The Well-tempered Learner: Self-regulation, pedagogical models and teacher education policy

Abstract

This article considers the curriculum reforms of outcomes-based education and the mechanism of a national qualifications framework in South Africa, also referring to New Zealand, in terms of the kind of learners they instantiate and therefore the kind of teachers needed for learners of that sort to be able to learn. Distinguishing between performance and competence models of pedagogy and analysing their implicit pedagogical logic, the article arrives at the conclusion that the curricular reforms initiated in South Africa embody incompatible logics, which can only lead to confusion. The article ends by reflecting on the ideal of the self-regulating learner pursued by much contemporary curriculum reform, concluding that there are distinct and different kinds of selfregulation fostered by different pedagogical models.