other to regulate their students until they are able to self-regulate. A study conducted by Kurki and colleagues (2016) examined how early childhood teachers engaged in co-regulation in childcare settings. They collected video data of challenging social and emotional situations and used these videos to guide interviews with teachers 2–4 weeks following the observations. The findings reveal that teachers use a variety of strategies to help students regulate themselves including providing instructions for their behavior, providing a solution verbally, and encouraging discussion of emotions. During instances that were more challenging, teachers would use multiple strategies. The results demonstrated that teachers have some awareness of their use of co-regulation strategies, but could benefit from increased awareness.
Traditionally, researchers did not believe that young children were capable of self-regulating; however, the work of Schunk and Zimmerman (1994) revealed that these skills can be developed during the preschool years. By 2007, Whitebread and colleagues moved the field forward by providing classroom observational data suggested that students between three and five years of age were capable of demonstrating early variations of self-regulatory behaviors such as correcting the behaviors of other students by pointing and gesturing or by verbally providing them with corrective instructions. Methodological limitations have been offered as one barrier as to why early research on self-regulation did not showcase the capabilities of young children, including developmentally inappropriate tools for measuring self-regulation in young children (Whitebread et al., 2009). With the development of new tools for measuring self-regulation behaviors in young children (e.g., Perels et al., 2009; Ponitz et al., 2009; Whitebread et al., 2009), we can work towards better understanding how young children are able to regulate their behaviors in the early years.
Early childhood and play
Play provides an important and developmentally appropriate vehicle for children to learn (Bergen, 2009; Pyle & DeLuca, 2017). Scholars have identified the essentials tenants of ‘play’ including that it must be enjoyable, children must be able to have choice, children are engaged, and if they can modify the activity (Neumann, 1971). Additionally, play provides a mechanism for communication in children, play offers the opportunity for children to be creative and explore various materials, and their thoughts can be articulated through play as their language skills continue to develop. Other benefits of play include that it is an avenue for children to take risks, play can also empower children as they convey their ideas, and lastly play provides an ideal learning environment where children can function naturally (Bergen, 2009).
One challenge is that there is controversy over what is meant by play-based learning (Hawes et al., 2012; Pyle & Danniels, 2017). At one end of the spectrum are those that believe that play-based learning means providing children with unstructured play that is free from adult influence or interference (e.g., “free play”), while at the other end of the spectrum are those who see play-based learning as an opportunity to structure play for children with pre-established rules and expectations that should be followed (Hawes et al., 2012). Similarly, Pyle and Danniels (2017) found two different profiles in regard to teacher understanding of play-based learning (Pyle & Danniels, 2017). The first profile saw play and learning as separate constructs, these educators reported challenges in meeting academic demands using a play-based approach (children in these classrooms were primarily observed engaging in free play). The second profile included educators who believed that play supported academic learning and that teachers have an important role in supporting learning through play (children in these classrooms engaged in a variety of play opportunities that were situated along a continuum from child-directed to more teacher-directed play).
Self-regulation and play
Self-regulation as a process continues to expand in empirical literature; thus, there is a need to understand the ways in which this expansion is reflected in mandated early learning curriculum and policy documents. In Ontario, where the research was completed, a revised play-based full-day early learning kindergarten program was introduced in 2016 in a time and context in which a growing body of evidence pointed to the importance of play and self-regulation in promoting healthy child development (e.g., Bodrova & Leong, 2008; Durlak et al., 2011; Moffitt et al., 2010). Furthermore, research in the past decade also suggests that self-regulation and play are linked developmentally (Diamond & Lee, 2011; Timmons, 2019). When children are engaged in play, they develop and practice skills that are essential to self-regulated learning. For example, play provides opportunities for children to engage in flexible thinking, sustained attention, and goal-directed behavior. These are the types of behaviors that theorists argue are at the core of self-regulation (Baumeister & Vohs, 2011; Vohs & Baumeister, 2017). Taken together, the above research findings provide robust justification for investment in play-based programming. Despite growing knowledge that self-regulation can be fostered through play, little is known about what differentiates effective forms of play. For example, in 2008, Blair and Diamond noted that although the Tools of the Mind Curriculum (an early childhood curriculum designed to foster children’s executive function skills) fosters self-regulation skills, it was unclear what specific aspects of teacher–child and child–child interactions and play actually contribute to the development of self-regulation.
