The learning to learn competence: An assessment of a theoretical model.

Abstract

Learning to learn (LTL) is a key competence (European Commission [EC], 2006, 2018). Building it into the educational system requires a solid theoretical model that researchers share, but there is currently a lack of agreement among academics.

This work aims to check the theoretical model proposed by the research team against the opinions of key informants. This model has five dimensions — cognitive, metacognitive, affective-motivational, social-relational, and ethical — as well as twenty subdimensions. The first three dimensions come from the literature about strategic and self-regulated learning and have been present since research into this topic began. The fourth comes from the social-cognitive approach and has more recently been added into explanatory models. The fifth one is an original contribution by this group. Our research focusses on the university setting and the aim of the present work is to verify our model with some of the key informants involved in the process (students, teachers, professionals, and employers).

A qualitative methodology was used, featuring twelve discussion groups, one for each group in the three participating universities (N = 67). The participants were asked a general question about LTL and then their contributions were recorded. These contributions were then transcribed and processed using Atlas ti.8. to compare them with the theoretical model. The presence and importance of established dimensions and subdimensions was analysed, considering the frequency of comments and their connections and interrelationships. The results corroborated the model proposed by the research team: all the dimensions and almost all of the subdimensions appeared in the participants’ comments. The next stage in the research process is to develop a standardised assessment instrument, based on the model, so it can be statistically validated with university students.