Meaningful writing instruction: Using functional grammar to personalise learning in low SES early childhood classrooms in Tasmania

Personalised learning is a form of instruction that tailors teaching to individual student needs. It has been described as a route to a more socially inclusive education system that engages learners as they view learning experiences as meaningfully aligned with short and long-term learning needs. While international evidence suggests personalised learning can transform good schools into great schools, it is often confused with differentiation and individuation. Despite some conceptual fuzziness, researchers typically agree that personalised approaches promote student-centred teaching, stage-based groupings, student autonomy around learning goals and activities, flexible use of learning spaces, team-teaching, team-planning, and making student reasoning visible. This paper presents a case study using a design-based research approach to personalise learning about narrative and persuasive writing in two early childhood classrooms in a low SES school in Tasmania. The discussion will focus on the effectiveness of professional learning, writing instruction, and student learning in this personalised context