Hoodies, high stakes poker games and a football mad, Mastermind-winning lawyer. Yes, it was time once again for Alite's annual conference. Over 300 delegates enjoyed the air-conditioned environs of the Café Royal in London on a sticky Friday in late June to experience a range of creative approaches to Personalising Learning.

Alistair Smith kicked off the day with some thought-provoking insights into who exactly was sitting in our classrooms and what their experiences were. We were encouraged to examine our values and whether we should be transferring these onto a group of people growing up in a different world from ours with different challenges. And what were the parallels between Wuthering Heights and Grand Theft Auto? How was a modern day gangster series really more complex than your favourite cowboy one? And what difference did it make anyway? Presented with Alistair's usual wit, the serious message nonetheless left many of us asking ourselves hard questions, not least of which was 'how can we truly personalise the learning for every individual?' As we pondered this, we were invited to personalise our own experience of the day by selecting to hear the stories of the assembled practitioners.

So here was another difficult question that awaited the delegates: which to choose when the case studies include a (literal) learning community in the form of a town within a school; an inspired Head accelerating learning in challenging circumstances; creative, systematic and coherent assessment that helps raise performance; the benefits of action research and technology in CPD; learning from the Primary schools to ease the transition process; an integrated approach to learning about learning; and how every child was placed at the centre of the country's largest Network for improving learning? Each explained how they had brought about personalised learning; each had put the child at the centre of the experience.

Putting the person into personalised was the second keynote speaker of the day, Dr Raj Persaud. With a mixture of autobiographical and poker stories, he made complex psychological theory accessible, including what it is to be internally and externally motivated, who might be to blame, which might be better for the classroom and what to do about it.

Two other keynotes during the day also provided their thoughts on the central issues. Dame Tamsyn Imison gave her views on creativity and how it might be nurtured, whilst Mastermind winner, Shaun Wallace, discussed his life, talent and how he persevered to achieve his dreams.

There was palpable excitement in the air during coffee breaks and lunchtime, as delegates discussed the ideas, strategies and questions that had been put before them throughout the day. Opportunities to network, visit the various case study stands, buy resources and get books signed by their authors all added to the atmosphere of fun and learning from colleagues. But don't take our word for it - read for yourself what people had to say.

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Are you a hay fever sufferer? Is July a nightmare for you? Have you ever been skiing?

A study by a team of Swiss researchers finds that simply focusing one's thoughts on allergen-free environments can reduce symptoms of hay fever by one-third. The study was reported in Nature magazine.

Hay fever affects about 10-15% of adults in industrialized nations. Traditionally you may turn to medication. You might be better daydreaming! Antihistamines, decongestants and steroids can cause side-effects such as drowsiness, raised blood pressure and an Olympic ban. Allergy sufferers have sought alternative approaches, including psychotherapy-related methods, to ease their itchy eyes and runny noses. Wolf Langewitz of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, looked at the potential of self-hypnosis for curing hay fever. The team recruited 79 patients with moderate to severe allergic reactions to grass or tree pollen, who then received training on self-hypnosis.

To achieve successful results using self-hypnosis, says Langewitz, one must first enter a trance-like state and then focus the mind on a particular theme such as skiing or being on a yacht. The whole process, he adds, can take as little as five minutes. Langewitz encouraged his patients to think about "glittering snow crystals", chilly temperatures and other snowy phenomena, in order to tap into as many channels of perception as possible.

About 40 patients stuck with the regime for roughly two years, and were tested for their biological response to allergens: they were exposed to pollen and their congestion was assessed using a device that measures airflow through nasal passages. The participants were tested twice: once in the absence of self-hypnosis, and once after practising this form of therapy. Their symptoms, as measured by the congestion test and from simply asking the patients how they felt, dropped by a third thanks to hypnosis.

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Two good stories of schools being imaginative in responding to students and making a fuss over their successes.

At St Saviour's Church of England Primary School in Lambeth the winner of the top prize at their Annual fair was Maylea Mitchell. Year One pupil Maylea won the prize of becoming Headteacher for the day! She chose a Deputy, Katie McIntyre to also assist her. This was her itinerary:

• Start of the day playground appearance
• Presentation of Certificates in Assembly
• In tray, telephone and fax messages
• Lunch at top table (with the Deputy)
• Presentation of HT stickers to pupils
• Tour of classrooms

Headteacher O'Neill Hemmings had to vacate his office for the day. There is no truth in the rumour that Maylea put him in detention for being out of class without permission.

