Exploring Culturally Responsive Differentiation Instruction Strategies in School-University Diversity Management Collaboration

Abstract

Catering for learner diversity is one key agenda in educational reform around the world, with Differentiation Instruction (DI) being widely cited as an effective pedagogical approach. In the Asian context, teachers’ understanding and practices of DI remain under-researched. This paper reports the first stage findings of a large-scale collaborative project among university researchers, teacher educators and schools. The research aims to validate and elaborate Tomlinson’s DI model (2001) by examining the DI practices in Hong Kong classrooms. An inventory of DI strategies was built and teachers’ DI practices were analyzed to reveal interesting patterns of different types of DI strategies. These findings shed lights on the need for culturally responsive DI practices and yield significant implications for teacher education.