24 August 2026: New research from the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ shows that personalised learning could improve student engagement and reduce classroom incidences, without creating additional workload for busy teachers.
Associate Professor Maya Gunawardena is a specialist in personalised learning at the University’s Faculty of Education. Over the past four years, she and a team of researchers, including Professor Deborah Pino Pasternack, Associate Professor Sitti Patahuddin and Dr Emily Hills, have worked with teachers and school leaders including Dr Tamsyn Terry and Ms Laura Freeman, at Gold Creek School (GCS) in Canberra’s north to embed personalised learning strategies across every subject area, with transformational results.
Since working with the University, the Pre-Kindergarten to Year 10 school has seen an 82 per cent reduction in negative student incidents, with teachers reporting greater student engagement in the classroom and increased confidence in applying personalised learning approaches in their teaching.
“Personalised learning is frequently misunderstood as a collection of disconnected strategies, additional workload, or a technology-driven initiative, when in reality, it’s a holistic philosophy of teaching and learning that can empower students and teachers,” Associate Professor Gunawardena said.
“It involves students exercising greater voice and choice, teachers differentiating learning pathways and assessment to better suit their students, or classrooms adapting learning experiences to individual needs – creating a more inclusive, adaptive and engaging approach to learning.”
In practice, this might be as simple as allowing students to choose their mode of assessment. Instead of prescribing an oral presentation, a teacher hoping to assess students’ content knowledge of Australian democracy may allow different formats, such as portfolio entry, creative response, or persuasive essay. If the format is fixed, such as an essay, students could instead choose the topic, while their teacher can still assess grammatical accuracy, fluency and competency.
Dr Tamsyn Terry, Associate Principal at Gold Creek School, has been a champion of the project since day one. Upon seeing the potential benefits for her staff and students, she immediately signed on as an ambassador.
“What personalised learning has done is given us an opportunity and a realisation that we can be more flexible in the classroom with our learning and with our students,” Dr Terry said.
“It's not about being rigid and making sure they all follow the same process… but that they have the understanding and that they're making connections for themselves.”
Now, the team has co-developed the Culturally Adaptive Cohesive–Sustainable Teacher Empowerment Program (CAC-STEP), a comprehensive, teacher-led framework to share their findings and help other teachers implement personalised learning in their own schools.
“Without a practical implementation framework, schools often struggle to translate these aspirations into sustainable classroom practice,” Associate Professor Gunawardena said.
“The CAC-STEP framework addresses a challenge faced by schools nationally and globally: how to move personalised learning from best practice and policy aspiration to classroom reality.”
While the project initially engaged 26 teacher ambassadors, it soon expanded to whole-school participation – highlighting its relevance, value and adaptability across different age groups and subjects.
“Rather than prescribing a uniform approach, teachers were encouraged to adapt and implement strategies in ways that aligned with their classroom needs and professional judgement. Those who embraced the approach became advocates for change, with middle leaders playing a key role in promoting and modelling school-wide implementation,” Associate Professor Gunawardena said.
“As teachers observed positive changes in classroom dynamics, student engagement, and learning outcomes, interest in the initiative grew organically, encouraging broader participation across the school.”
The success of the pilot has generated interest beyond Gold Creek School, with three additional schools in the ACT and NSW formally committing to implementing the model.
The project was undertaken as part of the Affiliated Schools Program a unique government university partnership with the ACT Education Directorate that enables the delivery of initial teacher education, educator development and school-based research in ACT public schools.
A paper on the topic can be accessed .