At King George Vth Secondary School in South Tyneside we hear that students who achieve perfect attendance over the year have this recognised in a very public way. Driven home - slowly and circuitously no doubt - in a chauffeur driven stretch limousine.

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Sir Alan Steer became Head of Seven Kings High School in 1985. Since his appointment he has led the school to increasing success, exam results placing it amongst the top in the country, and is proud of its consistently strong inclusion ethos.

He has held various advisory positions during his time at Seven Kings including member of the DfES ministerial working party on SEN and adviser to the DfES on Personalised Learning, as well as to the Treasury and the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit. He is also a member of the board of the London Leadership Strategy and Co-leader of the largest group of schools working collaboratively in the country, the Redbridge Networked Learning Community.

Sir Alan was knighted for services to education in June 2004. He is heading the Government sponsored panel looking into behavioural issues in schools.

Seven Kings High School is a large, 11-18 mixed comprehensive situated in the multi-racial urban area of Ilford, with a student population of 75% EAL speakers and an entitlement to free school meals above the national average. Yet in 2004 85% of students achieved five A*-C grades at GCSE, up from 29% several years earlier. In the last five years only three students have left the school without achieving at least five GCSE passes. Ofsted commented in their 2002 inspection that Seven Kings "provides its pupils with an excellent education," recognising that student achievement at all key stages is high, with high value added at all levels, and consistently excellent A level results. These successes have all been the result of a sustained focus on Personalised Learning and, in particular, the role played by Assessment for Learning.

Personalised Learning
Since the late 1980s Seven Kings has focused on personalising the learning agenda. This has not been about taking a labour-intensive approach of devising a range of individualised programmes, but instead one of implementing a systematic and embedded approach that places the child firmly at the centre of his or her own learning. In practice, this means that:

• teachers believe in the potential of every individual
• teaching methods allow access to learning for every student
• lessons are guided by the needs of the student, with the feedback received by the teacher informing future planning
• students understand what action they need to take to improve their learning
• schools recognise that there is more to their work than just teaching subject knowledge; they are also there to promote learning and achievement in a multitude of ways
• students and teachers realise that lives can be changed by effective teaching

A Learning and Teaching policy was first established across the school to ensure a consistently high quality education for students. Together with the belief that every child could achieve success, these mandatory guidelines provided a baseline that guaranteed that experience for the children. Management of the learning classroom, sharing learning objectives with students, the teaching of literacy and utilising formative assessment were all outlined in the policy and every teacher was required to observe the good practice that was already happening in these areas around the school. At that time the idea was controversial with some staff, but that has long since passed as the benefits of working together in a coherent approach have become clear for all to see.

From Grading Learning to Growing Learners
One of the most significant aspects to come out of the work on the Learning and Teaching policy was the elevation of formative assessment to become a whole school practice. Traditionally, feedback to students on work has normally been of a summative nature - a judgement handed down in the form of a mark or a grade - that has shown them where they are on the attainment scale, but little else; no indication of what has helped them there, nor of how to move up that scale. Formative comments highlight what has been done well and what needs to be done to gain even greater achievement. Instead of simply measuring the individual, suggestions are made for further growth. Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black from Kings College, London have identified the differing effects of summative and formative assessment on the student. Their work suggests that giving grades can demotivate many learners and, even with constructive comments written alongside, it is the grade that often takes precedence for the student. Because of this, grades are no longer given at Seven Kings. When teachers mark the work they note the grades for their own information and give the students formative comments only. This simple strategy shifts the emphasis from performance and inappropriate comparisons between students to achievement and learning. Such rationale forms the basis of Assessment for Learning (AfL), one of the five strands - and, to me, the most important - of Personalised Learning.

It was in 2002 that Seven Kings became an AfL research school. Since that time the school has seen an improvement in student motivation, behaviour and attendance. There has also been a rise in teacher motivation and in their skill level, both of which have risen markedly.

