Abstract. Various studies have focused on self-regulated student learning. However, little attention has been given to the self-regulation processes in teacher learning. In this study, we focus on the work-related learning processes reported by experienced higher education teachers. The aim of this study was to discover whether teachers actively self-regulate their learning experiences (as their students are expected to do) and to examine how this regulation takes place in the workplace. We tested some generally held assumptions and conceptions regarding teacher learning. Fifteen experienced college teachers, from three different colleges in The Netherlands, participated. Two semi-structured interviews and a (digital) diary study were used as the primary data collection methods. We collected 86 examples of teacher learning episodes. These were analysed using a phenomenographic method. The results show that our teachers' learning experiences are not as self-regulated, planned, reflective, or spiral as some assume. Sometimes, the teachers' learning was planned (self-regulated), but mostly it occurred in a non-linear (both external and self-regulated) or spontaneous (externally regulated) way. We conclude that our teachers do not always self-regulate their learning, but they mostly do self-regulate their teaching practice (with learning as a result).
In this study, it is assumed that ''a will to learn'' must be present before teachers engage in actual learning activities. In order to explore teachers' will to learn in workplace situations, a small-scale qualitative study was conducted using a semistructured interview, observation, a retrospective interview, and a phenomenographic approach to the analysis of the data. The results showed the following behaviors to be indicative of a will to learn among teachers: having the ambition to discover new practices, being open to experiences and other people, being pro-active, attribution of successes and mistakes to internal causes, question-asking after performance, undertaking action to learn, and recognition of learning processes and results. The results also showed three different manifestations of the will to learn to characterize the teachers studied here. The following groups of teachers could be distinguished: those who do not see the need to learn; those who wonder how to learn; and those who are eager to learn. The results of the present study contribute to fields concerned with teacher learning and the motivational aspects of learning. r
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