Developing students' self-regulated learning (SRL) is crucial for nurturing the life-long learners needed in modern and future society. This study adopted structural equation modelling to explore the relationships among self-regulatory climate, group regulation in project-based learning (PBL) and individual regulatory ability. The results indicate that (i) group regulation has a significant positive effect on SRL ability; (ii) self-regulatory climate (i.e. academic emphasis and teacher trust in students) have significant positive effects on both group regulation and SRL ability; and (iii) student trust in teachers has a negative effect on group regulation and a positive effect on SRL ability. A combination of three approaches (i.e., the explicit, implicit and immersion) is recommended to generate convergent forces to efficiently cultivate self-regulatory learners.