Seven Key Features that Attract Seven Kings to AfL:

• Relevant - with achievement as the prime philosophy of AfL it is what education is about
• Cohesive - learning and teaching merge under the banner of AfL, supporting each other
• Involving - allows the students a voice that is meaningful and appropriate to the experience
• School-friendly - resources are not an issue
• User-friendly - the ideas and practices are accessible, familiar and relevant to teachers and their experiences
• Contextualised - AfL is applied in the normal classroom and subject setting
• Inclusive - all pupils gain from this enhancement to teaching

Involving Learners
By taking one of the key features of AfL - involvement - we can see how straightforward, yet significant, strategies can be in improving learning. If individual students are to be placed at the centre of learning, then it is obvious that they must have a say in their education. Student voice encourages the teacher to listen to what is/isn't working or will/won't have the desired effect with an individual, based on the learner's experience and achievement to date. Early in Year 7, for example, students record their experiences of lessons in Learning Logs. These are used by the teacher to check that there is no duplication of primary school work and that ideas and concepts have been understood, as well as the methods of learning that worked well for the students.

Putting students at the centre of their learning means that another strategy, the use of the structured student interview, begins in the intake year. From Year 7 to Year 13, every student at Seven Kings is interviewed at least once a term to establish how well they are coping with their learning. Together with a designated member of staff, they review their progress, discuss what has been easy and difficult in their learning that term and what needs to be done to move them forward. As a result of these formal discussions, students are no longer recipients of what the teacher decrees is best for them, but equal partners, discussing their own learning needs and setting themselves goals for improvement. This experience is aided by a sophisticated data system that collects a range of assessment information on the student, enabling both parties to take part in informed discussions on the minimum future standards expected, together with aspirational and achievable summative targets. Target setting in such a way allows raw data to be qualified by qualitative information.

In recent times we have built on the student interview by appointing Academic Co-ordinators in each year group. It is their job to look at the entire ability range in the school and identify any underachievement, equally as likely in a 'Grade A student' as in someone with SEN, which, in itself, is not accepted as an excuse to underperform. These co-ordinators can then take steps, with the student, to help everyone fulfil their learning potential.

Both students and teachers are benefiting from these open conversations about learning, with the shared knowledge and improving skills motivating everyone concerned. This involvement and understanding also has a knock-on effect on the positive and purposeful atmosphere of the school, as Ofsted commented in 2002:

"Staff with management responsibilities and the teaching and non-teaching staff unanimously implement relevant and enlightened policies and this has produced a secure school community in which all pupils are cared for and regarded as achievers."

Learning Together
It is not just the staff and students at Seven Kings who have been working together on improving learning in such personalised ways. The school is involved in the largest Networked Learning Community (NLC) in England, one of 52 schools working with the LEA and the National College of School Leadership on learning and teaching. As a Head Alan Steer feels that it is important to find the time to reflect on learning and to think creatively about moving a school forward. As part of a NLC the school has had the opportunity to pool those ideas and put them into practice across a range of schools. The Redbridge NLC is organised into several groups. The largest group has worked on Assessment for Learning in partnership with Kings College, London and Cambridge University. Seven Kings leads the AfL group.

The enthusiasm at Seven Kings for the 'student voice' was shared with the AfL group of schools at a conference last year, entitled 'Giving Our Pupils Their Say'. This brought together teachers from 14 schools and, of course, their students (Years 5 to 9) to discover what would help the children learn more effectively. Other ways innovations are shared include regular meetings with representatives from each school, planning lessons together and observing others' teaching.

Suspicions can be aroused when there is talk of 'initiatives' in education. Some fear massive upheaval and an increase in workload that may all seem to be for nothing when that word is next uttered. But Personalised Learning is what education is all about - and Assessment for Learning is a significant part of it. Easy to implement and with increasing evidence of success, it should be happening in every school. By joining or forming a Networked Learning Community, creative steps to hone the work further can be shared and trialled in a range of circumstances and be added to the initiative's evidence base. More importantly, successful teaching will touch the lives of an even wider group of students. And for that reason alone it must be worth doing.

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Malgorzata Adams-Tukiendorf is a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Opole, Plac Kopernika 11, 45-045, Opole, Poland. She met Alistair Smith at the Moving on With Accelerated Learning Programme in May of this year.

