Sharing Good Practice
UNLOCKING STUDENTS’ FULL POTENTIAL
WITH PERSONALISED LEARNING
BY GAVIN MCLEAN
The power of personalised
learning
Educators know that each student
learns in different ways – some
learn effectively through theoretical
analysis, while other students flourish
with practical knowledge applications.
These differences in learning styles
have been known to teachers for many
years however, the challenges around
teaching structure or lack of access to
resources has often limited the ability
to embrace more effective teaching
and learning methods.
However, advances in technology
are transforming the education
environment. Not only are these
advances increasing awareness of
the limitations of traditional teaching
methods, they also bear the digital
tools, such as personalised learning
resources, that will help teachers
unlock students’ full potential.
Personalised learning is becoming
the gold standard in pedagogy, and
with greater student engagement and
higher grades, its quick uptake in the
US, Australia, Europe, and now the
Middle East, makes it the latest global
education trend.
Traditional teaching methods
Developed in the late 1960s by
behavioural psychologists, direct
learning is the traditional teaching
method. It is based on the idea of
providing teachers with a step-by-
step and lesson-by-lesson approach
aimed at educational quality control
and ensuring the correct delivery of
curriculum. At a practical level, direct
instruction and other variations, such
as explicit instruction, students are
expected to learn a set of prescribed
materials which is then followed by
assessment tasks and tests that will
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inform how the students are regrouped
for the next stage of education. It is,
prescribed teaching and prescribed
learning, that undoubtedly has some
advantages, but treating students as
a homogenous group and failing to
recognise the idiosyncrasies of student
learning has been problematised.
The pedagogical revolution
Queue the global pedagogical
revolution, a movement that responds
to these shortcomings and is based on
the ethos that there is no single effective
teaching strategy. This movement
advocates that the education system
needs to be redefined and break
free from the rigid teacher-student
relationship, where the teacher
possesses the power and knowledge,
and students are passive learners.
This shift in pedagogy echoes the
sentiment of the World Bank’s World
Development Report 2018 that stated,
“schooling is not the same as learning”
and has subsequently witnessed
increased prevalence of teaching
methods that adjust the curriculum,
teaching
styles,
and
learning
environments to each student’s needs
and ambitions. As the latest region to
embrace this methodology, schools in
the Middle East are elevating standards
by introducing personalised learning
in order to remain competitive in the
international education market and
deliver work-ready and well-rounded
students.
Class Time
For many educators and students
around the world, including schools
throughout the Middle East, the hero of
this narrative is personalised learning-
a transformative teaching method that
tailors the learning materials and pace
to reflect each student’s needs and
abilities. Personalised learning has
strong historical roots that arguably
date back to Aristotle but has gained
significant momentum as part of
education’s digital transformation, as
resources that provide instantaneous
feedback, differentiate lessons, and
focus on skills growth become more
readily available. Resource limitations
no longer inhibit educators inspired to
deliver this pedagogy, and as a result,
students and teachers are becoming
increasingly empowered to move
away from direct instruction. Instead,
as we have seen at schools in Dubai,
Radhwa, and Abu Dhabi, educators
are moving towards discovery-based
learning and conceptual layering
that provides students with greater
freedom over the choice of learning
materials, style, and pace of learning.
Subsequently, this paradigm shift to
a more holistic education ecosystem,
provides students and teachers across
the Middle East with a more enriched
and engaging education experience
that lays a strong foundation for the
future of learning.
Conclusion
As with all revolutions, personalised
learning has critics who argue that
these resources provide students with
an impersonal and robotic learning
experience. However, contrary to these
fears, personalised learning does not
remove human intelligence from the
school environment. Rather, it extends
it, and by empowering teachers with
effective learning resources, student
engagement can increase, grades can
improve, and autonomous learning and
student curiosity can be fostered – all
of which are key to unlocking students’
full potential.
Gavin McLean has over 25 years’ experience in global strategy, business
development, digital transformation, brand curation and go-to-market
planning and implementation across the complete value chain of international
learning. He has held a range of senior positions with major international
education companies including Macmillan Education, Cengage and National
Geographic Learning.