ABSTRACT

As student populations in schools become more diverse in many western countries, the urge for teachers to provide instruction that caters for students’ needs increases concurrently. Teachers however find it difficult to put differentiated instruction into practice. This study is based on an action research project that documented teachers’ professional development. Three teams of secondary education teachers were trained and coached to implement differentiated instruction in their classrooms. They planned their instructional design collaboratively to align with the contextuality of their school and while implementing the planned instructional design, they responded to students with diverse readiness levels or learning profiles. Teachers’ implementation of differentiated instruction was observed and interpreted using an action research methodology. Results show that teachers struggled in assessing students’ differences. Moreover, teachers’ responsivity appeared to be determined not only by cognitive traits but also by other types of individual differences. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

摘要

随着许多西方国家的学校学生群体变得更加多样化，教师提供满足学生需求的教学的需求也随之增加。然而，教师发现很难将差异化教学付诸实践。本研究基于一个记录教师专业发展的行动研究项目。三支中等教育教师团队接受了培训和指导，以在课堂上实施差异化教学。他们合作规划教学设计，以符合学校的背景，在实施计划的教学设计的同时，他们以不同的准备水平或学习概况对学生做出回应。使用行动研究方法观察和解释教师实施差异化教学的情况。结果表明，教师难以评估学生的差异。此外，教师的反应能力似乎不仅取决于认知特征，还取决于其他类型的个体差异。讨论了对理论和实践的影响。