Given the controversy of what is meant by play-based learning it is not surprising that there is a lack of clarity in regards to what types of play foster self-regulated learning. This is further problematized by the lack of unified definition of self-regulation (Burman et al., 2015). Therefore, more research is needed in understanding the ways in which play-based learning and self-regulation are defined and promoted in practice and policy documents while also examining how these conceptualizations map onto definitions found in empirical literature. This research is necessary to ensure that policies involving play-based learning and self-regulation are aligned with theoretical conceptions in order to best equip teachers for success in the classroom using evidence-based practices. Thus, the purpose of this research is to understand and compare practice-oriented conceptualizations of self-regulation in a play-based policy document with theory-driven definitions from empirical literature. This research is important in understanding the extent to which practice-oriented conceptualizations are guided by the theoretical underpinnings of self-regulation. In this research, a qualitative document analysis was conducted to compare the conceptualization of self-regulation in Ontario’s play-based Kindergarten program (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016) with theory-driven models of self-regulation from empirical research. The results of this research indicate a need for policymakers to consider emerging conceptualizations of self-regulation when promoting the development of self-regulatory skills in kindergarten.
Setting the context
Ontario’s full-day kindergarten program was phased in over five years, beginning in 2010, with the goal to provide universally accessible Junior and Senior full-day (5 days a week) kindergarten across Ontario. The Kindergarten program is not mandatory in Ontario although the majority of parents/guardians opt to register their children in Kindergarten. There is also no cost for attending Kindergarten in Ontario (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2021a). Enrollment during the 2019–2020 year included 130,230 students in Junior Kindergarten and 136,544 in Senior Kindergarten (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2021b). The purpose of the full-day kindergarten program is to establish a strong foundation for learning that is child-centered, developmentally appropriate, and integrated for four- and-five-year-old children (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016). A child-centered approach is achieved in the full-day kindergarten program through a play-based environment that promotes the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of all children. Six fundamental principles guide the full-day kindergarten program and are reflective of the values, beliefs and best practices of current research in early learning (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016). Principle 5 specifically acknowledges the link between play and learning for young children, “play is a means to early learning that capitalizes on children’s natural curiosity and exuberance” (p. 4). Both child-initiated and teacher structured play-based learning are integral to successful implementation of the program (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016). Play has an important role in early learning and can be used to further learning in all areas of the full-day kindergarten program (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016).
The full-day kindergarten program provides a “single program with a single pedagogical and curriculum approach planned and delivered by qualified educators using common space and resources” (Pascal, 2009, p. 20). Ontario’s full-day kindergarten program is not simply a doubling of time; unique foundational elements include the professional knowledge base of a Registered Early Childhood Educator and a Kindergarten teacher who work collaboratively as partners in implementing a play-based curriculum. The draft full-day kindergarten program was published in 2010. In 2016, an updated kindergarten curriculum was introduced. The 2016 Kindergarten Program replaces the 2010 curriculum. Therefore, beginning in September 2016, all Kindergarten programs began to utilize the updated curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016). The updated curriculum incorporates the transformational changes in pedagogical approaches described in the 2010 curriculum, including the movement from a traditional pedagogy to a child-centered play-based program, and adds insights from educators working in the field along with additional research on early learning (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016). These revisions included the addition of four learning frames that are included to structure thinking, learning, and assessment in Kindergarten (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016). The frames include: (1) belonging and contributing, (2) self-regulation and well-being, (3) demonstrating literacy and mathematics behaviors, and (4) problem solving and innovating. The four frames include aspects of learning that are critical to young children’s learning. It was not surprising that given the increase in empirical literature on the importance of self-regulation that the revised 2016 kindergarten program included a focus on self-regulation as a key area of learning within the play-based curriculum. The unique play-based kindergarten curriculum in Ontario with a focus on self-regulation provided an opportunity to compare the conceptualization of self-regulation within this curriculum with theory-driven models of self-regulation from empirical research.