Learner differences, as described by Kalantzis and Cope fall under three headings:

Material

Class: social resource access, employment and social status

Locale: neighborhoods and regions with differential social resources

Family: relationships of domesticity and cohabitation

Corporeal

Age: child development, life phases and peer dynamics

Race: historical and social constructions linked to phenotypical differences

Sex and Sexuality: the bodily realities of masculinity, femininity and varied

sexualities

Physical and Mental Abilities: spectrums of bodily and cognitive capability

Symbolic

Language: first and second language learners, dialect and social language

Ethnos: national, ethnic, indigenous and diasporic identities

Gendre: identities based on gender and sexual orientation (Kalantzis and Cope

2008)

My post this week, focused on AGE. Age is an interesting concept. As we get chronologically older, we are simultaneously developing socially, mentally and physically at different rates. Most mainstream schools group students into what we call classes to suit chronological age. So, for example, within a certain class of students, there could be a 12 year old, who is going through puberty and is mentally advanced for their age and another 12 year old whose thinking and reading skills are the same level as an 8 year old. Although chronologically they are the same age, their developmental levels are vastly different. Composite classes are quite common in Canberra schools. These composite classes, for example a mixture of year 6 and year 5 students has even more range in student age. Schools traditionally ‘pigeon hole’ students into year levels and teach to the ‘age’ because it makes administrative side of things easy and legally, most students finish school at the correct age. Are we doing students an injustice to group them based on chronological age? Should we be more flexible with cross age classes/learning?

As students enter the workplace they inevitably begin working with colleagues of different ages and experience. Sometimes this can be a challenge if these students who are now employees have not been exposed to working with different aged people.

This and the next generation of students are definitely known as the social beings. Technology has made them instantly and consistently accessible to a network of friends. These friends are of different ages, often attend other schools, some of these friends they have not even physically met. Perhaps educators should be looking at online and distance education more flexibly to align with the new generation of students?