I don't really remember the moment AL and I met for the first time. It must have been one of those encounters on the subconscious level, the one that influences you but you don't really realize you are under any influence until you notice slight changes in your own behaviour, in your way of thinking. You notice that you NOTICE.

I started paying more attention to the way I teach only quite recently. Of course, it doesn't mean I did not know what I was doing before. It's just that I started looking for other ways of approaching the same topics, other ways of conducting classes. And AL fitted perfectly well in my new wave. AL gave me a new perspective and a handful of ideas to make my work more creative, more effective and more memorable for my students.

I am a teacher trainer and an academic specializing in teaching English as a foreign language. I teach methodology and also adore teaching writing as a skill as well as teaching about writing. In my work I lead a variety of classes, but recently I was conducting predominantly lectures - the type of class the teacher doesn't like because she has to invest in it much time, effort and attention but rarely gets the feedback she is satisfied with, and the type of class the students don't like much (most of them end up not coming to them at all) because they are required to pay attention to one kind of stimulus - the teacher's voice - for a long stretch of time. They get lucky if the teacher uses some visuals (not necessarily connected with the type of clothing she wears that day) and tells some funny stories to draw their attention again. What's more, the lectures in the traditional form stop in the phase of presentation of new knowledge leaving the students with the burden of revising and finding practical applications to be done as homework, which, we all know, is frequently postponed right before the exam time. This leads to frustration and often results in mediocre level of knowledge retention.

Some time ago, not so long ago though, I realized this type of lecturing is not satisfying for me as it is not very effective. The teacher suffers and the students suffer with her. And they have to repeat that suffering over and over again for a semester or two or more... Not a welcoming picture.

When I found AL it felt like finding a feather that helps one to fly. I will cling to that feather until I relearn to fly again. And here is what I will do being under the spell of AL - my new resolutions for the coming academic year:

1) Notice/Involve the Learner
At the beginning of the course I will give the students an overview of the topics to cover and let them pick in which order they might be approached. Still I will ask them why such a choice. I will stop talking that much, I will let my students talk. They have funny stories to tell as well and they have plenty of experiences to share. To do that I will start relying on the students' background knowledge and their creativity instead of shovelling knowledge into their minds. Engaging the learners personally will be my priority (and learning their names too - thought that's a big challenge with the number of students I teach). For instance, I will encourage the students to prepare a mind map of the main points after each lecture and let those hang on the wall for the semester. These might be revised as we go along the programme. Or I will give them a choice of additional topics to present to the group in AL's way. Some of my students are very eager to express themselves, just give them a chance.

2) Change techniques
I will start transforming my lectures into discovery sessions and give my students more noticing and problem-solving activities, so they don't get bored too soon and have fun more often. To do that I will involve different channels of information processing. Who says that lectures need to be done orally. Why not give the learners plenty of visuals to analyze and some space to express the meaning physically. Also music in the background will help to create that warm welcoming atmosphere (Starting the day with Mozart can awake the most sleepy mind :) ). Moreover, I will do my best to draw their attention to the practical application of the new knowledge they will acquire. For instance, why do they need to know what zone of proximal development is? Because that's where the teacher and the student meet every day.

3) Refocus assessment
I will do less of criticizing, stressing the weaknesses of my students. And what's the use of failing a student? He will only shrug his shoulders confirming it's no surprise to him. The grade is final; makes the student lazy. But give him another chance without giving any grade and he will need to think twice what to do to cope with the situation. I will take a risk and let them show me they really know what they are doing or talking about even if it takes more time than usual. And definitely, most definitely, I will stop using the red pen when correcting papers. One student once said, red comments and marks look like blood dripping from the page. The comparison was so strong I couldn't find any counterargument. Finally, I need to confess, I am already becoming one of those "weird" teachers who smile all the time, and who give positive feedback more often than not. My colleagues (and some students probably too) start looking at me suspiciously, but I strongly believe in the effectiveness of such doing. Feeling successful and appreciated (read: NOTICED) is a strong force both for the learners and for the teacher. Thus I will demonstrate their success and my appreciation though my words, gestures and mimics - yes, a smile is my favourite :)

AL, you've given me a chance to become a better teacher. Thank you.

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