‘Differentiation is….. the process of identifying, with each learner, the most effective strategies for achieving agreed targets’. 

As rightly said, differentiation is an approach to teaching that attempts to ensure that all students learn well, despite their many differences.

‘Coping with differences’.

‘Learning for all’ or

‘Success for all’.

It’s very essential to understand the term Differentiation in the right way. There are a number of common misconceptions about differentiation.  Some believe that it is something ‘added on’ to normal teaching and that it just requires a few discrete extra activities in the lesson. In fact, differentiation permeates everything a good teacher does and it is often impossible to ‘point’ to a discrete event that achieves it.

 It is not what is done often, but the way it is done that achieves differentiation. For this reason differentiation may not show up on a lesson plan or in the Scheme of Work.  However teachers try to show their intentions to differentiate by setting objectives in the following format:

All must….

Some may…
A few might…
Eventually if every learner achieves at their maximum rate this has huge consequences for their own lives, but also for society at large.  Social inclusiveness, welfare to work, and the reduction of crime, all require an educated citizenship and workforce. Differentiation has a lot to offer individuals, society and the economy, so it’s worth getting it right.  As teachers it’s our ultimate goal to produce a set of good citizen for the welfare of the society and for a strong generation.