[JohnDClare]

Differentiation

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If a child does not learn the way you teach, then teach him the way he learns.
Chasty, cited in Chinn and Ashcroft (1999)

Differentiation is one of the least understood elements of teaching. It mystifies NQTs, and terrifies many older teachers. Therefore, before they begin to post in these sections, I invite members to do some pre-reading, which will give them the opportunity to consider a number of ‘questions for personal reflection’, based around the issues:
- Introduction – towards a definition of ‘differentiation’
- Dimensions of ‘Differentiation’
- Doing ‘Differentiation’


Position Statement
Differentiation is an entitlement, not a teaching strategy.

When I was at school, the teacher stood at the front of the class and taught. Learning was an optional extra. By contrast, the latest Ofsted observation framework for teaching and learning downsizes the role of teaching, and emphasises rather the pupils’ learning – their response, progress and achievement. One of the key lesson-components evaluated – a ‘process’ element within that learning – is ‘differentiation’. In a world where all pupils’ learning is being assessed, and the teacher’s ability to get all pupils to learn is being evaluated, teachers are obliged to make sure that EVERY pupil learns as much as possible.

Differentiation is the right of each pupil to be taught in a way specifically tailored to their individual learning needs. The process of differentiation, consequently, is the adjustment of the teaching process to meet the differing learning needs of the pupils, and it involves every teacher having sufficient appropriate knowledge of the pupils, PLUS the ability to plan and deliver suitable lessons effectively, so as to help all pupils individually to maximise their learning, whatever their individual situation.

Differentiation is NOT:
a) Writing 30 different lesson plans.
b ) Saying that differentiation is not necessary because the pupils are setted.
c) Teaching at a slow pace so that everyone can keep up.
d) Abandoning whole-class teaching, setting a task, and then letting pupils/groups work at their own pace through a worksheet.
e) Expecting some students to do better than others and calling it ‘differentiation by outcome’.
f) Humiliating the slow learners by drawing attention to their limitations.
g) Allowing less able learners to copy or draw.
h) Making more advanced learners do extension assignments after completing their "regular" work ("regular work, plus" inevitably seems punitive to pupils).

Teaching cannot be good without differentiation. All good teachers differentiate – even if they only do so intuitively.
And a modern teacher should consciously differentiate every lesson. Since all pupils are different – there will NEVER be a lesson where the teacher will not have to make adjustments to differentiate the lesson to meet individual pupil’s individual needs.

It is interesting and relevant to see the Ofsted assessment criteria relating to differentiation:

2 - Activities and demands are matched sensitively to pupils' needs.
3 - Individual needs are well catered for. Staff understand the next steps pupils need to take in their learning and provide a wide range of activities to help them learn.
4 - The school provides successfully for pupils who do not respond well to school or who have difficulties in learning.
5 - Because of limited tuning to individuals' needs, some pupils get little from lessons.
6 - Little or no account is taken of what pupils already know. Groups of pupils may not be able to cope, and may disengage or misbehave.

Here we see – albeit randomly scattered – the key elements of differentiation:
a) Knowing the prior situation of pupils – how far they have got and what their needs are;
b ) The importance of a suitable learning environment, which is geared up to respond to pupils’ needs;
c) The appropriate application of differentiation strategies within the lessons – ‘tuning’ the activities and demands to the pupils’ needs, and understanding the next-steps-needed to move on each pupil’s learning;
d) The importance of consistency across the department and the school, rather than isolated pockets of good practice.

It is these elements upon which I propose to focus forum-members’ attention.


Differentiation questions and issues
Contributors might wish to comment upon any of the following:

1) Identifying the need - differentiation for what?
Differentiation is not an end in itself – it is a means to an end: the pupils’ learning. So there is no point in planning a differentiated lesson until we know what are the different needs and problems for which we are differentiating. The focus of this question is that differentiation is ‘differentiation FOR…’
It is for contributions about identifying the different needs, and the scope of the pedagogic problem, and the kinds of issues which contributors might address here include:
• What are the different needs that we need to differentiate for?
• What are the different aspects of students' readiness, skill levels, or interests that we need to attend to?
• What strategies/tests can you/do you use to discover what different pupils’ different learning needs are? Can you think of any other/better ways?
• How do you discover/communicate information about these needs in your school, and how successfully? Could you think of a better way to do this?
• What different kinds of pupils are involved, and what problems do they face?

