Differentiation and students with special educational needs: teachers’ intentions and classroom interactions

Abstract

Differentiation is mainly linked to differences in learning capacities, but studenss differ in more domains: differences in motivation, behavior and special educational needs (SEN) are equally relevant. In line with the world-wide trend towards inclusive education, the aim of this chapter is to shed light on Dutch teachers' intentions to differentiate, as well as possible differences in interactions between teachers and students with and without SEN in regular secondary vocational educational education. We first analyzed teachers' online diary entries with regards to their intended differentiation practices for the next lesson. We coded what kind of intentions arise, the level of detail and quality of these intentions and to what kind of differentiation is referred (only cognitive, or possibly also differentiation on domains of behavior, motivation, or students with SEN). Second, we focused on one-to-one classroom interactions between teachers and students with and without special educational needs. We analyzed to what extent there are differences between the interactions of students with and without SEN in terms of teachers' need-supportive teaching and students' engagement. Together, these studies contribute to our understanding of differentiation intentions and practices with regards to meeting the needs of all students in diverse classrooms.