ABSTRACT

The principles of inclusive education largely accepted by governments of different countries require differentiated classroom instruction to meet the diverse needs of individual students. Despite this, teachers have differing experiences and understandings about implementing differentiated instruction (DI) and heterogeneous classrooms. This narrative study aimed at exploring the meanings of DI in the Eritrean context, where teachers are not explicitly familiar with the concept, although their teaching practices reflect some level of differentiation. The research data consisted of 17 narrative interviews with Eritrean mathematics and science teachers. The results of the narrative analysis showed that the teachers constructed five meanings of DI in their narratives: as a caring orientation, as a flexible pedagogic approach, as a self-reflective process, as a failed attempt and as a demanding approach. The majority of the narratives were found to produce positive meanings of DI, and the teachers constructed strong agency towards carrying out DI. These examples of sophisticated DI practices in the teachers’ positive narratives could be utilised to implement DI, even in situations where teachers have limited resources and training and in contexts with large class sizes.

摘要

各国政府普遍接受的全纳教育原则要求差异化的课堂教学，以满足学生个体的不同需求。尽管如此，教师对实施差异化教学（DI）和异构课堂有不同的经验和理解。这项叙述性研究旨在探索 DI 在厄立特里亚语境中的含义，尽管他们的教学实践反映出某种程度的差异，但教师并不明确熟悉这一概念。研究数据包括对厄立特里亚数学和科学教师的 17 次叙述性访谈。叙事分析的结果表明，教师在他们的叙事中建构了 DI 的五种含义：作为一种关怀导向，作为一种灵活的教学方法，作为一个自我反省的过程，作为一次失败的尝试和一种苛刻的方法。发现大多数叙述都产生了 DI 的积极意义，教师们为开展 DI 构建了强大的能动性。即使在教师资源和培训有限以及班级规模较大的情况下，教师积极叙述中这些复杂的 DI 实践示例也可用于实施 DI。