2) Creating the climate for differentiation – how do you make your classroom a learning environment that enables differentiated learning?
Education is not just about teaching strategies applied within a one-hour lesson. The success of a lesson is just as much determined by the underlying physical, organisational and philosophical climate of the school and your classroom.
The focus of this question is is ‘laying appropriate foundations’, and the kinds of issues which contributors might address include:
• What are the key components of diff learning?
• How does classroom climate support differentiation?
• Should I make changes in the externalities – classroom organisation?
• What role does student choice play in differentiation?
• Does differentiation require any changes in overall syllabus?
• What is the relationship between progression and differentiation?
• Might whole-school ethos affect our approach to differentiation?

3) From theory to practice – sharing examples of good practice of differentiation strategies that you have seen, planned or used.
How does a teacher accommodate for different learning needs in the (often fraught) normal class lesson? Has anyone an example of what works (or what does not work) to share?
The focus of this question is ‘planning a differentiated lesson’, and the kinds of issues which contributors might address include:
• Are there ways to make differentiation a seamless part of classroom learning?
• How does the strategy support differentiated approaches?
• What are some of the key facets of the strategy?
• What will be the learning outcomes for your students?
• When and how does the teacher decide on tasks for groups in differentiation?
• Would the strategy fit within your "toolbox" of instructional techniques?
• How could you begin to use the instructional strategy within a differentiated unit?
• What about assessment in a differentiated classroom?

4) Dissemination – how might one introduce differentiated teaching practices into a department/school?
A differentiation ethos needs to be introduced into school, and its introduction needs to be agreed, planned and steered.
The focus of this question is 'Planning for improvement', and the kinds of issues contributors might addreess include:
• What factors inhibit and foster teachers’ implementation of differentiation?
• How might the introduction of a 'differentiation ethos' be affected by the whole-school ethos of the institution?

[Mo K.]

Differentiation...........We all know that children have different requirements to help them achieve success. Each child is an individual and as such has individual needs. As is expected of teachers, I differentiate. I group my literacy and numeracy lessons according to my termly assessments. I have three abiltiy groups. However, within each group there is still a variety of abilities. I have been through 3 ofsteds..........(so far) and they have acknowledged the differentiation tasks as appropriate to the children's learning............I know every child is an individual and has their own needs.........but I am not the only teacher who uses this method...........surely????? Or is it a primary school thing????

[Dan Moorhouse]

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• What are the different needs that we need to differentiate for?

Broadly speaking within the school environment that I work in the different needs are: English as a Second Language, Physical Disability, Visual Impairment, Literacy (both the illiterate and the highly articulate) and Emotional and behavioral issues. Within the 'Literacy' bracket I'd include Gifted and talented students and students with a statement for certain forms of Special Educational Needs.

One last one, that is frequently overlooked, is cultural diversity of the group. When it comes ot setting of homework, independent research or major projects this is of paramount importance within my school setting. I need to consider whether individual students have access to any resources at home, whether they will be allowed to go to a Library, whether parents will allow them to attend events in an evening, how it impacts upon important parts of their cultural life etc. A sizeable minority of my students will NOT be able to complete ANY homework within their own home. I therefore have to consider alternative arrangements (afterschool facilities, break/ lunchtime access to research materials etc.) and be willing to negotiate with parents. It never ceases to amaze me how many students are put on homework detention in my year group when its clear that the fault does not lay at the door of the student, you can only sit at a desk and do the work if a) you have a desk and you are permitted the opportunity to sit down at home to do the work.

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• What are the different aspects of students' readiness, skill levels, or interests that we need to attend to?

Concentrating on Year 7 intake here. Skills: given the pressure upon year 6 teachers to attain high % Level 4 in the SAT's it quite likely that Foundation subjects such as history have been overlooked at the upper end of KS2, certainly the build up to the SAT's will have impacted upon the time allocation for the subject in the bulk of Primary Schools. Therefore we cannot assume that the students have been taught any skills that are specific to the study of History.

Developing liaison with Year 6 teachers in the feeder schools helps to overcome this problem. Once the SAT's are finished it's possible to work with colleagues in the Primary Sector to build an interest in the subject through use of interesting investgations and challenges. This also provides an opportunity to find out the needs of individual students rior to their arrival in Year 7. This is, of course, easier said than done and requires a lot of time, commitment and energy. Probably the greatest weakness in my own department at the moment and something I'd be very interested in hearing other peoples views on.

