|
||||||||||
|
| About the GTC | |
| Registration | |
| Standards and regulation | |
 |
GTC Networks |
|
Achieve |
 |
Have your say |
|
Get involved |
|
Learn from each other |
|
Access resources |
|
Find out what's happening nationally |
|
Connect |
|
Engage |
| Teacher Learning Academy | |
| Continuing professional development | |
| Policy | |
| Research | |
| Parents | |
| Events | |
| News and features | |
| GTC Publications | |
| Teaching: the GTC magazine | |
| Video section | |
| Useful websites | |
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) learners are consistently identified as underachievers. Like all children, they need opportunities to discover, to enjoy and to grow. How can teachers support these learners?
The most successful approaches to learning come from teachers who have the freedom and confidence to exercise their professional judgement, to be creative, and to take risks. This is particularly the case when it comes to finding effective ways to support the learning of children and young people who are vulnerable and therefore not achieving as they should.
Achieve aims to support the needs of both learners and teachers by sharing research into effective learning approaches. Our latest resources on meeting the needs of GRT learners are guided by our wider principles and approaches, which seek to personalise learning for all children.
We believe that personalised learning should be about:
We have been working with teachers and researchers to create a vision of personalised learning that is realistic and manageable, and we have identified three familiar yet essential tools which we believe will support teachers.
Every teacher will develop different approaches and techniques, depending on their learners’ needs and many other local factors. The GTC has long supported the principle that teachers must be trusted to make the best decisions for their learners, supported by access to the best research and professional learning.
For personalised learning to become a reality, a number of barriers and challenges need to be negotiated.
Some of these barriers are at a national policy level, such as the rigidity of the assessment system and the high stakes nature of end of Key Stage testing. The GTC is working to identify these barriers and is proposing national assessment and curriculum models that support children, parents and teachers in the learning process.
Teachers and researchers have also identified challenges at classroom and school levels. For example, research into ‘pupil voice’ approaches identifies the risk that only the voices of the most confident and articulate children will be heard. It is possible that personalised learning could exacerbate differences as children and parents with greater resources exploit opportunities at the expense of those with fewer physical and social resources.
Other challenges identified by teachers include:
If teachers are to explore personalised learning fully, identify the needs of vulnerable learners and give children dynamic and exciting opportunities, it makes sense for teachers to develop the concept for themselves. The enquiry model is at the heart of good professional development – where do I need to go now, what is my learning priority now, where are my best learning sources?
One way of achieving this is the GTC’s own Teacher Learning Academy (TLA). The TLA was established to give public recognition to teachers’ professional development and to give teachers a forum to develop their own learning. Teachers can choose a subject that they want to focus on, research it, perhaps with colleagues, and gain professional recognition for their learning.
The TLA can help you to share your own research and case studies and perhaps find out about other teachers’ approaches to raising the achievement of GRT learners.
If you would like to find out more about the GTC’s policy work relating to personalising learning, please contact andrew.hudson@gtce.org.uk.
