Personalised Learning: An emperor's outfit?

Personalised learning became a major feature of the public policy debate during the autumn of 2003. A series of speeches by the Prime Minister and David Miliband have emphasised its status. Yet there remains a considerable lack of clarity as to thedetailed policy implications of applying the principle, and there is a pressing need to debate both its content and its boundaries.

In undertaking a project on personalised learning, the ippr seeks to clarify the content and boundaries of the concept. What precisely are the Government's objectives for this agenda and how far does it represent continuity or change of policy direction? ippr also seeks to relate policies which develop personalised learning to other priorities in public policy.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce some questions which are raised by the concept of personalised learning. It is hoped that discussion will produce consensus on the range of questions which can most usefully be further considered in future seminars and work by the ippr.