Science department planning structures and their influence on the provision of differentiated teaching

Abstract

Abstract The study reported here represents part of a larger study to evaluate the implementation of science in the National Curriculum at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. The focus of this paper is on a study of the provision of differentiated learning in Key Stage 3 classrooms. It was found that teachers did not use the National Curriculum in order to support differentiation. It was found that teachers in departments where pupils were set tended to assume their teaching groups were homogeneous. Teachers teaching mixed ability classes worried that they tended to teach to the middle. However a number of strategies for providing differentiated learning were identified at the teacher level. The ability of the teacher to implement these strategies was found to be restricted by highly prescriptive schemes of work and by tight time schedules. There was also a reliance by departments on teachers knowing the pupils and the resources available in order to provide differentiation. However resources for differentiation were ...