Differentiation in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

Abstract

There is now widespread acceptance of the importance of differentiated instruction in today’s classrooms. However, much of the research regarding differentiated instruction takes place in primary and middle years environments, with very little focussed on the senior secondary years. This article explores differentiated instruction practices in senior secondary high stakes environments. Specifically focussed on the experiences of teachers in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) in Hong Kong and Australia, where the IB is predominately taught in high-fee-paying institutions, the article explores some of the current practices and concerns of teachers involved in the programme. In exploring differentiated instruction in the IBDP it asks the questions 1) How do teachers employ differentiation in their approaches to teaching in IBDP environments?, and 2) What factors inhibit or enable differentiation in their classrooms? Results from the study indicate that teachers of the IBDP provide several differentiation opportunities within the content and product areas. However, the areas of process and environment were more problematic, with the amount of content that needed to be covered impacting on the approach to teaching and learning adopted by both the teachers and the students. The IB prides itself on its Learner Profile attributes which support the students to become “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.” (IB, 2019a). However, in this study questions were raised regarding the amount of time students are given to think, reflect, or inquire. This is something that all senior secondary years programmes will need to consider as we move through the twenty-first century.

Differentiated instruction within senior secondary curriculum frameworks: A small‐scale study of teacher views from an independent South Australian school

“…As their study focused on Year 9 students, who do not fall in the senior secondary category, the results could indicate further that senior secondary differentiation sees a move away from differentiation of assessment to differentiation of content and process. Barbara placed less importance on differentiating assessment in her IBDP class, which could be considered differentiation by product (Dulfer, 2019). This may be due to the constraints in senior secondary assessment.…”

“…She acknowledged “[the students] have got alternative mediums” with a choice of video, podcast, or a report, allowing them choice in their final product. Like Dulfer (2019), this method allowed students to control their individual projects and follow their interests. The view by Dulfer (2019) contrasts significantly with IBDP guidelines, which, according to Barbara, who teaches IBDP global politics, asserts that “assessment has to be accessible [which is] absolutely [not true] because they've got an 80% exam”.…”

“…Like Dulfer (2019), this method allowed students to control their individual projects and follow their interests. The view by Dulfer (2019) contrasts significantly with IBDP guidelines, which, according to Barbara, who teaches IBDP global politics, asserts that “assessment has to be accessible [which is] absolutely [not true] because they've got an 80% exam”. Dulfer (2019) also acknowledged that the 80% external examinations have a significant impact on how teachers differentiate by product.…”

“…DI allows data-driven teaching in all content and at all grade levels (Dack & Triplett, 2020), meaning that DI has the potential to address student diversity in primary, middle and secondary contexts. The senior secondary years, which form the latter years of secondary education in Australia, are critical for shaping future directions of young adults and usually consist of external examinations used for creating an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) for tertiary study institutions (Dulfer, 2019) or for employment and participation in society (Polesel et al, 2021). Teachers must differentiate and support students in senior secondary education to increase educational outcomes.…”

Moving from Feedback to Feedforward in IBDP classrooms

“…There is no explicit mention of feedforward, however, in the IBDP documentation, and there has been little discussion to date about whether there is a systematic way of incorporating feedforward in the classroom. Dulfer (2019) reported that teachers from Hong Kong and Australia believed it important to provide feedback to students when differentiating instructions in IBDP teaching. However, the importance of providing feedforward is not explicitly pinpointed in this high-stakes educational context.…”