Primary Education: Teaching Methods

Mr. Hoban
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 4 June 2007, Official Report, column 498W, on primary education: teaching methods, what information his Department collects on personalised learning in primary schools in (a) English and (b) mathematics.

Jim Knight
As defined in the report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group, personalised learning means taking a highly structured and responsive approach to each child and young person's learning, in order that all are able to progress, achieve and participate.

Many schools and teachers have tailored curriculum and teaching methods to meet the needs of children and young people with great success for many years. What is new is our drive to make the best practices universal across all schools, particularly for children whose needs can be the most challenging to meet. Personalised learning can therefore be described as effective day-to-day teaching and learning which is assessment-centred and which enables each learner to engage and ‘own’ their own learning. It can also encompass a wide range of more specific practices, such as Assessment for Learning and small group and one-to-one work with pupils.

The success of personalising teaching and learning will therefore be measured in improvements in the attainment of all pupils—especially in English and maths—in narrowing the gaps between different groups and in all reports of the quality of teaching and learning. We do not gather information on personalised learning as a separate programme or initiative, but Ofsted inspection reports, attainment data, evaluation of the ‘Making Good Progress’ pilots and a wide range of information sources can be used to build up a picture of personalised learning in both primary and secondary schools.