DIFFERENTIATION - TEACHERS VIEWS OF THE USEFULNESS OF RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES IN HELPING THE MORE ABLE PUPILS IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CLASSROOMS

Recent official publications have emphasised the need for differentiat ion to take place in classrooms in order to ensure that the needs of a ll pupils, including the more able, are met effectively. These publica tions list methods of differentiation which are 'recommended' for clas sroom use. This article researches the views of teachers about the val ue of these recommended methods of differentiation for able pupils in primary and secondary classrooms. It concludes that the teachers are m ore subtle in their use of the methods than the official publications allow for and it suggests that no single method can be applied without understanding the context in which it is used.