Abstract
The overview study describes general considerations and methodological approaches that are devoted to a more thorough understanding of learners' peculiarities. It is based on the assumption that if a teacher or a school psychologist has to personalize his professional activity and choose adequate interventions, he must know the peculiarities of his learners.
The study is structured into six parts. In the first part, the discussed problem is placed in a wider context, into the concept of learner-centered learning, as presented by the American Psychological Association to the professional public.
The second part of the study compares three concepts of teaching: differentiation, individualization and personalization, while the next interpretation focuses on the individualization and personalization of instruction. The third part of the study suggests the efforts of teachers to classify students in certain groups, and then to assign them the appropriate labels.
The fourth part is a professional concept that is already known in the world as "knowing the learner/student" and states its definition. The fifth part presents methods by which both teachers and school psychologists can learn about the peculiarities of individual learners.
The sixth part of the study introduces three foreign empirical studies that studied the peculiarities of learners. The final part of the study points out that there are two complementary concepts: besides teacher's knowing the learners/students) also teacher's consciously not knowing the learners/students The first term is applicable in common educational situations, the second in special educational and re-education situations where it is not the pupil's past that is important but the effort to open a new future.
The basic idea of the emerging approach can be formulated as follows: the teacher should link knowledge based on his / her knowledge and previous experience with different learners, with current knowledge about the learner. The teacher should systematically collect data on individual peculiarities of the learner, specifically data that go beyond the information knowing from the learner's documentation and from the views of other teachers on the learner.
With the support of the data obtained, the teacher can then individualize or even customize his or her instruction.