ABSTRACT
Personalising learning is not an easy option for a teacher, but it is very worthwhile for the children. Each class in a primary school contains a very wide range of children, all of whom have individual interests, characteristics and learning styles, and a variety of previous experience and learning skills. It is nevertheless possible to personalise learning, given the support of colleagues and teaching assistants. It involves knowing the children in your class very well – their particular interests and abilities. It also involves very good planning, with clear aims for each lesson for the whole class and subsidiary aims for a number of individuals – perhaps for boys and girls, children with special needs, children from ethnic minorities, particularly those whose English is limited, and children from different social backgrounds. Sometimes you will need to aim to provide for a particular group while dealing with the others in more general terms and sometimes you may be able to provide for several groups, using a teaching assistant to work with one or two of them. There may also be help from an LSA who will be able to work with children with special educational needs.