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• What strategies/tests can you/do you use to discover what different pupils’ different learning needs are? Can you think of any other/better ways?

KS2 SAT's results and Teacher Assessment levels in the formally assessed subjects help to provide an initial idea as to the capabilities of students. I also get a copy of the students end of Year 6 history report which increasingly is focussing on historical skills rather than 'Johnny did a nice project'. I think it's fairly important to get a baseline assessment completed early in KS3 to enable teaching to be clearly focussed upon the needs of each student. IEP's and statements provided about E2L / G&T students also assist in planning from an early stage.

I'd like to develop something that identifies the learning preferences of students early on in their time in school. I'd like to think that as a department we cater for all types of learners but increasing the level of student input into our planning wil clearly lead to a more appropriate curriculum being delivered.

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• How do you discover/communicate information about these needs in your school, and how successfully? Could you think of a better way to do this?

Our Year Achievement Leaders (I'm one of them) are responsible for collating information about students and distributing this to all members of staff, including support and admin staff. My method of doing this includes weekly sampling of student work from all subject areas. this tends to identify areas that students have clearly taken an interest (or otherwise) and leads to conversations about why they enjoyed it etc... We can also identify types of activity that lead to achievement and those which do not quite easily. I tend to gather the tasks together and go through examples of good practice across the ability range in termly meetings with subject leaders, though examples are passed on via different means on a weekly basis. Part and parcel of this process is identifying strengths and weaknesses - and passing them on.

Other methods of finding things out: mentoring programmes, SEN / G&T reviews, departmental assessment and moderation (half termly), SMT reviews of work.

As a school we're currently looking at ways of improving this. It works for most students but there are failing within the system. Departmentally we have things in place to pass information between staff and to the other Humanities subjects.

[D Letouzey]

For those who can read French, François Muller 's site may be interesting.

http://francois.mull...fr/diversifier/

Following Andre de Peretti 's works, he has set a website on
"Diversifier sa pédagogie".

A very difficult task when you have got 36 pupils in a single class.

Daniel

[Dan Moorhouse]

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• What are the key components of diff learning?

A balance between different types of learning opportunities within a lesson. These should take into account the different learning preferences of the students within a group, their ability and any special educational needs that they may have.

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• How does classroom climate support differentiation?

A welcoming and warm classroom climate will help to foster a positive attitude and approach to learning. This is particularly significant when differentiation by task is being undertaken as there is the potential pitfall of sttudents being labelled if a positive cliamte isn't generated by the teacher. The Teachernet website has a useful section on Classroom Climate.

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• What role does student choice play in differentiation?

Students need to be involved. Teachers need to differentiate according to learning preferences as well as academic ability etc. Listening to feedback from students about the type of task and the appropriateness of the challenge is also very useful as it makes the student feel more valued, allows the teacher to keep tasks closely focussed on actual need and minimisies the risk of getting it wrong.

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• Does differentiation require any changes in overall syllabus?

When Excellence in Cities was introduced we were required to create a 'distinct and differentiated curriculum' for the Gifted and talented cohort (top 5-10% of cohort). This meant that skills development and level of challenge had to be looked at closely: the same applies also to SEN groups and subgroups within these classes.

The NC website covers differentiation for Gifted and Talented.

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• Might whole-school ethos affect our approach to differentiation?

It should be a right of each student to have an appropriate curriculum provided for them in each subject area that they study. Whole school policy and practice should reflect this. Students and teachers should see differentiation as an integral and accepted part of their role. This will only really happen if it is embodied in every curriculum intiative launched within a school, if it isn't an expectation people will revert to the 'easy' route of differentiating by outcome every lesson... (just like I did this morning, ahem).

[Mo K.]

it's such a difficult area. Do we differentiate by outcome or by ability? Regardless of which method you apply in your classroom environment....the final word is with assessment...........for me it is key stage 1 sats. Are these differentiated?............No

Do i differentiate my lessons?...................yes

What is the final outcome?...........the more able children do well in their sats.........less able struggle but sometimes produce enough to get them the 'required result' (I dont think there's a tongue in cheek smiley)

[Lesley Ann]

Great seminar John....I shall be putting the seminar on the Department Agenda.


