The fundamentals of a potentiating learning milieu: expanding capacity for student internalisation and self-regulated learning

The fundamentals of a potentiating learning milieu: expanding capacity for student internalisation and self-regulated learning

In learning communities, academic and social education of students require teachers, as significant and influential role models, to create learning contexts that promote self-regulation, while attending to the psychological needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness. Environments that promote the appropriate balance of autonomy and support enhance rather than undermine an individual's intrinsic enjoyment and desire for learning. In these potentiating learning milieu, self-regulated learners systematically activate and sustain processes towards attainment of goals they personally value. Therefore the challenge for the researchers in this study was to identify the fundamentals of a potentiating learning milieu to provide a practical framework for teachers to expand student learning capacities.
This case study draws conclusions from participatory observations within a primary school setting and links the data to social cognitive and social psychological research. Student actions underpinning this social context were interrogated and patterns emerged. The fundamentals of collective values, connected learning, student centred organisation and interpersonal relationships became evident, as common elements were clustered. A pragmatic model was constructed by identifying and implementing these substantive codes, enabling teachers to build capacity to create environments that expand student capacity to learn. This chapter reveals these capacity building fundamentals that provide the opportunity for students to readily self-regulate and internalise their learning towards self-determination.

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