Australian senior-secondary teachers’ perceptions of leadership and policy for differentiated instruction

Article

Porta, Tom, Todd, Nicole and Gaunt, Lorraine. 2024. "Australian senior-secondary teachers’ perceptions of leadership and policy for differentiated instruction." British Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3967
Article Title

Australian senior-secondary teachers’ perceptions of leadership and policy for differentiated instruction

ERA Journal ID20005
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsPorta, Tom, Todd, Nicole and Gaunt, Lorraine
Journal TitleBritish Educational Research Journal
Number of Pages21
Year2024
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN0141-1926
1469-3518
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3967
Web Address (URL)https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3967
AbstractDifferentiated instruction (DI) is an educational praxis that is built on the premise that all students can be engaged in learning and achieve positive academic outcomes. Previous research in secondary schools has shown promise in the success of DI practices and outlines the importance of sustained professional development (PD) for teachers. There is, however, little research on DI within senior-secondary classrooms in the Australian context. This research is part of a larger study which recruited 12 participants from three schools across two states in Australia, and aimed to investigate teachers’ perceptions of school leadership and support in implementing DI in their classrooms as well as awareness of relevant policies. Findings indicated that when teachers were aware of policies involving DI, they tended to describe policies relating to special education. This suggests that DI is viewed by these teachers as an approach for students with additional needs rather than seen as a whole class philosophy. Similarly, the results indicated that when teachers said that leadership supported them in using DI, this support was commonly reported as isolated professional development in supporting students with additional needs. Discrepancies around awareness of DI policies were also found between teachers at the same school, with those in leadership roles indicating that requirements to utilise DI were embedded in their general teaching and learning policy. Implications for future practice and policy are discussed.
Keywordsdifferentiated instruction; policy; school leadership; senior secondary education
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390499. Specialist studies in education not elsewhere classified
Byline AffiliationsSchool of Education
Flinders University
Charles Sturt University
Permalink -

https://research.usq.edu.au/item/z5v8w/australian-senior-secondary-teachers-perceptions-of-leadership-and-policy-for-differentiated-instruction

Log in to edit

Download files

Published Version
British Educational Res J - 2024 - Porta - Australian senior‐secondary teachers perceptions of leadership and policy for.pdf
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Anyone

  • 7
    total views
  • 1
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

The impact of labelling students with learning difficulties on teacher self-efficacy in differentiated instruction
Porta, Tom and Todd, Nicole. 2024. "The impact of labelling students with learning difficulties on teacher self-efficacy in differentiated instruction." The Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. 24 (1), pp. 108-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12619
Wellbeing Promotion in Tasmanian Schools: Have We Forgotten Support Teachers?
Holzner, Kristy-Lee and Gaunt, Lorraine. 2023. "Wellbeing Promotion in Tasmanian Schools: Have We Forgotten Support Teachers?" Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education. 47 (2), pp. 96-109. https://doi.org/10.1017/jsi.2023.10
Enablers and barriers to equitable participation for students with blindness or low vision in Australian mainstream secondary schools
Fanshawe, Melissa, Barton, Georgina, Mandarakas, Monique, Cain, Melissa and Todd, Nicole. 2023. "Enablers and barriers to equitable participation for students with blindness or low vision in Australian mainstream secondary schools." International Journal of Inclusive Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2023.2265915
Early career researchers’ collective advocacy work within an Australian university context
Larsen, Ellen, Salton, Yvonne, Fanshawe, Melissa, Gaunt, Lorraine, Ryan, Lisa, Findlay, Yvonne and Albion, Peter. 2024. "Early career researchers’ collective advocacy work within an Australian university context." The Australian Educational Researcher. 51, pp. 275-296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-022-00604-6
'What about us?' Wellbeing of higher education librarians
Carter, Susan, Andersen, Cecily, Turner, Michelle and Gaunt, Lorraine. 2023. "'What about us?' Wellbeing of higher education librarians." The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 49 (1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102619
An exploratory study: Using adapted interactive research design and contributive research method
Carter, Susan, Andersen, Cecily, Stagg, Adrian and Gaunt, Lorraine. 2023. "An exploratory study: Using adapted interactive research design and contributive research method." The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 49 (1), pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102620
'I do not think I actually do it well': a discourse analysis of Australian senior secondary teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes towards implementation of differentiated instruction
Porta, Tom, Todd, Nicole and Gaunt, Lorraine. 2022. "'I do not think I actually do it well': a discourse analysis of Australian senior secondary teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes towards implementation of differentiated instruction." The Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. 22 (3), pp. 297-305. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12568
Differentiated instruction within senior secondary curriculum frameworks: A small-scale study of teacher views from an independent South Australian school
Porta, Tom and Todd, Nicole. 2022. "Differentiated instruction within senior secondary curriculum frameworks: A small-scale study of teacher views from an independent South Australian school." Curriculum Journal. 33 (4), pp. 570-586. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.157
Terminology and Provision for Students with Learning Difficulties: An Examination of Australian State Government Education Department Websites
Todd, Nicole, Gaunt, Lorraine and Porta, Tom. 2022. "Terminology and Provision for Students with Learning Difficulties: An Examination of Australian State Government Education Department Websites." Australian Journal of Teacher Education. 47 (7), pp. 21-37. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n7.2
Moving towards the effective evaluation of mobile learning initiatives in higher education institutions
Farley, Helen, Murphy, Angela, Todd, Nicole Ann, Lane, Michael, Hafeez-Baig, Abdul, Midgley, Warren and Johnson, Chris. 2015. "Moving towards the effective evaluation of mobile learning initiatives in higher education institutions." Zhang, Yu (Aimee) (ed.) Handbook of mobile teaching and learning. Germany. Springer. pp. 721-740
The social and political underpinnings of the inclusive education movement
Morton, Missy, Duke, Jennie, Todd, Nicole Ann, Higgins, Nancy, Mercer, Louise and Kimber, Megan. 2012. "The social and political underpinnings of the inclusive education movement." Carrington, Suzanne B. and MacArthur, Jude (ed.) Teaching in inclusive school communities. Brisbane, Australia. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 39-64
Assisting secondary support teachers to work in the recommended service delivery model: introducing the concept of a subculture of learning support
Todd, Nicole Ann. 2012. "Assisting secondary support teachers to work in the recommended service delivery model: introducing the concept of a subculture of learning support." Support for Learning. 27 (4), pp. 177-183. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12005