Date
27 September 2023

Plan for diversity at the outset to support student engagement

Suggestion for implementing the strategy ‘Develop curriculum and systems that respond to all students’ aspirations’

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Consider Universal Design for Learning

Consider Universal Design for Learning

Remove barriers and plan for engagement.

UDL helps teachers to develop more flexible and supportive learning environments. With options and supports built in at the outset, students can personalise their learning experiences so that they work for them.

The three principles of UDL give teachers and students a shared language to talk about options to support:

  • engagement and sustained motivation
  • the design of inclusive, flexible materials and resources
  • the design of inclusive tasks, activities, success criteria, assessment processes, and teaching methods.

Discover more about using a UDL approach in the Universal Design for Learning guide.

Ask students what support they need

Ask students what support they need

A student with dyslexia describes how teachers can support his learning.

Create inclusive classrooms

Create inclusive classrooms

Use thes approaches to create an inclusive classroom.

  • Ask students how they like to learn.
  • Use students’ cultural connections, interests, and strengths as bases for teaching.
  • Eliminate situations that students may find difficult or embarrassing because of their physical or cognitive differences.
  • Feedback success to students’ parents and whānau.
  • Use students’ languages.
  • Pick up on concerns about a student’s well-being.
  • Recognise avoidance strategies and provide support and encouragement.
  • Give students extra time to complete work.
  • Make learning supports, such as text-to-speech and word prediction, available to all students.
  • Enable students to show their strengths and contribute their ideas in collaborative work, without the challenge of lengthy writing tasks.
  • Provide the student with strategies to help them when they get stuck.

Understand the need for flexibility

Understand the need for flexibility

... learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn ...

Some learners are highly engaged by spontaneity and novelty while others are disengaged, even frightened, by those aspects, preferring strict routine. Some learners might like to work alone, while others prefer to work with their peers.

In reality, there is not one means of engagement that will be optimal for all learners in all contexts; providing multiple options for engagement is essential.

Alberta Regional Consortia

Useful resources

Useful resources

Website

Multiple means of engagement – Engagement checkpoints unfolding in a classroom

These videos and supporting resources from the Alberta UDL Summer Institute 2011 relate to the principle of multiple means of engagement.

Publisher: The Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium (ERLC)

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Next steps

More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Develop flexible systems to support all students”:

Return to the guide “Preparing students to leave school”

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