What does differentiation of work look like?

[nat73]

Our first child is at primary school. We understand the school has to cater to a range of abilities and ages and so 'differentiates' work. In practice what does this look like? The school doesn't explicity say what it is or how they do it. I understood they were in groups for e.g. maths and english and that the groups work on different levels depending on the ability of the kids in the group.

Our child has 18 in her year group. I thought they had 3 different ability groups but now it seems they have only 2. Our child is telling us its too easy for her and she gets bored (esp when the student teacher is teaching).

We went to look around another school the other day and the had 9 kids in the class split into 3 ability groups and they all had the same workbooks but the questions were graded for the 3 ability groups (e.g. red, green, purple) which seemed to make it easy to teach and easy for the kids to all be taught together.

How can I ask the class teacher whether our child is being sufficiently challenged without putting anyone's nose out of joint? She is rather fierce though we have a good relationship.

I'm not sure most people understand how time consuming differentiating lessons for different ability groups actually is. It has to be done, but picking each lesson apart and expecting teachers to report back to you about it weekly is bonkers. Get a tutor.

Actually it doesn't have to be done ...there are many ways to differentiate "by task" is only one and can often result in widening the gap between more able and lower

Mrz: Do you think excessive differentiation/scaffolding for 'lower ability' (I prefer 'lower prior attainment' with my PC hat on!) limits expectations and the children don't work as hard?

No I think it sets a glass ceiling

So they literally can't access the harder work? Yes, that makes sense. I think there are workarounds for that. I use progressively harder numbered tasks and tell the children where I would like them to start. But I don't disagree in general.

.

We don't have any ability groups at all. The whole class is expected to reach the year group expectations or exceed them. No one is allowed to work out of year group. We extend them within the year group by deepening their understanding.

I completely disagree with not letting children choose their level of work on occasion. You instruct your daughter not to choose bronze or silver?! What if she needs her confidence building in a particular area? What if she is uncomfortable with gold work that day? This is a tried and tested teaching method to push lower ability children and give confidence to those with a higher ability. There should still be extention tasks and it shouldn't be used for every session but on occasion it's a really good way of seeing where children think they are, giving them a voice and letting them have ownership of their learning - all very important to both teacher and child. I'd be unhappy if I knew one of my class were being forced into a choice. Defeats the whole object of giving pupils a voice and puts the poor child under pressure. Plus a parents doesn't usually have a true picture of what goes on in the classroom.

The class I work in usually has three different levels. Those who finish the higher level work have extension questions they can ask the teacher for.

There is also a HD (Highly Differentiated) learning class which consists of the lower ability children from across 2 year groups who make up their own class for numeracy and literacy (some kids are in just one, some are in both). They are in their usual classes for all other subjects.

It does depend on the childrens abilities though. Last year there were only a few who worked at a higher level and everyone else was around the same level. Last year I worked with the lower ability children in groups of 2-3.

This year I am working with those in the middle who the school feel may not be being pushed (not in a they must do better, just in a they could do better if they had a bit more help to understand) as they are just muddling along being neither high or low. So I work with the children who are not in HD class or high achievers.

Ask the teacher how she is doing and if there is any extension work she could do if she is finished.

Would like to say OP that group size is not the end of the story. Very able DD in a big top group is still getting individual differentiation within that. Apparently less able DS in a tiny top group is not getting differentiation enough to work for him.

What I'd really like to see is a teacher brave enough to say sod teaching place value, this child gets place value to the nth degree, go and spend this lesson doing this page of problems instead. Or hand them a textbook and let them get on at their own pace with something completely different.

I hate this do the same as everyone else then get some extension questions if you finish in time approach. So the work where they might possibly learn something is tacked on as an afterthought, if the teacher had time to think up some extension questions and if the child is not only able but also speedy; and if that also turns out to be easy there's no time left to further extend.

"What I'd really like to see is a teacher brave enough to say sod teaching place value, this child gets place value to the nth degree, go and spend this lesson doing this page of problems instead" that's not brave it's common sense and I'm not sure why a teacher wouldn't do that. There is absolutely no reason not to and every reason why.

catkind:

That is a great approach when you have one or two children who need individual work because they are genuinely brighter and further ahead than the rest of the class. The reality is that most children with SN have needs that make the work more difficult for them, not too easy - differentiating for them takes more time, specific resources, time to explain and re-explain instructions. It leaves less time to spend stretching the most able. You cannot run 30 different lessons at once, hence most differentiation is targeted at ability groups.

Mrz, that's reality for some very able children who is truly a outlier.

Cat, tbh, I think differentiation seems to become more difficult as years go up. My ds was more accommodated for his needs in reception.
(I believe your dd is in reception?)
Also the ability and enthusiasm of teacher really matter, ime.

Trifleorbust, you are secondary teacher, right? How does differentiation work in secondary?

