TEACHING & LEARNING

It is a principle of education at Hyde Community College that all students will be enabled ‘to be the best that they can be’ and have access to the broad and balanced curriculum to which they are entitled. To facilitate this, differentiation of the curriculum, in particular for those students identified as having special educational needs, will be required. Differentiation is the responsibility of all teachers and has been defined as: - 

 

 

‘………… The process whereby teachers meet the need for progress through the curriculum by selecting appropriate teaching methods & resources to match an individual student’s learning strategies within a group situation.’ 

(Vicar J. Making it work – Ideas for Staff Development 1993) 

 

 

 

Differentiation by task preparing different levels of task within the whole class. This might mean the class has several ‘sets’ or ‘bands’. Are these informally decided or based on criteria? Are pupils in the same group for all aspects of the subject? Querying the effects of low achievers working together – as well as high achievers doing so - have on their performance? Differentiation by task can determine achievement before it has been demonstrated if not carefully planned. One instance of this is in Case Study 1 below.

 

 

Differentiation by outcome making one task fit all. Here pupils perform at their own level and the outcome is assessed. Often used in open-ended assessment tasks (e.g. story writing). On such wide topics the sort of questions set can be accessible to middle abilities but lead brighter pupils to frustration and underachievement; leave the weaker pupils unable to engage with tasks. Some believe this is really no method of differentiation at all as it relies on pupils differentiating themselves into or out of work, not learning by carefully planned and relevant next steps.

 

 

Differentiation by resource using materials, texts or resources chosen to suit pupils’ needs. In some ways this is like differentiation by task and can lead to mini-setting or grouping. If this limits levels of achievement it is problematic. It can appear suitably expedient to make stepped versions of materials or use different photocopied resources but such preparation can be very time-consuming. Some series of commercial textbooks use limited language demand in readings. Remember that more able pupils need challenge in materials as much as less able children.

 

 

ICT can be a real asset for producing and reproducing texts or worksheets for different students’ needs.  The ‘changeable’ nature of text on screen makes it easily adaptable to present different levels of challenge. (See PGCE materials on ICT in English)

 

 

Differentiation by support - changing and adapting teacher expectations, verbal feedback and comments in marking, TA’s regular monitoring and supportive attention are all indicative of how more or less support can be directed towards individual pupils’ learning. Over use of TA and teacher’s attention can lead to insufficient independence; teachers’ knowledge of the class and her/his expectations determine levels of demand; this method is in fact many methods and as such is flexible and effective if systematic. TA and teacher attention leads to little independence. It is difficult to identify on Lesson Plans and Topic Plans if left informal; it is best to have a set of supportive strategies (e.g. asking specific pupils to re-state the task) to refer to and deploy as needed.

 

 

Differentiation by time/pace – here is a technique of extending or reducing task/questioning time; teachers and TAs flexibly adjust the pace and challenge according to the work rate and level of pupils’ understanding and engagement. This can be problematic as, like Differentiation by Support, it can be informally done and left unspecified in Lesson and Topic Plans. Documents ought to reflect this general intention and evaluations should reflect its use and efficacy.

 

Differentiation by teaching style – adapting the teaching style and approach can draw different responses from pupils. With some pupils’ preferred learning styles being employed as part of a task (e.g. representing an idea in a graphic chart or spider diagram) lessons can more suit their capacities to learn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All strategies for differentiation have validity and all are correspondingly problematic in certain circumstances. Differentiation is a sophisticated part of active teaching, planning and enacting more individualized learning within the framework of whole-class teaching. It does not indicate running several different lessons at once but tuning work to all pupils benefit wherever possible and manageable. It is one area in which teachers are constantly learning about their classes, and actively addressing pupils’ learning needs in strategic yet subtle ways.

 

 

Differentiation for Special Educational Needs and Inclusion

Mainstream classes will have children with special needs in such areas as

•     Communication and interaction needs (e.g. ADHD);

•     Cognition and learning needs (e.g. dyslexia, dyspraxia);

•     Behaviour, emotional and social development needs (e.g. disaffected, disruptive, withdrawn);

•     Sensory and or physical needs (e.g. profound deafness, visual impairment, immobility).

(DfEE 2000; Garner and Davies 2001)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of these special needs will have specific conceptual, linguistic and task-related implications (see above) and for some specific information on Autism (DfES 2002c pp78-102; DfES 2002d). Appropriate and adequate support for them is necessary to achieve differentiation. Remember, you may well use texts that some cannot read! English teachers must refer to the school’s SEN register for information about each child’s stated needs and liase with the Special Needs department for guidance on organising differentiation in class. Examples of some differentiating strategies include:

 

•     Conceptual – by support (i.e. the teacher) – monitoring pupil early and questioning/re-explaining core ideas to boost confidence;

•     Linguistic – by resource (i) (i.e. classroom display & whiteboard) – refer pupil to poster/boardwork of key words for spellings and appropriate uses in context; by resource (ii) (i.e. adapted versions of literary texts) See a fuller description of this approach in (Pike 2004).

•     Task-related – by support & time – assigning TA to question pupil for a re-statement of a task’s stages to get a good confident start. Might need repeated visits to monitor progress and initiate next step.

 

Some SEN pupils with physical needs (e.g. visual impairment) may need individually prepared worksheets – such as large print - or adapted/stepped tasks.

 

 

Differentiation for Ethnic Minority and Gender Inclusion

Most mainstream classes will be co-educational, except in exceptional circumstances, and multi-ethnic. Differentiating for inclusive classrooms will serve to achieve two current [2004] national priorities:

•     Meeting the needs of pupils for whom English is an additional language, known as (EAL);

•     Raising the standards of achievement for those minority ethnic groups who are particularly at risk of underachieving.