I have taught across a whole spectrum of abilities from mixed ability, sets and discreet SEN groups. In my first post I worked with students with severe learning difficulties, physical difficulties and the visually impaired. Differentiation is paramount in planning for all abilities.


Find out how your students learn:
I give my GCSE classes a multiple intelligences questionnaire to find out what type of learners I have in the class to plan accordingly.

Getting to know your student strengths and weaknesses:
I make myself aware of any pupils with statements and differentiate accordingly. I also found being the dept SEN link valuable experience – at meetings I found out how other departments successfully managed learning strategies for SEN students.

Question your teaching style?
Do you teach your classes to your own preferred learning style or do you vary your lessons to accommodate all learners? Audit your SoW/medium term plans, lesson plans - do you offer a range of visual, auditory and kinesthetic tasks? Can your learners access the activities in your lessons?

Take a pro-active approach in lessons:When you face a class for an hour, do you manage to talk to every single child in that lesson? Some students choose not to ask for teacher assistance. I find taking a pro-active approach in lessons works well in this instance. This approach also allows you to manage classroom behaviour – kind of killing two birds with one stone. Go around the room and ask pupils if they understand the activity, know what they are doing, ask the shy student who would not necessarily ask for help if he/she knows what to do, offer support. Students appreciate this approach in lessons.

By task:
Over the years mixed ability teaching has become the norm for me, although I would argue that mixed ability is also present in sets. I base my tasks around Blooms taxonomy. I often differentiate by task. The tasks I ask the students to do start at lower or middle order learning, linked to NC levels. The tasks/activities become more difficult as they move into higher order learning. Whilst the students work I take a pro-active approach working with the pupils who need the greatest support, whilst the more able in the class work through the tasks at their own pace without needing assistance. For the more able/gifted & talented students extension tasks are used. In year 8 & 9 extension tasks centre on GCSE style questioning to raise the challenge.

At GCSE Teachers can differentiate between students in terms of expectations and targets and so reduce the demands on certain students. Don’t expect all pupils to achieve Level 3 or 4 responses. A level 1 or 2 student will soon switch off when they find it difficult to access Level 3/4 responses. Introduce them to student friendly mark schemes, self and peer assessment. Once the pupils know the mark schemes encourage them to set their own targets. Use writing frames, and then slowly take this scaffolding away. Use exam questions regularly to familiarise the pupils with the demands of GCSE.

[Dan Moorhouse]

A number of ideas for differntiating for the more able students within a class are on my website. The following links are to a draft version of an article I wrote 4 or 5 years ago: it needs updating and I'm not entirely sure that I agree with some of the things I wrote back then, however, there are some interesting ideas in there and a range of links to research about effective differentiation:

Characteristics of effective departmental provision for gifted history students.

ways of differentiating for the more able

Examples: Differentiating by task

The value of Enrichment activities

[JohnDClare]

Identifying the need - differentiation for what?
Differentiation is not an end in itself – it is a means to an end: the pupils’ learning. So there is no point in planning a differentiated lesson until we know what are the different needs and problems for which we are differentiating.

Further to Dan's knowledgeable post:

Beginning ‘where the children are at’ is surely the key to good teaching. ‘Beginning where they are at and moving them on’ was the first principle of teaching I was taught in my first PGCE lecture, and it has remained my first principle ever since.

Beginning ‘where the children are at’, surely, is also the first principle of differentiation?


Ability Banding
In the academic classroom, I would think that academic ability is the first issue to be considered. Within the mixed ability classroom, this is automatic, but I would suggest that it is essential even within the ‘setted’ teaching group. A year-group accurately divided into four ability bands will still have pupils at least one full standard deviation apart in ability, and probably two standard deviations in the top and bottom bands. As a result, many teachers will differentiate lessons – as per the QCA KS3 Scheme of Work – for ‘most pupils’ in the class, but, then also, those pupils who ‘will make less progress’, and those who ‘will progress further’. This is an essential, that both lesson content and teaching strategies are planned with regard to the needs of those who will not ‘catch on’ so quickly, and those who will find the work too simple.
Nowadays, all schools have a wealth of standardised assessment information available which measures either attainment (eg SATs) or ability (CATs), many will keep this up-to-date with recorded assessment data (eg Yr7 and Yr8 tests, GOAL tests etc.), and all but the sloppiest will have these centrally logged and readily available to staff – the problem is not having the means to find out which children fall into which attainment/ability category, but in getting staff to access the data and USE it appropriately in devising their lessons. I am sure that much of the assessment data handed out to staff is discarded immediately with little more than a cursory glance, and I think there are few teachers who consciously consider who are the more-, average- and less-able pupils before planning individual lessons.

