Teachers and differentiated instruction: exploring differentiation practices to address student diversity

Given the increasing diversity of the student body, teachers are called to appropriately address students ’ various learning needs by means of differentiated instruction (DI). However, empirical research has yielded mixed evidence on teachers ’ reported use of DI. Using nationally representative data from the National Educational Panel Study in Germany, this article aimed to explore German (as native language) and Mathematics teachers ’ use of DI practices. In addition, this study took into con-sideration contextual factors, such as school track, and investigated the impact of teachers ’ constructivist beliefs on their DI implementation. Results from a mixed analysis of covariance indicated that teachers occasionally implement DI practices. Fur-thermore, between-subject effects reported differences across school tracks. It appears that advanced secondary school teachers implement less often DI practices. The covariate of teachers ’ constructivist beliefs was also positively linked to overall teachers ’ implementation of DI. Implications of the results, as well as further lines of research are discussed.