Kingswood Community College in Ireland embeds choice and voice into everyday practice and assessment, fostering a culture of inclusion, autonomy, and motivation and ensuring that learning is not only accessible but also meaningful.

Student choice and voice are central to Kingswood Community College’s inclusive learning philosophy. The school actively promotes student agency and flexibility in how students demonstrate their understanding, ensuring that learning is not confined to traditional formats. For example, students may choose to write an essay, create a video, or deliver a presentation on the same topic. This approach recognises diverse learning styles and empowers students to engage in ways that suit their strengths while maintaining rigorous success criteria to ensure consistency in assessment.

Choice extends beyond classroom tasks to formal assessments. Kingswood has introduced an Optional Choice Assessment Week, where students and teachers select assessment formats that move away from the conventional exam hall setting. Options include multimedia projects, homework assignments and written components, offering learners autonomy and reducing barriers to success.

Evidence from surveys and research within the school highlights the positive impact of this approach. The results show higher minimum grades in classroom assessments and strong student satisfaction, with teachers reporting increased engagement and confidence when students choose how they demonstrate understanding. In a study comparing UDL-based assessments with traditional pen-and-paper tests, classes offering choice achieved higher minimum grades and equal or higher average grades. Student feedback reinforces these findings: 99% reported that choice makes them happier learners, and 67% felt they were regularly offered options in demonstrating learning. Teachers also observed increased engagement and confidence when students had ownership of their learning process.

The data collected in the research conducted within the Kingwood Community College shows that student choice and voice in learning and assessment is not just an inclusive methodology, but an approach that supports wellbeing and motivation, cultivating a positive school environment where learning is not about evaluation but an engaging way to navigate new knowledge.

One way to embed student choice is to ensure that multiple means for learning and assessment are available. Providing the lesson in two additional formats beyond the traditional book is a good place to start. Videos, presentations, or visual materials can serve as accessible entry points for students who benefit from different ways of processing new information.

Furthermore, adapting the method of an Optional Choice Assessment Week in a classroom could also act as a starting point. Teachers can create an Optional Choice Assessment for one subject to gradually introduce students to different formats. For example, in a geography chapter on “Agriculture in Europe”, students could be assessed through a project, a video, a presentation, or any given form that aligns with the learning objectives. The teacher can offer three options to the classroom, and students can choose the one they want to follow. The first assessment could be a project, asking students to select between two topics or suggest a new one. The second option could be a video recording on a current challenge and the third a knowledge quiz. This approach allows students to experience different assessment formats, transforming knowledge into critical analysis.

Considering students’ needs first is an essential part of the process. Not all methods work for all classrooms, and teachers need to understand what suits their learners best. Simple quizzes can act as formative assessment in the beginning, helping teachers test the knowledge gained during the lesson as well as students’ opinions on the new learning approach. This early feedback allows educators to adjust their methods and refine the level of support provided.

Assessment for Learning (AfL) strategies are used to personalise learning for a diverse group of students, with particular attention to learners with dyslexia. The teacher at Mġarr Primary School in Malta uses Assessment for Learning to understand students’ prior knowledge, set clear outcomes, and plan relevant, engaging lessons. This is particularly useful when following a flipped classroom approach, which allows students to gain the necessary knowledge on a topic before class through videos or specific readings. Teachers can then reply to questions, clarify any aspects on the subject areas and encourage students to apply that knowledge during class. To identify learners’ current knowledge, the teacher at Mġarr Primary School prepares open-ended questions and uses tools such as Nearpod, Quizizz, and Padlet to check understanding, gather feedback, and support flipped learning.

The teacher uses specific tools for AfL, personalising them for students with dyslexia. Such pupils often experience difficulties accessing written text, processing multi step instructions, and demonstrating understanding through traditional written assessments. They may also read at a slow pace or make irregular spelling mistakes. The teacher tries to remove these barriers by assessing the student’s level of understanding and by using digital tools to personalise assessment. For example, the teacher prefers using Quizizz over Kahoot for gamified assessments, as it is perceived to be more dyslexia-friendly. Unlike Kahoot, where students often see only shapes or colour-coded answers on their devices, Quizizz displays the full question clearly, reducing confusion and time pressure for learners with reading difficulties. This thoughtful choice ensures that students with dyslexia can participate confidently without feeling overwhelmed.

The teacher also selects tools that provide readers the option to make texts accessible to every student, such as Microsoft Forms and Nearpod. When the teacher needs to assess understanding, Nearpod and Canva provide the option for students to record their responses using the inbuilt microphones on their devices. This removes the stress associated with writing and helps students focus on sharing their understanding of the texts. Moreover, during collaborative sessions, tools such as Padlet also offer students the chance not only to record their voices, but also to take a video, create an AI image, and upload a YouTube video, among other features. This approach enables students to express themselves through multiple modes, facilitating more effective way of their ideas and understanding. Allowing students to select the method or tool of assessment promotes personalised learning and respect students’ voice.

Assessment for learning is an effective methodology that supports teacher evaluation of students’ knowledge and understanding on an ongoing basis, supporting both formative and summative assessment. The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by teachers to modify their teaching and by students to improve their learning (e.g. submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture) while the goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit (e.g. midterm exam, final project).

Personalised assessment supports learning and promotes inclusion and accessibility. Digital tools and platforms offer multiple ways for students to demonstrate understanding, reducing the barriers that traditional, text-heavy assessments often create. Digital tools for formative assessment may include simple online quizzes to quickly collect evidence of student learning or as a survey to ask students for their thoughts and opinions. Concept maps (e.g. Miro, Mindmaps) can act as an assessment tool to simplify and organise ideas through visual representations, enabling personalisation and allowing students to use elements that are most suitable for them. Collaborative software (e.g. Padlet) allows students to save documents online, and to brainstorm and work on the same content simultaneously and collaboratively.

Key steps can facilitate achieving personalisation in assessment, in particular the following:

• Share the method of assessment in advance: It is important to share the flow of the lesson in advance, especially for students dealing with anxiety, or for autistic students, so they know what to expect.
• Introduce the materials and/or the digital platform to students at the beginning of the course: It is important for students to familiarise themselves with the platform.
• Flexibility with formative assessment deadlines: Formative assessment is usually conducted within 10-15 minutes of an activity. However, some students may need more time and teachers should allow flexibility.
• Provision of materials in alternative formats: This may include selecting the right tool for students, as well as varying the number and complexity of the challenges or problems assigned. Personalisation can play an important role in supporting this process.
• Student agency: Teachers should allow students to choose their preferred method for summative assessment. While offering multiple formats during formative assessment can be challenging, summative assessments at the end of a unit can provide options such as a project, a written test, or a video presentation.