Differentiation is a second nature for true professionals in education.

Differentiation does not mean different activities for every student. It is mainly about catering for the different points of need among students. This means that we, as professionals, know our students and forecast their gaps, using differentiation in their understanding of the concepts/words/methods/processes/ or in tasks/actions/ games and challenges. Basically, anything.

Any lesson can be differentiated by content, outcome, process, pace or support and resources. When planning, ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the learning intention or simply put, what skills should the students acquire (EAL students, SEN learners,  Low Ability and High Ability students) by the end of this lesson? I suggest to answer this question by Explicit teaching in a small group, during centres, or finding ‘teachable moments’ within a lesson, when students are working on a task. Modelling is also part teaching these groups, showing the students how to apply the content, the language they would use.

    2.       Can I provide an open-ended task to cater for the diverse needs of my students as a way of differentiating?  Catering for different learners means to have a mix of visual, auditory and hands-on experience, where possible. 

3.      Does this lesson shape itself to students working in smaller ability groups (based on assessments and observations, EAL, SEN, LA), targeting a specific concept or misconception (one at a time)?

Naturally, everything starts and ends with the assessments.

To be continued...

M.G. June 2022

Imagine being in another country where you don’t understand the language, where you do not know the social rules and customs. You are far away from your home, family and friends…That is the moment when the school grows in importance, because at school you will find new friends, the best teachers in this world and useful help for your family.

In this case, one of the most important things teachers can do for a newly arrived pupil is to create a warm and welcoming classroom environment. For many children who arrive from other countries, coming to school in the UK can be very strange. The education system and schools may be organised differently. The subjects and curriculum may be very different and the style of teaching may be more (or less) formal. There could be other differences to do with culture, religious practice, society and, of course, language. As a qualified teacher, you have an important role in helping students to understand and respect differences and be able to get along with people who are not ‘just like them’. It is vital that you will reflect the newly arrived student's cultural and linguistic identity in the physical and learning environment. Prepare yourself with a great lecture, such as Hofstede's "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind" (2010, third edition). 

With paired and group activities, consider where you will place a new arrival. Select some empathetic pupils but encourage an ethos where all students are supportive of each other’s learning. Consider how you group pupils for collaborative learning. Ensure that they have opportunities to work with different people.

, Students have different starting points and different skills in relation to a task and will learn in varied styles and at varied paces. They come to us with different life experiences,  language skills,  talents,  attitudes,  learning skills, confidence levels,  prior knowledge, commitment, ways of learning, degrees of home support,  social skills,  likes and dislikes.

Differentiation aims to take account of these differences and provide the best way forward for each child.

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EAL Provision

My decision to publish clarifications and an ad interam article from The Bell Foundation (https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/eal-programme/guidance/eal-provision/) on EAL provision is based on the misinformation and lack of transparency which exists in some UK schools.

Historical background to EAL provision in England

The start of EAL provision in England can be traced back to 1966, when Section 11 of the Local Government Act made funds available to meet the needs of people of Commonwealth origin. This was known as ‘Section 11 funding’ and was used to support the education of learners who used English as an Additional Language (EAL). In the beginning much of this support took place in separate language centres or through withdrawal of learners using EAL from mainstream classes. In 1986, a Commission for Racial Equality report into provision in Calderdale Local Education Authority found this practice to be discriminatory and this led to the closure of language units. Funding for language support was subsequently used to provide additional specialist staff to work in mainstream classrooms.

In 1999, the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) replaced the Home Office Section 11 funding. This new grant was distributed to local authorities on a formula basis relating to the number of learners using EAL and the number of pupils from ‘underachieving’ minority ethnic groups, combined with a Free School Meals indicator. The grant was intended to 'Narrow achievement gaps for those minority ethnic groups who are underachieving and to meet particular needs of pupils for whom English is an additional language'. Most of the money was devolved to schools and monitored by the local authority, whilst a percentage was held back to pay for advisory teachers and consultants centrally.

In 2011, the EMA Grant was mainstreamed into the Direct Schools Grant and was no longer ring-fenced. However, local authorities were still able to retain some funding to provide services to support schools in narrowing achievement gaps for underperforming ethnic groups and meet the specific needs of learners who use EAL.

From April 2013, an 'EAL' factor limited to bilingual pupils who have been enrolled in English schools for a maximum of three years can be included in local funding formulae for schools. Under this system, there is still no accountability mechanism regarding use of funding.

For more information on funding and an analysis on local authority spending on EAL see Language Development and School Achievement: Opportunities and challenges in the education of EAL students.

For an analysis of pupil funding allocations 2021-2022, see reports from The Education Policy Institute.

