Demistifying differentiation in teaching

Variety is spice of life, so why do some teachers panic when ask to change things up?

Differentiation. The mere mention of the word in a staff meeting can make us teachers bristle with anxiety. It’s not only because it hogs an obscene number of syllables; there is simply something about it that can steer a clear-thinking, confident teacher into a fog of sketchiness and confusion. Perhaps it’s because ‘differentiation’ can be so indistinctly defined in schools. Teachers are often subject to instructions such as: ‘differentiate in your lessons’, ‘include differentiation in your lesson plans’ or sometimes even the highly ambiguous ‘deliver differentiated lessons, please’.

And the people giving these instructions? Well, if you caught them on an honest day, they might even admit to you that they’re a little hazy themselves on exactly what they’re looking for. It’s not that we don’t all agree with the concept that children’s needs vary or that we must tailor our teaching accordingly; it’s just that we’re suspicious that ‘differentiation’ must be far more complicated than that. Surely the Differentiation Police will jump out on us one day and confirm our fear that it really is an impossibly convoluted phenomenon – won’t they?

In the words of Einstein, “If you can’t explain something simply, then you don’t understand it well enough”. So let’s make this as simple as possible: differentiation means making sure you help every child in your class to learn at an appropriate level of challenge.

Of course, this throws up an extremely important point: that in order to effectively tailor teaching and learning to the needs of the children in our class, we need to know our pupils extremely well. If we have accurately assessed the starting points of our learners, we can then decide what we expect of each of them and how we will move each one forward from her own baseline. In other words, we identify each child’s gap and then we help her to close it. Good? Then, let’s have a look at six key ways to differentiate simply and effectively.

1. The ‘low threshold/high ceiling’ task

Ever had your knuckles metaphorically rapped for claiming that your differentiation for a particular task was ‘by outcome’? Well, if by ‘differentiation by outcome’ a teacher means “some children will produce a great piece of work and others…erm…not so much”, then the criticism may well be fair. However, if by ‘differentiation by outcome’ we mean that we have carefully designed a task to allow our lowest attainers to access it and achieve personal success, while simultaneously ensuring all learners can be stretched upwards, then that breed of differentiation is extremely valuable.

2. Layers of challenge

The concept of ‘differentiation by resource’ can make us cringe for two reasons: telling a child that they are, once again, a ‘yellow worksheet’ sort of person can often feel horribly tactless, and it conjures up images of unnecessary extra work for the teacher.

The best way around these problems is to ensure that the resources we use with all pupils have layers of challenge within them. This way, every learner can move forward at a level of challenge appropriate for them, and no child is capped. We should expect great things of all our learners. After all, shouldn’t every child have the right to access and attempt the most difficult task if they wish to?

3. Targeted tasks

This approach involves using a pre-assessment task to identify a child’s specific gap in knowledge or skill, and then setting a classwork or homework task that helps the child to close that gap. Simple. The bad news is this pleasingly logical approach to differentiation highlights the undeniable importance of marking (sorry!). In fact, it can be helpful to think of that pile of marking as our priceless opportunity to provide personalised one-to-one help for each child. When you think about it, marking is the most obvious tool for differentiation that we have.

4. Thoughtful grouping

If the recent global excitement about growth mindset has taught us anything about grouping pupils, it’s that we shouldn’t be labelling them according to what we consider to be their innate ability. It can, however, be extremely useful to group pupils according to current areas of need (or gaps), so that we can tactfully tailor tasks and teaching that’s aimed at those deficiencies. Being able to decide who each pupil works with for a particular task is our prerogative as great differentiators. This means resigning ourselves to having a fairly fluid seating plan. Reassuringly, it also means that that table in the corner doesn’t get stigmatised as the ‘easy work’ table.

5. Effective circulating

We can’t ascertain who needs support or stretch in a classroom if we don’t circulate. Circulating during independent work can be one of the most powerful tools in our differentiation toolbox. It’s also one of the simplest. Talking to learners about their work means you can support those who are struggling and challenge those who need stretching. It’s an extremely effective way to get the right kind of assistance to the right child.

6. A variety of approaches

Just as it’s important to take pupils out of their comfort zones, occasionally us teachers need to step out of ours too. Sometimes, differentiation is just about finding a new way to teach something – that one approach that suddenly makes the lightbulb come on in the head of a hard-to-reach learner. Some pupils will automatically learn quickly via our default teaching methods, some will not. But every child can get there in the end. Sometimes it’s just a question of finding an alternative route, teaching the same thing in different ways. We might even need to consider an approach that would not be our own preferred way to acquire the knowledge or skill. It’s good to be challenged.

Loose change

What happens when differentiation goes wrong?

Sensitivity slip-ups

Beware of tactless, indiscrete approaches: “We’re all going to have fun with numbers up to 100 today. Oh, except the Badgers table. Badgers, you can stick with your work on numbers 1-10.”

Seating plan

Teachers need to be respected for their expert professional judgement regarding how best to arrange their own pupils. Making informed, lesson-by-lesson decisions about seating arrangements in your class is an important strategy for differentiation.

Speed bumps

Pace is important in a lesson. But ‘pace’ does not mean ‘high speed’ – it can be quickened or slowed, as appropriate. If our lessons become a blur of bite-sized activities in the name of ‘pace’, then differentiation goes out the window. We need to give pupils time to think, develop and improve their immediate responses to our questions.

The ‘see-what-happens’ hazard

“Some of them will do a great one and some will do a rubbish one” is not differentiation.

Static support

TAs are differentiation gold dust. If we’re lucky enough to have one, they should not – except in exceptional circumstances – be seated with one child for an entire lesson. Ideally, a TA will adapt to the changing needs of a class as they emerge, intervening where necessary and seeking vital information about progress, making notes and feeding this back to the teacher.

Catering/challenging confusion

Giving individuals something they can do instead of something that will challenge them is an all too common error. If we over-sensitively cater for needs and perceived abilities rather than challenging them, those children will leave us with the same difficulties they came to us with.

About the author

Isabelle Wallace is an award-winning teacher and AST. She is also a consultant and contributor for the Oxford Dictionary of Education who presents nationally and internationally on outstanding learning and teaching.