Special Needs
Having planned for varying absolute academic ability, my next concern would be to plan for special educational need. Every school by law has to have IEPs for SN children on levels SA+5 and SA+, and many will have IEPs for every child on the SN register. I must say that, after years of trying, I have stopped giving out IEPs to teachers because I am sure that few, if any, were even read properly, never mind used to differentiate lessons – instead, my SN department has moved to a system of ‘Group Education Plans’ which identify, in grid form, the SNs for all the pupils in each class. Staff are encouraged to sellotape this grid to their classlist, and to consult it before planning each lesson; the formal school lesson plan has a ‘differentiation’ box which requires staff to identify each SN pupil and to suggest how they intend to differentiate for the need of each SN child in the class. How much this happens beyond formally-observed lessons is questionable, but it should happen for EVERY lesson.
The quality of this element of differentiable need, of course, depends upon the quality of your SN department. I have said this elsewhere, but any SN department worth its salt should be telling you, not only which children are MLD, SpLD (dyslexic, dyspraxic), autistic-spectrum, ADHD, EBD etc., but also which have phonological and/or visuo-spatial limitations, (auditory and/or visual) working memory problems et al., which give insight into their cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Of course, there will be the normal spectrum of other SNs, such as colour-blindness, hearing deficits, epilepsy etc. For all of these SNs the teacher should differentiate intentionally and as a matter of course. Some of these might be very simply solved (eg a child who is deaf or blind on the left side should sit on the teacher’s right). Others might need specialised knowledge or more significant organisation or pedagogic adjustment.
At the other end of the spectrum, but just as validly a special need, of course, are the Gifted and Talented pupils who may well not fall simply into the ‘clever’ bracket, but may have specific abilities and needs for which you ought to be catering. Again, the quality of the school’s G&T register will be critical in this respect as you seek to introduce into your lessons elements which will maximise these children’s learning.

Other issues
Other issues which teachers are increasingly expected to cater for in their planning include:
- prior learning.
- ‘learning style’ – auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. (To be honest, I am not so sure about the reliability of the many different rule-of-thumb tests by which schools assess this, and I suspect that pupils’ ‘learning preferences’ may well change from moment to moment.)
- cultural issues, race, faith and social class.
- gender differences might require adaptation of some lessons.
- personal issues – self-confidence, family situation, personal interests etc.
There are no tests that can tell you this sort of thing – for all these, it really is a case of ‘teacher, know thy pupils’, and of having the insight and sensitivity to adjust the lessons accordingly.


Why bother?
It is my personal belief that this is the next frontier for teaching, and that it is essential if we are to raise achievement. At the moment I am sure that there is a lot of instinctive differentiation going on in lessons – this being that teachers, in their preparation, are subconsciously realising that certain pupils in certain classes ‘will never wear’ certain teaching, and intuitively adapting their lessons accordingly. What is wrong about this kind of differentiation is that it is bound to be skewed towards the troublesome pupils – simply because it is these pupils that teachers are subconsciously scared might wreck their lesson if they aren’t catered for. Yet their needs are only some among many individual needs, and – if we are to drive the pupils on academically – it is the specific academic needs which MUST be addressed as we plan our lessons.

The starting point has to be a recognition of the need to take individual learning needs into account when planning a class’s lessons.
After that – and this is why I have placed this thread as strand 1 of the differentiation seminar – teachers have to have a clear idea of individual pupil’s issues which need to be taken into account as they plan each lesson.

It is essential that this is reduced to its simplest level possible, or else it will never become automatic in a teacher’s planning – which is what we need.

Thus it is that, I would suggest, there are THREE QUESTIONS which every teacher needs to ask themselves before they start planning the lesson, and again after they have planned it, to make sure that they are properly differentiating their lesson:
1. What is the ability range of this class, and who are the more able, the average and the slower-learning pupils for whom I need to cater?
2. Which individuals in this class have specific identifiable SEN and/or G&T needs, and in what ways will my lesson meet their individual needs?
3. Are there any other individual pupils who may have specific learning styles, or known cultural, gender or personal issues which may impede their ability to learn in this lesson, and does my lesson plan cater for their needs?