EAL in the mainstream

The approach to EAL provision in England is that all teachers should plan and resource lessons suitable for learners using EAL within the class or subject curriculum. Additionally, funded provision at local level may be used to provide training and support to teachers or provide direct support to pupils in order to reduce barriers and increase access to mainstream learning. The National Curriculum for England 2014 makes it clear that all teachers are responsible for ensuring that learners using EAL make progress in line with their peers.

The Equality Act (EA) 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)

The EA 2010 refers to nine protected characteristics (age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, race, religion and belief, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, and sexual orientation). The EA also places a general equality duty on all public bodies, including schools. This replaces the previous race, gender and disability equality duties. The PSED requires schools to pay due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
• Foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

The Bell Foundation has commissioned several research projects in the area of EAL provision in schools in England:

• School Approaches to the Education of EAL Students: Language development, social integration and achievement 2014
• EAL and Educational Achievement 2015
• Language Development and School Achievement: Opportunities and challenges in the education of EAL students 2016
• Educational Outcomes of Children with English as an Additional Language
• 
  

Local authority provision

Prior to 2012, many local authorities provided a central support service specifically to help improve the educational outcomes for children and young people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) heritages, including those learning English as an Additional Language (EAL).

However, consolidating the EMAG into general school revenue funding, has led to most local authorities having to cease or significantly reduce their support for schools. This abolition of dedicated resourcing and specialist support means there is no longer any national oversight or provision of professional qualifications, staff development and specialist roles for teachers and other school staff working with learners who use EAL.

M.G.

I would like to develop the Plan for Time chapter.  Yes, create time for research, experimentation and discovery between tasks, and even more. A teacher needs to plan for projects with a one or two-week time frame. I ususally use the two weeks time frame, if necessary three weeks. Time allows for practice. It allows students to try it multiple ways, to draft and rewrite and edit. Time allows them to iterate, considered a key-component of creativity, and subsequently, learn. 

For instance in technology, food technology, textiles or arts, any time the students receive a new tool, the teacher gives them time to explore, to play around with it, to work through the platform themselves and thus they are meant to solve problems on their own, using creativity.

The unstructured time in lesson planning will be used for challenging the students, open-time challenges. A certain task, something may be easy the first time and even a second time. When the teacher gives them time to do it in a third or a fourth way, well, that is the moment when the students start to get creative.

According to exxperts in education, teachers have to know who is in their classroom in order to create an environment in which students will discover themselves, where they will speak out and use creativity. With that that profile on the table, the teacher will plan a lesson.  And one more thing: a review of the students’ cumulative records at the beginning of each scholastic year, will show the teacher how to individualize and differentiate at their levels.

How to write a lesson plan that empowers those valued individuals to speak in their own voices?

Option 1:     Give them choices. Students learn in different ways, and the lesson plan needs to reflect that individuality. 

Option 2:   Keep it relaxed when the task is a persuasive writing text-. For instance,  it cannot always be five paragraphs with five sentences in each paragraph.

The teacher can get the same amount of information from students if they have the freedom to do it in different ways. They can create a commercial, they can create a blog, they can create vlogs. The teacher  just needs to see that they can make a persuasive argument.

Even math can be made an open-ended exercise. I opened the chapter Fractions by giving  students pattern blocks and ask them to build a figure that represents ‘one-third.’ Students grappled with the concept, but there is more than one way of doing it, they make their own choices.  I also gave them tokens or coloured circles (n.b. plastic shapes from the automotive industry punching-machine, as I have worked one year for JLR, on the production line, outstanding experience!), starting with exercises on concrete groups and moving towards abstract.  When students are struggling to learn fractions, the teacher should address mainly three large issues, such as limited understanding, misconceptions and lack of practice (in this sense, a wonderful, helpful website is Texas Instruments Building Concepts at www.education.ti.com/en/building-concepts).

Do the same in science class, let them design their own glue, for instance.

That combination of facts, data interpreted into information, and a clearly-defined end product may be considered as parameters that foster creativity,  not just "make a shape”. 

According to Howard Gardner Theory of multiple Intelligence, there are eight learning styles in total, ranging from visual to auditory and more. and this brief explanation leads to the next step.

Option 3:   There is a way to build lesson plans on a tic-tac-toe approach, such as making available eight ways (the mentioned theory) of mastering the information (“pick your own”), plus a blank square if none of the others appeal to the students. They choose. This may happen because some people can demonstrate their abilities visually. Another student may be more kinesthetic, so they will do something hands-on. An artistic student may create a video, and another may create a song.

The ninth square is where creativity shines the brightest. For instance, one student might use every ninth-square opportunity to tie the lesson back to his STEAM fair project. Another consistently incorporates media production. Basically, they get a chance to develop something totally different. When we, the teachers, stop trying to control it, then what students do is authentic. It is connected to who they are and what they are passionate about.