The purpose of this study was to investigate predictors of metacognitive self-regulation for students in secondary vocational education. Drawing on research and theory characterizing writing as a complex skill, we analyzed students' reported metacognitive strategy use in relation to three writing genres: writing an email, term paper, and application letter. The participants were 967 vocational students enrolled in six education programs. Multiple regression analyses with metacognitive strategy use as criterion variable and as a predictor set: capacity beliefs, context beliefs, gender, and perceived instrumentality of writing for the attainment of personal goals, revealed that capacity and context beliefs significantly predicted metacognitive strategy use for the three genres but genre-specific effects were found for perceived instrumentality of writing for the attainment of personal goals. Metacognitive strategy use had no relation with career goals, a positive relation with mastery goals, and a negative relation with well-being goals. The results illustrate the complexity of predicting metacognitive strategy use and signal the importance of insight into students' personal goals.