Differentiated instruction is the concept of teaching to individual students acknowledging their individual strengths, weaknesses and learning styles. The call for differentiated instruction classrooms is echoed in both an appreciation of students as individuals as well as at the systems level through results of international exit surveys such as the PISA study. Differentiated learning calls for a move away from an industrialist model of the classroom, where the same programme (instructional activities and assessment structures) are applied to all students, to a model where we consider learning and assessment programmes to suit individual learners needs.
A move to differentiated instruction to allow differentiated learning to occur in the classroom has implications on school structures and vision, professional learning for teachers and teacher practice at the classroom and departmental levels. The role of assessment in teaching and learning is also critical in the functioning of a differentiated learning classroom.
This paper discusses the factors involved in setting up a differentiated learning classroom and is supported by a presentation of classroom examples.
