Differentiation

Within the ICALT3 project on teaching quality, one of the teaching skills of interest is differentiation, which refers to the degree to which teachers adapt their teaching to relevant differences between students.

Differentiation can be applied to maximize the learning potential of students with varying characteristics. However, many teachers struggle to implement this complex skill. More information is needed about:

• how teachers in various countries differentiate their daily teaching practices
• which factors inhibit or enhance differentiation practices
• how teachers’ differentiation skills develop over time
• how differentiation influences students’ non-cognitive outcomes such as academic motivation and engagement
• how to measure differentiation in a valid and reliable way within various cultural contexts.

Since there is currently a great demand for teaching which optimizes the chances for all students, we pay special attention to these questions regarding differentiation in the current project.