Dissertation

Differentiated instruction in practice: a teacher perspective

Many teachers in secondary education take differences between pupils into account . PhD research by Saskia Stollman (ICLON) shows that they need room to experiment and the support of the school management

Author: Saskia Stollman
Date: 23 May 2018
Links: Fulltext in Leiden University Repository

When a teacher differentiates, he or she takes into account the diverse learning needs of pupils and thereby tries to let each student learn as well as possible. Previous research has shown that differentiatied instruction is difficult for teachers and that they apply it not often enough. This is because classes are large (about 25 students with their own learning needs) and teachers have little time to prepare their lessons.

Stollman conducted a literature study to investigate which factors in the work environment of teachers promote or impede differentiated teaching. This study shows that it is important to first map the work context of teachers when applying differentiated instruction.