Teachers’ perspectives on differentiation in physical education

Abstract

This study explores the notion of differentiation. Carol Ann Tomlinson, who is regarded as a pioneer in the field, claims that this method of teaching aims at raising the level of achievement of all students (Sisson & Sisson, 2016). Since this style of teaching is relatively new, Physical Education (PE) teachers’ perceptions about this method of instruction were explored together with their actual use of differentiation strategies in their PE lessons. This study is framed within a qualitative approach. A semi structured interview was chosen as the data gathering tool and this was carried out with seven state middle school PE teachers. Supporting this data bank two classroom observations were carried out. Findings across this study revealed that the use of differentiated instruction is vital in every classroom setting and that resources are important for making the subject more relevant to developing physically literate students. Moreover, findings suggest that teachers most used flexible grouping as a higher rated and successful differentiated teaching method. Implementing a differentiated approach during PE lessons appeared to represent a significant challenge for educators. Moreover, this study reinforced the assumption that differentiated instruction is an effective instructional approach to learning.