Succeeding in LLL

Definition of LLL
The most comprehensive definitions of LLL are presented by the European Commission (2001, p. 9): lifelong learning is “all learning activities, undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills, and competence within a personal, civic, social, and/or employment-related perspective.” Defined as so, LLL is not a new concept, but it does enhance our theoretical perspective by adding a lifespan approach to learning. In light of the diverse body of literature and the fact that there is not yet a psychological theory built around LLL, it is crucial to narrow the research focus to two central components: motivation (e.g., Heckhausen and Gollwitzer, 1987; Wigfield and Eccles, 2000) and self-regulated learning strategies (e.g., Zimmerman, 2000; Schmitz and Wiese, 2006). In layman’s terms, the former could be described as appreciation for learning, and the latter would be associated with effective knowledge management. The current project sought to link these concepts of motivation and self-regulated learning strategies with models acknowledging contextual factors such as classroom structure (Ames, 1992; Helmke, 2010; Bergsmann et al., 2013) and achievement.
Empirical Findings Concerning LLL
In general, schools are not presently considered to be successful in systematically imparting the aforementioned LLL core components of motivation and self-regulated learning strategies (e.g., Randi and Corno, 2000; Gottfried et al., 2001; Artelt et al., 2003). A large number of international studies have examined various determinants of students’ learning motivation, such as interest, learning goal orientation, and self-efficacy, as well as aspects of self-regulated learning (for an overview, see, e.g., Schunk et al., 2008). Although their results differ in the details, there is strong evidence that key motivational determinants of LLL decrease the longer students stay in school, especially after the transition to secondary school (Wigfield et al., 2006; Fischer and Rustemeyer, 2007; Schunk et al., 2008; Lüftenegger et al., 2012). In some studies, a decline in students’ self-regulated learning behavior has also been reported (e.g., Peetsma et al., 2005). Summing up the findings—including prominent international studies (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2008)—it becomes clear that educational systems and practices in many countries are quite poorly prepared, and often ineffective, when developing LLL competencies in schools.
In light of all this, it is necessary to consider the school context in examining LLL competencies. One contextual factor that has been shown to interact with individual LLL competencies is teaching quality (for an overview, see Van de Grift, 2007). Teaching quality is a heterogeneous field where a great number of concepts and approaches are thrown around, and various dimensions are focused on (Emmer and Stough, 2001; Wayne and Youngs, 2003; Cartel et al., 2006; Clotfelter et al., 2006; Van de Grift, 2007). Amongst other variables that affect students’ learning, one prominent concept in the research on teaching quality is classroom structure (Epstein, 1988, 1989; Ames, 1992). Classroom structure describes how teachers design tasks, the autonomy structure in the classroom, and student achievement evaluation. In a lot of studies a positive effect of classroom structure on various student functioning variables has been shown, some of them being well-being and achievement (for an overview see, Urdan and Turner, 2005). Bergsmann E.M. et al. (2013), for example, showed that a supportive classroom structure was associated with less verbal aggression amongst students later on. The classroom structure provided by the teacher has also been shown to interact with individual motivational aspects (e.g., learning goal orientation, Lüftenegger et al., 2012, 2014) and individual learning strategies (Wolters, 2004). In contrast to these findings, teachers themselves consider their influence in fostering students’ LLL to be low (Spiel et al., 2011). However, so far there are no studies that systematically examine the interrelationships among the classroom structure provided by the teacher and students’ LLL competencies. That is why we chose to investigate this relation in our study.
In addition to empirical findings on contextual factors supporting the development of LLL competencies, information on the effects of students having greater LLL is also relevant. One of the most important outcome variables for schools is student achievement. Students’ achievement levels are the result of multiple factors (for an overview, see, Hattie, 2009). However, in line with our focus on LLL, we concentrate on motivation and self-regulated learning as antecedents. Individual motivational aspects and determinants of self-regulated learning have been shown to be positively associated with achievement (for an overview, see, Schunk et al., 2008; Dresel and Lämmle, 2011). Motivation predicts achievement even if intelligence and previous achievement are controlled for (e.g., Steinmayr et al., 2011). Although self-regulated learning is considered as relevant for success in learning (e.g., Artelt et al., 2001; Streblow and Schiefele, 2006; Dignath and Büttner, 2008; Dignath et al., 2008), heterogeneous and contradictory correlations, especially with achievement, ranging from zero to medium have been found (e.g., Zimmerman, 2000). However, there are no findings concerning the association between Austrian students’ LLL competencies and their achievement as of yet.