Learning and Teaching in Practice/Knowing the Learner

Learner profiles: the rationale

 * To effectively meet the learning needs of students, classroom teachers must begin with an understanding of the needs of the learners, both collectively as a classroom unit and as individual students. A classroom is a community of learners, each with unique learning preferences, interests, strengths, needs and potential. Source:


 * Questions to consider:Who are my learners? How many of them will there be? Where are they going to be studying? What are their ages, their previous educational experience, their life and work experience? What kind of people are they? How do they prefer to learn? Why can some students confidently tackle the subjects they study and succeed? How do they do this?

You may feel that you know your 'typical student' quite well already, but have you really thought about their learning preferences and whether your course meets their needs? The needs of all 'stakeholders' have to be considered of course but the learners are at the centre of our considerations when we are designing for deep learning. What do you do already that encourages deep learning, and what could you do more of in your teaching?

Developing a learner profile
The diagram illustrates a possible Learner Profile for participants in this particular teaching qualification. Developing one can assist in designing an equitable and accessible learning environment that suits all learners in a particular group.



Note: this learner profile was created using a PowerPoint slide and saved as a jpeg. There are many other options for creating a profile. You are encouraged to consider creating a mindmap, a table, video or audio and written text to describe your learners.