Is Personalised Learning the Future of Education?

Imagine that you’re a student in a class of 20 people.

In your group, some classmates have advanced maths skills while others need more help with the subject. During class, you all listen to the same lecture and get assigned the same homework.

Who benefits the most from this class?

The reality is, this situation happens often in most classroom settings — leaving students bored or frustrated with the overall learning process. Students who need support are left to struggle on their own, while more advanced learners get little to no benefit. The result is a disengaged classroom with low morale and few meaningful interactions between teachers and students.

Knowing this, today’s educators are shifting towards personalised learning, which takes into account a student’s skills, goals and interests to create their ideal learning journey. This allows teachers to support each student individually by offering content and activities that suit their unique learning styles and competencies.

In this post, we’ll explore what personalised learning is and how it benefits students of all ages. You can click on the links below to access each section.

• What is personalised learning?
• Benefits of personalised learning for students
• How is personalised learning implemented at XCL World Academy?

What is personalised learning?

Personalised learning is an educational approach that centres on each learner’s needs, interests, goals and abilities.

In this approach, children are encouraged — and empowered — to become active participants in their learning. Students design their learning pathways based on their interests and goals while getting the support and guidance they need.

To facilitate personalised learning, teachers customise lessons based on:

• Content – giving students different reading texts or videos based on their assessed levels
• Process – allowing students to work individually, in pairs or groups; providing tiered tasks
• Product – allowing students to choose their output, such as a written essay or video presentation); and
• Environment – providing a flexible classroom environment to suit students’ learning preferences

These modifications ensure that each student is engaged and has everything they need to maximise their learning. Teachers can also modify the pace of instruction and provide additional support or complexity for different students.

While each student’s pace and learning methods may vary, the objective doesn’t differ. Each student is expected to reach their personal learning goals and meet the standards required at the end of the unit, semester or school year.

4 benefits of personalised learning for students

At its core, personalised learning is about helping students maximise their potential. When students are actively engaged in their learning, it can lead to:

• Improved academic performance — Research shows that a personalised learning approach can lead to better knowledge retention, which has a positive impact on grades and test scores.
• Higher student participation — When students have a say in their learning goals, they’re more inclined to participate in activities and discussions. This engagement also boosts motivation.
• Stronger social-emotional skills — Personalised learning provides more opportunities for students to develop new skills such as goal-setting, self-advocacy, responsibility, communication and leadership, which will help them succeed in school and long after.
• A life-long love of learning — By playing to each student’s strengths and interests, personalised learning fosters a positive school experience. And when children enjoy their time at school, they’re more likely to develop a life-long love of learning.

How exactly is personalised learning implemented at XCL World Academy?

At XCL World Academy, we believe that personalised learning is the key to engaging with all our students and inspiring them to become happy, active and life-long learners.

Our close-knit community and strong partnerships with parents enable us to set the right personalised learning goals for students, helping them flourish into capable, resilient and resourceful young learners.

You’ll get to hear quite a bit about our 1600 Pathways. It’s a big deal because it’s the maximum intake at XCL World Academy. It’s important to us that we keep class sizes small to provide your child with personalised learning opportunities tailored to their individual needs. Yet, despite our size, we still provide the breadth of unique educational experiences typically available in larger schools.

XCL World Academy is a culturally rich school in which children have come from many different parts of the world, and many of those children have had extremely diverse educational experiences in other countries.

As a school, it is important that we know each student in terms of their social, emotional and academic development. We use a range of standardised assessments, including CAT4, PASS, MAP, and WIDA, to pinpoint students’ strengths and areas for improvement in academics as well as social and emotional areas so that their education can be tailored for greater levels of personalised learning. 

Our teaching approach is based on fostering inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to succeed, while the IB programme gives students distinct advantages by building their critical thinking skills, nurturing their curiosity and their ability to solve complex problems.

Our inspiring and highly qualified teaching faculty ensure that students get the absolute most out of their learning experience.

Here’s how we implement personalised learning at every stage of your child’s development:

All classes from Nursery through to Grade 5 are facilitated by a full-time teacher and a fully qualified teaching partner in order to get to know every child, tailor activities to their individual needs, bring out the best in them and encourage greater participation in class. With 2 teachers in every class, our learners are given more attention and provided with personalised learning opportunities. This kind of learning environment helps to encourage engagement in class, allows students to learn more and at a faster pace, builds strong teacher-student relationships and leads to higher performance.

Middle Years (Grades 6 – 10) are a unique time in your child’s development. This is a period of tremendous intellectual, physical and emotional growth. That’s why our curriculum is broad and balanced and widens students’ knowledge, understanding and experiences. It also ensures that academic excellence flourishes alongside arts, music and sport. We emphasise conceptual understanding and encourage students to make links between their learning and the world in which they live.

Starting from Grade 8, we offer a bespoke University & Career Guidance Programme to all students to help them make informed choices about the educational and career pathways that fit their specific academic, personal and career aspirations.

We recognise that every student is unique, and their aspirations are also different. Considering this, we provide a comprehensive International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) and the chance to pursue IB courses tailored to meet diverse academic goals. All students have the opportunity to earn an XCL World Academy High School Diploma (accredited by WASC) regardless of the academic pathway chosen.

Our teachers actively involve all students in their learning, from purposeful play in the Nursery to rigorous and future-focused courses in High School to create a supportive school environment — one in which every student is empowered to achieve their individual academic and personal goals.

By recognising that every learner is unique, we’re one step closer towards achieving our mission to empower an inclusive international community of happy learners who aspire to positively impact others.

Want to know more about personalised learning at XWA? Check out our curriculum or speak with our admissions team to learn how we can support your child’s unique interests and goals.