One of the three main elements of personalised learning, individualisation is when the pace of learning is adjusted to meet the needs of each student. The emphasis becomes mastery of the content. With individualisation, each student shares the same overall learning goals, but individual students are able to progress through learning objectives at different speeds. For example, some students may take a little longer on topics they haven’t quite grasped, but can move quickly when they have demonstrated mastery.
To operationalise individualisation requires identifying clear learning outcomes and tracking students’ mastery with these objectives. As a result, the terms “competency-based education” and “mastery” are closely related or even synonymous. Traditionally, students with special needs have had individualised learning plans (IEP) to ensure they’re receiving the attention they need to be successful, but the idea is starting to gain traction in all areas of education.
4.8.1. What are the benefits?
- Students all go through the same learning experience, but learn at their own pace.
- The emphasis shifts from seat time to mastery.
- Each student engages in a crucial element of personalised learning.
- Students become comfortable and self-motivated as they achieve their learning goals
The differentiated and individualised design of teaching and learning processes is a didactic approach that attempts to ensure educational justice in the sense of a participatory fairness and is linked to all five categories of inclusive teacher practice. Based on the recognition of the plurality of students within a class community, this requires the teachers’ didactic reactions and adaptations to students’ individual needs. Accordingly, a methodological shift from the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ model to individualised teaching and learning in response to heterogeneity offers a starting point for educational equity in the school context.
Both differentiation and individualisation have their didactic starting point in the needs of the students. Differentiation refers to a varied preparation and design of inclusive teaching practice in a reactive way by reacting to the needs of students. In this way, an attempt is made to respond to the group-specific needs of students within a class. The goals cover a wide range of possibilities for fulfilment (e.g. to develop competence in numeracy or literacy) and are the same for all students, but the path to achieving them is modified and offers different possibilities considering, e.g. content, extent, material and instruction and can be displayed as the macro level of adapted inclusive teaching practice. Individualisation respects individual needs of students more on a micro level and is paced to the educational needs of individual students. Content, extent, material, support, assessment etc. are customised to the students’ needs. Didactic approaches are dependent on individual requirements.