The ‘Let me learn Process' : educators’ perspectives of their learning experience

Abstract

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) developed in 2012 emphasises the importance of having school communities made up of reflective practitioners who undergo continuous professional development throughout their careers. The Let Me Learn Process aims at training educators to better address the learning needs of all learners. Through this Process, children are encouraged to make sense of the world around them by being given personalised strategies to address the challenges they encounter while learning. Unquestionably, teachers in the contemporary classroom are faced with students coming from different social and cultural backgrounds, having individual interests and embracing unique personalities. This makes it more complex to reach them all in their own individual ways, which is where the Let Me Learn Process comes in. The purpose of this study is to provide a profound insight on the implementation of the Process in one Maltese primary state school that had the opportunity to receive the Let Me Learn Process training over a period of three years, which was completed two years before this study was carried out. Six educators; one head of school, three teachers and two learning support educators participated in both individual interviews and a focus group. This qualitative representation reveals that the Process has served as a positive tool to foster empowerment of learners, awareness of both students’ and educators’ learning patterns, more effective interaction between the school team and more engaging lesson planning. It helped mark an improvement in the school’s overall academic performance and the school experienced more parental involvement than ever before. Nevertheless, this study identifies challenges which the educators experience on a daily basis, mainly the vast and demanding curriculum which restricts the time available in the classroom for the implementation of different teaching strategies.