What is personalised learning?

We often hear kids complaining about school, but studies also show a significant proportion of Australian students are disengaged with their education – a 2017 Grattan Institute report found as many as 40% of students are unproductive in a given year because they are disengaged, and COVID-19 pandemic years and school closures have increased the risks of student disengagement. This is a concern because lack of engagement can have negative impacts on kids’ learning, learning outcomes, behaviour and attendance, and increase drop-out rates. 

Engaging students in the classroom is one of the main challenges, and personalised learning is seen as the educational approach best equipped to increase engagement and learning outcomes by focussing on the strengths, needs and interests of each student. The 2012 Gonski report talked about the importance of “personalised learning strategies” to improve school outcomes and ACT Government policy now explicitly states: “the ACT education system of the future will be personalised to each child”.

Personalised learning involves the designing of learning in response to students’ needs, strengths, interests and identities. Teachers gather data on these points about their students, seek their input on curriculum topics and create learning plans with the kids. For some classes, teachers formulate “I can” statements with students to give them confidence and empower their learning, such as, “I can formulate algebraic expressions using constants, variables, options and brackets”. 

However, personalised learning can be seen as complex and challenging, so there is low teacher buy-in and some risk aversion. There is a lot of diversity within and across classrooms throughout the ACT. While we know that not everyone learns the same way or has the same interests, whole class teaching approaches are most often used because it’s simpler and easier for teachers. UC researchers have been working with teachers at local schools to understand their apprehensions towards personalised learning and explore the particularities and possibilities within every student’s story to ignite their learner interest. The ACT Education Directorate is funding the projects between 2021 and 2026, as it aligns with the ACT Government’s Future of Education Strategy (2018) and strategic priorities).  

Phase 1: 2021 – 2023

The first study was conducted between 2021 and 2023 and investigated what teachers currently do in two ACT schools: Gold Creek School (Preschool to Year 10) and Margaret Hendry School (Preschool to Year 6). It also investigated teacher professional learning through an ‘Action Learning’ cycle: an approach for teachers to enact personalised learning. 

The study at Gold Creek School (GCS) included three distinct stages: 

1. Gathering baseline data; 
2. Professional learning using Action Learning; and 
3. Developing a model for wider application. 

At Margaret Henry School (MHS) research was conducted to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by teachers when designing and implementing personalised learning. The study was conducted to address these gaps and to identify strategies for teachers to enact personalised learning. 

Findings from the study suggested that teachers’ understanding of personalised learning was varied, and they found personalised learning to be complex. Teachers had different perspectives on personalised learning and acknowledged its potential benefits but also highlighted challenges such as standardised evaluation, time constraints, diverse student needs, and the mindset of teachers. They therefore need assistance from experts to enact it. Action learning iterations at Gold Creek suggested that expert intervention is necessary to increase teachers’ understanding of and confidence with personalised learning. 

The study generated four vital outcomes or key impacts:

1. Established a long-term collaboration with the participating schools. Our researchers have run several professional development workshops for teachers and two of our researchers are in the Action Plan for Gold Creek School.  
2. Initiated dialogue and discussion with the public about personalised learning, which included an article in The Conversation and interviews with UC researchers on ABC Radio Canberra about the topic (linked below). 
3. UC hosted a conference on personalised learning at University of Canberra in June 2023 to share research findings and facilitate discussion between industry and academia. The event was attended by teachers in the ACT, NSW and Victoria, professionals from the ACT Education Directorate, and university academics from Australia and overseas.
4. The project created an opportunity for international collaboration in research and practice: an international expert in research on personalised learning joined the research team and is working with UC on future research and professional development.

“As our students move into, you know, their futures, we’re hoping that this approach will really help them to not only maximise their educational outcomes but also gain an understanding as to how they best learn.” 

Daniel Breen, School Principal at Gold Creek School