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ERIC Number: EJ1488151
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0311-6999
EISSN: EISSN-2210-5328
Available Date: 2025-02-04
Examining the Australian Educational Landscape of Differentiation through Document Analysis
Australian Educational Researcher, v52 n3 p2137-2161 2025
Teachers in Australia have the professional responsibility to differentiate teaching to meet the needs of students across the full range of abilities. However, it is often reported that there is a need for greater definitional clarity of the term "differentiation" to support teachers' understanding and implementation. In this article, we examine differentiation in the context of Australian education with a focus on how differentiation is communicated to school leaders and teachers. A document analysis tool was utilised to review publicly available documents from 2008 to 2024 to establish how differentiation is communicated to school leaders and teachers in Australia. The analysis of 60 documents revealed that the nomenclature and definition of differentiation is varied and that there is a strong need to provide a nationally consistent definition and distinction between the term adjustments (used in Australian disability legislation), and differentiation as distinctly different approaches to addressing the diverse needs of "all" students, and not just for students with disability as it currently being positioned in many educational documents. Three recommendations are presented that have implications for Standard 1.5 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, and other national documentation.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link-springer-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1University of Western Australia, Graduate School of Education, Perth, Australia; 2The University of Adelaide, School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics, Adelaide, Australia