To this end, moreover, it is essential that every teacher compiles (if it does not exist centrally) a spreadsheet on each class, which will contain:
a. information on pupils’ academic achievement (eg SATs) and ability (eg MidYIS).
b. any SN or G&T information, with details of SN level, and a list of individuals’ needs and generic targets.
c. any relevant notes about other issues which the teacher needs to remember – PSMC interests, hang-ups, etc.
so that they can remind themselves of the key information before they start – and so that they can check their strategies after they finish – planning the lesson.

[andrew duff]

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Find out how your students learn:
I give my GCSE classes a multiple intelligences questionnaire to find out what type of learners I have in the class to plan accordingly.

Now, this sounds interesting! I'm currently writing an assignment on multiple intelligences for my MA, I've read shedloads of stuff but am interested in practical applications - any chance of seeing a copy of your questionairre? - any thoughts on how well it works would be appreciated
Many thanks
Andrew

[Dan Moorhouse]

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Are there ways to make differentiation a seamless part of classroom learning?

Group based activities:

Set a challenging task for a group of 4 / 5 students.
Assign a different role in the group to each student. This can include: editing, research, timekeeping etc. Depending on the nature of the task set, these may require different levels of skill and can allow very discreet differentiation within the group.

Tasks given to the group can also vary in terms of skill level and accessibility of proivided sources. Again these can be allocated to individual students based on their needs in a discreet manner.

This also allows learning preferences to be cated for to some extent. Students who prefer to record things pictorally can be given tasks of that nature, for example. Students who prefer to demonstrate understanding orally can choose to deliver a verbal presentation etc...

Nothing spectacular in the above example but it does allow a range of differnent needs to be addressed in a way that doesn't embarrass students and is (in many cases) fairly closely matched to their learning preferences.

[Dan Moorhouse]

John D Clare's thread on Special Educational Needs is also a good soruce of information in relation to differentiation. This thread covers many of the ways in which a teacher can establish classroom routines and an enironment in which differentiation can be done effectively.

There are a range of practical ideas about differentiating for students for whom English is a Second langauge in this thread.

There has also been a lengthy thread on catering for students of differing abilities which covers many additional methods of dealing with the learning needs of individual students.

[JohnDClare]

Creating the climate for differentiation – how do you make your classroom a learning environment that enables differentiated learning?
Education is not just about teaching strategies applied within a one-hour lesson. The success of a lesson is just as much determined by the underlying physical, organisational and philosophical climate of the school and your classroom.

The whole idea behind this question is ‘laying appropriate foundations’ – the idea that, if you are going to develop in your classroom differentiation which really works, you MUST get the foundations right, and differentiation cannot be simply a superficial strategy which you bolt on to satisfy the Ofsted inspectors, but an underlying principle which underpins your whole classroom climate and organisation.
It is the idea that such pre-issues as the ‘feel’ of the classroom, the way the tables are set out, where the pupils sit, the attitudes of yourself as the teacher and the reflected attitudes of your pupils, even display, can help to create an environment where meaningful planned differentiation of lessons can take place.
What we are really talking about, at this stage, is inclusive practice.

If you go to the Inclusion website – a terribly intense and excited website on the benefits of inclusive education for all’ – you will read that a inclusive classroom is:

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a lot of students doing different things with people helping them, students moving from one environment to another. It's also a classroom where everybody is smiling, the students are actively engaged, and the teacher is delighted to be there. It sounds like pandemonium and looks messy.
http://www.uni.edu/c..._classroom.html

Quite bluntly, I think this kind of rubbish is counter-productive, because it turns me off, and I’m committed to the concept! I think it muddles up inclusion/differentiation with child-centred learning, and I think it confuses one possible set of outcomes with the processes which produced it. There are plenty of classrooms all over Britain where nothing like this kind of thing takes place, but where very effective differentiation/inclusion is taking place.