My point is that providing appropriate activities doesn't require teachers to be brave merely for teachers to use their common sense

Mrz, I really doubt that. Ds' yr2 teacher who was truly awesome and trying to do something different for him was gone, without us knowing.
When teacher is leaving, we will normally be informed, but this teacher said nothing about leaving, but gone come new school year, and brand new nqt was appointed for her class. I don't know what happened, but something happened, I suppose? I think teacher sometimes need to be brave enough to do something, I think. Not all the schools are like yours, maybe.

Yes trifle, talking about able children, as I think was OP. It's fair enough that adult attention is directed at those who are struggling. And middle range should be well catered for by standard differentiation in the lesson plan. So question is how can the other extreme be kept interested and learning without taking up the teacher's time.

I think there is a degree of braveness mrz, because it's requiring the teacher to trust that "a little more practice" is really not necessary, and to admit that the child has nothing to gain from their lesson. It should be common sense. At least from our family and friends in a variety of schools, able children being bored silly by "top group" differentiation seems to much more the norm. (DD so far has got lucky and I am very grateful to her teacher.)

Why is that? I get the impression there is a strong expectation these days that you teach a lesson, and can differentiate it to any of 30 kids, however behind or ahead. That that's labelled "good practice" so making an exception is seen as admitting a weakness. Or it doesn't even occur to people to make an exception. Or they are under pressure to have evidence in triplicate of each item on the curriculum being mastered and the easiest way to produce that is making kids jump hoops lesson on lesson regardless of any educational value. Or they just don't understand - we get "he needs to work with the class because we're doing something completely new". No you're not, you've done addition, you've done money, doing addition with money is not new as far as an able child is concerned.

DNiece used to get in trouble for hiding Murderous Maths books behind her textbook when bored. Perhaps the teacher should just have encouraged her.

There are lots of reasons why teachers leave and I can't think of any to do with bravery. Some to do with disillusionment and sadly some to do with bullying.

I did suspect bullying... she was amazing with my ds, but also had a great reputation among less able children. She was young and single, so no child care commitment etc. She was member of SLT. I saw her working late regularly. Maybe she just burnt out, maybe she was bullied. I don't know, but I thought somebody who sticks out always get knocked back.

The ability by set tables thing doesn't really work with a mastery curriculum. Sometimes it is appropriate but mostly not. I change my groupings depending on the lesson and what they were doing previously. Quite often it is helpful to have pairs of mixed ability working on the same task. The continuing practising even when you've understood something seems strange to me. In my school, we might have a group of pupils who clearly understood the work one lesson who move straight on to applying their knowledge on another context, some who need (or feel they need) more practice first, then have a go at applying their knowledge and some who the teacher has identified need more support with the concept being taught in that lesson. There may also be some children with SEN who are doing a related objective from a lower year group.

I wouldn't expect to go into a classroom and see rigidly set ability groups with different tasks in every lesson.

I agree that there can be too much practice There can also be too little. Some children arrive at secondary almost 'trained' to reject work they have 'done before', when their level of mastery is questionable.

"Miss, I understand similes."

"What is a simile?"

"It uses like or as."

"Okay, but what is it? What is it for?"

Slightly brighter kid:

"It describes something."

"How does it describe it?"

Slightly brighter kid:

"As if one thing is like another thing."

"Can you create a a simile?"

"As blue as the sky."

"Great. How about one not using a colour?"

"As cold as ice."

"Well done. What about about one starting, 'It was like...'

Silence.

My ds' school says they differentiate. When they are doing times table, more able are doing all the tables instead of certain one, or times 0.1, 0.2 or whatever, or times 10, or 20 or whatever. But for some children, it's no different.They know how "x times y" works.
Next step was how fast he can complete times table sheet. He already has instant recall, so, it only mattered how fast he can write.

Same for differentiating by giving big numbers, child who can do 3 digit addition know how to do 4 or 5 or whatever digit they have. But that's what seems like what my ds' school is doing.

I really think misunderstanding of new curriculum by school, saying they are not allowed to go outside year group, is really hurting very able children.

Trifleorbust, my ds loves simile and also loves metaphor. And onomatopoeia and pun and....

Catkind, I give my two most able mathematicians completely different work to do but I can't begin to tell you the hours I put in outside the classroom to make this happen - and sometimes life gets in the way and it doesn't happen and I feel crap about it, but I do my best.

It's crazy how hard it is to find this stuff if your school hasn't spent money on a brilliant scheme of work

I am finding my current high ability children to be much more challenged with the new maths curriculum than with the old. The opportunity to really think about how concepts work, putting them into practice in different ways, seeking and explaining patterns, solving and creating different types of problems has been very beneficial to them. I have some very able mathematicians and they do struggle with some of these things. Really understanding maths is about more than just working with bigger numbers or more complicated calculation strategies.

Grace, I expected that to happen too, but seems like some schools/teachers are doing great job, but others are using it as a excuse not extending.
Well, my ds' school's HT said officially, that not extending most able was just failing minority in news letter, it figures.