Differentiation in Diverse Classrooms: One Recipe for Success

In response to the question, 'What are the key ingredients of today's classrooms?' it could be said that primary classrooms are extremely diverse in teacher expertise and student interests, in resources and in provisions. Students come to class with different backgrounds, characteristics, abilities, beliefs, and needs. Classrooms may be one-room rural schools with students from kindergarten to Year six, small central schools to large urban schools with several classes to the one grade. Each school and subsequently each classroom may be resourced scantily or richly depending upon the funds available and the place where the school is situated. While there are resources, such as personnel, technologies and local materials, rural and regional schools have to contend with distances that inhibit some resource access and limit provisions. Contemporary provisions are so varied that it can be difficult to identify the appropriate techniques to use for such diverse student groups and contexts. Differentiating the curriculum has evolved as one approach to address the diverse needs of primary students, inclusive of gifted students. Differentiation can be dynamic and flexible, and educators have a smorgasbord of strategies from which to build the menu of appropriate provisions for the individual needs of their students in diverse classrooms. This paper reports a dynamic framework for planning and implementing a differentiated primary curriculum.