134 | Chapter 6 be very hard to assess children that are on their way back home during a dropping. Are those heading in the wrong direction failing, or will they course correct in due time? Besides determining whether learners do (not) succeed at something, assessment is also intended to support learning, as assessments provide learners insight into their performance and that what is considered important.39 This last aspect adds to the fact that approaches to foster SRL that include assessment will in most cases turn out to resemble the treasure hunt-style, as these assessments of (aspects of ) SRL provide learners with stringent information about the learning behaviour and strategies that are (not) considered desirable. The aligned approach Learners’ SRL development is ideally fostered by treasure-hunt approaches first, which transform into dropping-approaches when learners become more experienced with SRL. However, from our philosophical contemplations it becomes clear that approaches to foster SRL are often insufficiently aligned with the experience and needs of learners. Instead these approaches are commonly defined by contextual factors, such as misconceptions about SRL and a lack of leeway for learners due to, amongst others, the assessment programme. While the importance of constructive alignment during educational design is long recognised,40 approaches to foster SRL are thus often lacking constructive alignment. Therefore, we have used principles that apply to both treasure hunts and droppings, to provide guidelines on how to align one’s approach to foster SRL with the educational context and the experience and needs of learners. Decide which game you will be playing When preparing a birthday party one chooses between a treasure hunt and a dropping based on various factors, e.g. age of the children, group size, the presence of children with special needs. Similarly, there are various factors to take into account when one is deciding on an approach to foster SRL. These include experience of learners with SRL, the amount of autonomy provided by the curriculum and whether the education will be assessed. Learners with limited SRL experience will in general not benefit from a dropping approach. On the other hand, a dropping approach will be difficult to attain when the curriculum and/or assessment programme enforce strict demands on learners, e.g. ‘upload one reflective form and one feedback form in your portfolio every day.’ Discuss the ground rules Before one can start with the treasure hunt or dropping, it is important that everybody involved knows what is expected of them. Likewise, education aimed to foster SRL should
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