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Abstract
This article provides an overview of a nationwide research project into personalising learning in New Zealand schools. It reports educators' understandings, practice and professional development needs relating to personalising learning. The research found that most schools recognised personalising learning as valuable and important but there were wide variations in the depth of understanding around it. In addition, many examples of best practice of personalising learning were highlighted. Although some schools recognised they were not performing well in some components of personalising learning, their professional development needs were identified according to immediate classroom priorities. Furthermore, the article argues that personalising learning is an essential cornerstone of education as it provides a multidimensional framework for the development and delivery of effective teaching and learning for all students.
Keywords: personalising learning; diverse needs; New Zealand schools; cornerstone of education
In 2006, the Hon. Steve Maharey, the then Minister of Education, supported personalising learning in a Ministry of Education document entitled Let's talk about Personalising Learning. He described personalising learning as the means by which the New Zealand education system was responding to the challenges of the 21st Century:
Looking across the education system, we can see Personalising Learning is increasingly a part of what we teach, how we teach and how we assess. This is reflected, for example, in our curriculum, the assessment tools used by teachers, the way schools organise learning and the innovative approaches to ICT. (p.l)
The Minister's enthusiasm for personalising learning mirrored what was happening in Great Britain at the time. In 2003 the British Prime Minister launched Personalising Learning in his Labour Party conference speech. This was followed by The Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners (Department for Education and Skills, 2004) which emphasised classroom practices to promote personalising learning and, in 2005, the White Paper Higher Standards, Better Schools for All: More Choice for Parents and Pupils (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 2005) included an agenda for personalising learning in British schools. Politicians in both countries strongly supported a very similar concept of personalising learning (Gilbert, 2006; Ministry of Education, 2006; National College for School Leadership, 2005; Sebba, Brown, Stewart & Galton, 2007). However, there was a lack of evidence showing whether New Zealand educators' understanding of personalising learning...