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Middle school teachers’ views on developing self-directed learning

ABSTRACT Middle school teachers are being urged to involve students in inquiry learning to counter disengagement from learning common in this group. To do this, teachers need to develop students’ self-directed learning (SDL) skills so they will be equipped to take responsibility for their learning. This study collected perspectives of four years 6 and 7 teachers in two schools about developing students’ SDL. First, there is a discussion of the influence of teachers’ beliefs about learning on their classroom pedagogy. Then, there is a description of SDL and its central role in inquiry learning. Interviews at the end of the project identified that teachers find it difficult to relinquish control of student learning and that they were more committed to developing SDL in their classrooms if they viewed SDL as developing positive classroom environments and worthy of being taught explicitly and being embedded in all areas of classroom learning.