UDL in Action at Worser Bay School

At Worser Bay School, we are embracing the principles of Universal Design for Learning so that we can give individuals equal opportunities to learn. It is about flexible pathways so that learning can be personalised, rather than a one size fits all solution. In the past we thought about the average student’s needs and taught as though all of these children had the same needs. In reality all children are unique and as teachers, we need to teach in different ways.

There are three main principles of UDL:

1. Representation - Students have many ways to gain knowledge and information through multiple ways of presentation
e.g. non readers can not access information when it is presented in writing.

2. Expression - Students need to express themselves so that they can reflect and assess themselves.
Children who can’t write can’t express themselves if they are asked to put pen to paper.

3. Engagement - Students who are engaged and motivated to learn are more resilient and problem solve to complete tasks. Kevin Honeycutt says that learning to love to learn hinges on engagement and so this factor is essential in good curriculum design.

No two students are alike or learn in the same way therefore we have to teach students to think for themselves. There are greater opportunities for collaborative learning!

We worked in teams to prepare presentations about the strands of UDL across the school.