Dealing effectively with differences in education

During the coming year researchers from the GION will write a review about differentiation in education. Even though many practical publications have been written on this subject for teachers, a good overview of scientific publications in this context seems to be lacking.

Results of earlier studies and reviews of the effects of differentiation are not very convincing or consistent. This new review will provide an overview of the various (international) studies into the effective ways of dealing with differences in the classroom. The review will be published in book form, and we assume that the readership will mainly consist of (prospective) teachers.

Importance

The relevance of this issue increases with the current educational policy, in which as many pupils as possible should have a place in mainstream education. In addition, it is the way in which teachers and schools deal with the cognitive differences between students that is one of the most important features that distinguishes strong schools from weak schools.

The research will be conducted by Prof.dr.R.J.Bosker, Dr. S. Doolaard and Dr. M.I. Deunk and has been commissioned by the Programme Council for Educational Research (PROO) of the NWO.