Differentiated instruction: ‘to be, or not to be, that is the question’

Abstract

Education systems around the world, faces the major challenge of including all children in schools. Differentiated instruction (DI) is proposed as a pedagogical approach that support social, emotional and academic success for all students in the context of heterogeneous classrooms. Although, recent research draws the attention to the inconsistent definitions and practices of DI. In this context, this qualitative study aimed at exploring the Portuguese teachers self-reported typical DI practices in mixedability classrooms. The participants were thirty-six teachers from kindergarten to middle school and came from a public-school cluster of five schools. The qualitative analysis carried out indicate a variety of practices under the concept of DI, ranging from practices aimed only at a group of students, based on low ability or special education needs, to practices aimed at building communities of learners. The majority of the self-reported practices described DI as simply giving one assignment to most pupils and fewer or easier activities to students who are struggling with their learning. Implications for initial teacher training and professional development programmes are discussed.

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“…Since various data collection tools are used in the studies, data analysis methods also vary. a4,a5,a6,a8,a11,a12,a14,a19,a20,a25,a28,a35,a36,a37 Children and teacher 13 31.7 a2,a9,a16,a17,a21,a23,a24,a26,a27,a30,a31,a34 Table 8, it is found that the most studied groups were "teachers" (36.6%), followed by "children and teachers" (31.7%). These sample groups were followed by "children" (14.6%) and "prospective teachers" (4.9%), and the least studied groups were "teachers and school administrators" (2.4%) and "children, teachers and school administrators" (2.4%).…”

“…It is seen that differentiated instructional approach studies in preschool education are mostly published in SCI/SSCI index journals. a7,a12,a14,a15,a19,a20,a23,a28,a29,a32,a33,a34,a37,a38,a39,a40,a41,Quantitative 13 31.7 a4,a5,a6,a8,a9,a13,a16,a18,a21,a22,a25,a26 Table 3, it is seen that qualitative designs (43.9%) were used the most in the studies, followed by quantitative (31.7%) and mixed (24.4%) designs, respectively. Table 4, it is seen that there are five full experimental studies, four quasi-experimental studies, three survey studies and two studies using correlation method among the studies conducted in the experimental method using quantitative design.…”

“…Considering the high number of studies examining the effects of differentiated instruction approach on teachers' training and training on children's developmental areas as the subject of the studies, as well as the differentiation in the content, process and product dimensions of differentiated instruction, it is seen that many data collection sources are used. a7,a12,a15,a16,a19,a20,a22,a23 a28,a29,a32,a33,a34,a37,a39,a40,a41 Quantitative data analysis 13 31.7 a4,a5,a6,a8,a9,a11,a13,a14,a18,a21,a25,a36,a38 Quantitative and Qualitative data analysis 10 24.4 a1,a2,a10,a17,a24,a26,a27,a30,a31,a35 Total 41 100…”

An Investigation of Research on Differentiated Instruction Approach in Preschool Education Between 2005-2022

“…It is seen that differentiated instructional approach studies in preschool education are mostly published in SCI/SSCI index journals. a7,a12,a14,a15,a19,a20,a23,a28,a29,a32,a33,a34,a37,a38,a39,a40,a41,Quantitative 13 31.7 a4,a5,a6,a8,a9,a13,a16,a18,a21,a22,a25,a26, a36 Mixed 10 24.4 a1, a2,…”

Use of I-Ready in Tiered Instructions for ESL Students: A Quantitative Case Study

“…This transformation demands that educators employ multifaceted instructional approaches to cater to the variegated needs of their classrooms (Hoover and DeBettencourt, 2018). Besides, the use of differentiated education, namely using tiered instructions, has been a well-established pedagogical approach utilized to address the varying requirements of students (Gaitas et al, 2022). Tiered instructions have risen to the challenge, presenting a pedagogically sound methodology that considers students' varying abilities and readiness levels.…”