To better align teacher learning with teachers' learning needs, teachers' sense-making of an innovation during which teachers experimented with differentiated instruction was studied during two... Show moreTo better align teacher learning with teachers' learning needs, teachers' sense-making of an innovation during which teachers experimented with differentiated instruction was studied during two school years. Using answers to a questionnaire, 15 teachers' sense-making processes were characterised by three types of search for meaning: assimilation, adaptation, and toleration. We further specified the teachers' sense-making through their experienced sources of ambiguity and uncertainty (limited resources and conflicting goals) and a detailed description of their personal frames of reference. We concluded that the teachers varied in their types of search for meaning during both school years, though most teachers were found to use assimilation in the second school year. Their experienced sources of ambiguity and uncertainty and their personal frames of reference, though becoming more similar to each other, still differed after two school years. A possible reason for the variety in teachers' sense-making is the freedom they had in the implementation of differentiated instruction: several teachers were positive about this from the start, others needed more support and guidance. This study hereby provides additional insight into the advantages of freedom in the implementation of an innovation, but also show the importance of proper support and guidance to ensure effective implementation. Show less
Stollman, S.H.M.; Meirink, J.A.; Westenberg, P.M.; Driel, J.H. van 2019
The research in this thesis was conducted in the context of an innovation implemented at a school for secondary education that aimed to further develop students' talents at school. Since... Show moreThe research in this thesis was conducted in the context of an innovation implemented at a school for secondary education that aimed to further develop students' talents at school. Since differentiated instruction (DI) was encouraged in this innovation, and because DI appears to be a complex approach to implement, we studied teachers' implementation of DI, teachers' interactive cognitions of DI, and their sense-making of the innovation. We therefore conducted a systematic literature review, and studied 4 secondary school teachers using stimulated recall interviews and 15 secondary school teachers using questionnaires with open-ended questions. The literature review provided an overview of how many different factors in the teachers' daily working environment influenced teachers' implementation of DI: for example, the school principal appears to be important in providing support to teachers to change their practices towards more DI. The stimulated recall interviews and questionnaire showed that the context of the innovation might provide the teachers with more freedom to experiment with DI, since they did not have to follow the regular curriculum in this innovation. In addition, the stimulated recall interviews provided the insight that teachers mainly take student readiness into account and that their DI resembles convergent DI. Show less