Nevertheless, I think that – as you read the literature – there ARE certain underlying principles which you may need to consider:

In a differentiated classroom:
1. The teacher is fully committed to the principle. This is about your attitudes and values, and the need for ‘an inclusive ethos and culture which focuses on equity issues and challenges discrimination and disadvantage’. This goes beyond welcoming all pupils as they enter the classroom. It is about the way your pupils see you receiving the pupils who come to you – not just as a whole class, but as individuals. A concomitant part of this is that you must have high expectations for all pupils, together with an emphasis on achievements rather than ‘problems’.

2. There are structures for mutual respect. One writer stresses the need for ‘Positive action to promote good social relationships’, including ‘early intervention, a preventative focus, and consistent on issues of harassment, behaviour and attendance.’ In my classroom all pupils are REQUIRED to value the contribution of others. Everybody reads out loud, but no one comments or ‘helps’ apart from me. Attitude to answering questions is based Chris Tarrant’s ‘Millionaire’ principle – they’re only easy if you know the answer! If a student shows lack of respect for me, it is ‘part of the game’; I am paid to deal with it (and I DO!) But the unacceptable sin is lack of respect for other pupils.

3. There is a high level of student responsibility and input throughout the process. The teacher HAS to negotiate meaningfully – even if he is particularly teacher-centred, he has to take the pupils’ position into account. KEY ISSUES here are prior learning; learning preferences and strengths; monitoring and evaluation to assess and take into account the pupils’ progress; and seeking pupils’ opinions and perspectives. Each year I ask the pupils to write a report on the work we’ve done, the teaching strategies I’ve used, and about me as a teacher – painful, but essential. Some teachers like negotiated contracts (though I’ve never used contracts, I do regularly negotiate syllabus content with the pupils and at least explain what I intend to do every lesson, and ask them if this will be OK).

4. Do you think it will have an effect on the syllabus? I do. There will just be some topics that you leave out altogether, and others that you address in different ways. Carol Ann Tomlinson says that in the differentiated classroom: "Instruction is concept focused and principle driven." By this she means that a differentiated classroom will have a very SHP-type focus on skills not content. A "coverage-based" curriculum pressurises a teacher to make all students do the same work and acquire a certain body of information. Concept-based instruction allows teachers to deliver the skills via the most appropriate learning option, and gives students the opportunity to explore and develop the ideas, and to acquire the degree of factual content appropriate to their ability.

5. There will be an effect on classroom organisation – tables will be arranged, and pupils will be placed in the classroom, according to their individual needs (I have talked about this at greater length in the strand on Special Needs). One group of young people asked to design an inclusive classroom indicated that it would be bigger than the normal classroom – well, that would be nice but we live in a real world. My classroom can’t be bigger. Neither is a differentiated classroom necessarily about work-stations and ICT. It all depends on the pupils and the lesson I want to teach – I have some classes where many children sit alone on desks arranged in serried ranks: that is the best learning environment for them, for it gives me the greatest control. At other times we pile the desks in a corner and sit in a large circle, or work in groups. Classroom organisation has to be planned at the individual-pupil level. Display is also an area where a little planning can have a great effect – display should be designed so that it does not distract children with poor attention, but so that it does provide prompts for children with poor memory skills.

6. There will be an effect on classroom management processes. I do not believe that a differentiated classroom is necessarily mixed ability. But what I do think is that the management of learning issues need to have been pre-thought, including support, support staff and team-teaching (see this site for suggestions about different kinds of team-teaching). Ideally – though this is a whole-school issue and you cannot do it alone – this will stretch backwards into the timetable and school organisation. For some children, there should be a foundation of organised support including community involvement, inter-agency meetings and liaison with parents (the ideal model is the full-service school). In the meantime, however, the teacher can organise the elements of classroom management over which he DOES have control to ensure that the pupils have maximum opportunity to learn – even if this involves nothing more than making sure that the SpLD pupil’s laptop is fully charged, and making the disorganised pupils put away one set of materials before you move on the next stage of the lesson.

7. Finally, a differentiated classroom WILL use a wide variety of teaching strategies directed towards specific pupils’ needs, which I will explore in another post.

[MrsB]

I was reading this seminar earlier today after searching for something quite different and it is brilliant. If you haven't read it, you should! In fact, I have adapted it and incorporated lots of the information into my new department handbook (all refs cited).

I thought I would take the opportunity to bump it back into current viewing.

[D Letouzey]

On all these issues,

A full website, in French, run by François Muller :

http://francois.mull...ifier/index.htm