A teaching style embraced by schools across Australia has been condemned as nothing more than a fad.

Leading education academics have warned that the strategy of tailoring teaching to students' so-called "learning styles" was based on flawed theories that were not based on any evidence.

'Kinesthetic' learning is just a fad, says leading academic Credit:Peter Braig

Yet this teaching style - which identifies learners as "visual, auditory or kinesthetic" - is still being promoted by state education departments as best practice teaching.

Professor Stephen Dinham, who has been teaching, researching and advising governments on education policy for 40 years, said schools were administering unreliable tests that categorised students as different types of learners.