Merits for Personalised Learning in Education

A research study by Bloom (1984) posited that one-to-one tutorial style teaching can increase the average student achievement by two standard deviations i.e, a student learning via tutorials is likely to score above 98% on average to a class learning in conventional model. So, what constitutes this personalised learning approach?

The one-to-one teacher to student ratio by itself is insufficient to constitute personalised learning. Personalised learning marks a change of instruction based on the belief that “each student matters” and places the learner at the centre of the education process. It involves adapting the process to specific students taking into account their particular experiences, background, talents and personal interests. It thus diverges from conventional education that places the onus on the learners to adapt to the process.

Watkins (2012) notes that the design of the modern-day classrooms is unambiguously similar across different cultures. Very much like the education system, the classroom architecture aims to reduce complexity emerging from the diversity of experiences that students bring to the classroom. This distancing of classroom instruction to the lives and experiences of the students makes education a depersonalised experience. Prominent educator Bell Hooks warns of the perils of this abstract form of contemporary education. According to her, education system is in crisis where “students often do not want to learn and teachers do not want to teach”. Reflecting on her own experience, Hooks emphasises the need for teachers to recognise students in their particularity as individuals and communicate accordingly.

German philosopher, Martin Heidegger argued, the process of understanding of a phenomena stems from a set of assumptions, beliefs and preconceptions held by individuals. Engaging with these beliefs shaped by prior experiences, personalised learning makes learning more meaningful to students than the seemingly mundane lessons in everyday classrooms. This leads to greater student engagement, improved performance and increase in intrinsic motivation amongst students to learn.