In recognition of the diversity of learners in classrooms, for the past two decades the University of Melbourne has conducted research and developed assessment and reporting methods to support the learning of students with additional learning needs.
The University commenced the Students with Additional Needs (SWANs) program of work in 2007 to develop an integrated set of assessment, reporting, and tailored intervention strategies to describe and monitor the learning of students with additional needs across foundational skills. These included communication, literacy, personal learning, interpersonal processes, emotional understanding, numeracy, digital literacy, thinking skills and movement. The research was conducted in partnership with the Victorian Department of Education and funded by the Australian Research Council.
The SWANs work has had profound practical impact as the first set of assessment tools developed by and for teachers to support their work with students with additional learning needs. This is evident in its widespread use across Australia and its expansion to other cohorts of students and children. It shifted thinking regarding assessment of students with additional learning needs from a dichotomous can/cannot perception of learning to a developmental model of learning that focuses on what learning looks like for all students no matter their starting point or pace of learning.
The SWANs materials and work have been adapted and tailored for other contexts following the success of the initial research. SWANs has been adopted for broader use through multiple partnerships to develop ABLES, Early ABLES and the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool. The SWANs materials have also been the basis to map to national curricula in order to further support the learning of students with additional learning needs.
The Engagement
Schools can access SWANs, an online integrated assessment and reporting program to monitor and support the learning of school-aged students with additional learning needs. It includes professional teaching advice in the form of easy-to-read materials that can be downloaded from within the program to support teachers with their planning and intervene accurately.
For more information and to register for SWANs please contact swans-ables-help@unimelb.edu.au.