Strategies teachers use to support students' self‐regulation skill development in mainstream primary schools: A scoping review

Abstract This scoping review has explored the interventions and approaches used by teachers in mainstream (general education) primary schools (students aged 4–11) to support self‐regulation skill development in the classroom. The review followed the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) guidelines for reporting and was guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute Framework for Scoping Reviews. Following screening and selection, 16 papers were identified; 14 of these examined practices with students under the age of seven. Data analysis revealed limited use of commercially available self‐regulation intervention programmes in real‐world classrooms. When specific intervention programmes were discussed, they were researcher‐allocated rather than teacher‐selected. This could indicate a research‐to‐practice gap, whereby available evidence‐based self‐regulation intervention programmes have not been adopted by classroom teachers. Instead the review identified 68 distinct strategies used by teachers to support students' self‐regulation. The most commonly used strategies were problem‐solving opportunities, group games and classroom arrangement. Following thematic analysis, the strategies were mapped into five practice areas: teacher facilitation, activities, resources, relationships and physical environment. Teacher facilitation was the most prominent practice area, highlighting teachers' central role in fostering student self‐regulation. Many of the identified strategies overlapped with broader classroom management practices and existing teaching frameworks, suggesting the need for clearer frameworks to distinguish self‐regulation‐specific support strategies from general teaching practices. The data mapping provide a preliminary structure that, with further validation, could support future researchers and practitioners in disentangling the conceptual overlap present in this area of practice.