Supporting self-regulation in a dual-educator model: Beliefs and practices of early childhood educators and teachers in Canada’s full-day kindergarten

How educators come to understand self-regulation is shaped by their professional preparation, yet research has rarely examined what happens when two educator groups with different training pathways share the same classroom. This mixed-methods study is the first large-scale comparison of self-regulation beliefs and practices among educators in Ontario, Canada’s Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) program, which pairs a certified teacher with a registered early childhood educator (ECE) in every classroom. Using an adapted Self-Regulated Learning Teacher Belief Scale and open-ended survey responses from 258 educators (179 teachers, 79 ECEs), we examined how each group conceptualizes, promotes, and learns about self-regulation. Both groups valued self-regulation, but ECEs held broader definitions — emphasizing calmness and readiness to learn — and reported greater confidence in their knowledge, reflecting their child development preparation. Teachers more often equated self-regulation with behavioral control and drew on structured frameworks. Neither group referenced social or prosocial dimensions, despite their prominence in the provincial curriculum. Findings point to preparation gaps teacher education programs can address through mandatory coursework in early childhood development and self-regulation for kindergarten-bound teacher candidates, redesigned practica supporting collaborative teaching, and joint professional learning that draws on the complementary expertise within ECE–teacher teams.