论文信息 - Enhancing students’ learning through differentiated approaches to teaching and learning: a Maltese perspective

Enhancing students’ learning through differentiated approaches to teaching and learning: a Maltese perspective

Within the context of Malta, differentiated teaching pervades the National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) published in 1999, in 11 of 15 principles that the NMC supports. The study seeks to explore how well prepared and equipped the teachers are with the necessary skills to fulfil a differentiated teaching approach. The aim of this research study was to explore the current pedagogical procedures teachers are adopting in order to ensure curriculum access to all students, and to what extent these actually reflect differentiated instructional strategies. Data was collected through questionnaires. All teachers in the school were asked to participate and the response rate was high. The results are therefore representative of this particular school but cannot be generalised to the whole teaching population. It was found that many teachers were taking an individualised role to teaching, and in the future the school will need to adopt policy decisions and a School Development Plan (SDP) which feature differentiation. Such an approach will be needed in order to encourage the teachers to utilise strategies that reflect a differentiated approach to teaching within a whole school context. In-service training will be required to enable teachers to be made aware of the varying ways of responding to the needs of all students through differentiated teaching approaches in order to provide paths to learning so that the classroom becomes a ‘good fit’ for varied learners.

Audrey Fenech Adami

[1] Colin Robson,et al. Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers , 1993 .

[2] Sylvia Mcnamara,et al. Understanding Differentiation: A Teachers Guide , 1997 .

[3] A. Dyson. Towards a collaborative, learning model for responding to student diversity , 1994 .

[4] Ron Babbage,et al. Approaches to Teaching and Learning: Including Pupils with Learnin Diffculties , 1999 .

[5] Eve Bearne,et al. Differentiation and Diversity in the Primary School , 1996 .

[6] R. Riding,et al. Cognitive Style and Pupil Learning Preferences , 1996 .

[7] R T Johnson,et al. Building acceptance of differences between handicapped and nonhandicapped students: the effects of cooperative and individualistic instruction. , 1984, The Journal of social psychology.

[8] Susan Hart. Differentiation and the Secondary Curriculum: Debates and Dilemmas , 1996 .

[9] P. Mittler. Teacher education for special educational needs , 1993 .

[10] L. Cohen,et al. Research Methods in Education , 1980 .

[11] R. Byers,et al. Planning the Curriculum for Pupils with Special Educational Needs: A Practical Guide , 2005 .

[12] Gloria Banner,et al. Teaching in style: Are you making the difference in the classroom? , 1997 .

[13] Anne Wescott Dodd. Comparative Learning and Strategies for Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity in the Classroom. Edited by JoAnne W. Putnam. Baltimore, Md.: Paul H. Brookes, 1993 , 1994 .