Improving Kenyan Secondary School students’ relationship with mathematics through self-regulated learning

Through this study I explore the influence of self-regulated learning on Kenyan secondary school students’ relationship with mathematics. The study which involved form two students from three secondary schools in Kenya is guided by the following research questions: what are the contextual factors influencing Kenyan secondary school students’ self-regulated learning of mathematics including any gender related differences?; how adequate is the core mathematics textbook in supporting self-regulated learning?; what is the relationship between students’ self-regulation and their relationship with mathematics? and what are the unique features of a local model of selfregulated learning of mathematics? Employing a critical realist philosophical paradigm and an ethnographic intervention approach, I used qualitative methods such as interviews, metaphoric drawings, and reflective writings to collect data on the nature and extent of students’ self-regulation during a period of six months. The study findings suggest that a reciprocal and bidirectional self-regulation of personal (cognitive and affective) attributes, behaviour and learning environment is involved, each being significantly shaped by external co-regulatory elements, and that there exists a positive relationship between self-regulated learning and students’ relationship with mathematics. This relationship is depicted through a critical realist self-regulated learning model that is developed out of the study’s findings. Given the paucity of similar qualitative research within the African context, the findings extend the theoretical understanding of self-regulated learning, providing insight into the influence of contextual factors, including culture, post-colonial/neoliberal factors and students’ social economic status, and into the nature of the interaction between co-regulation and self-regulation. Further, it extends the theoretical knowledge on the relationship between self-regulated learning and other related constructs such as students’ epistemic beliefs and academic emotions towards mathematics. Recommendations of policy implications for teaching, learning and assessing mathematics in Kenyan secondary schools and possible future areas of research are also provided.