Coteaching as a strategy for responding to diversity in the classroom

Abstract

If there is one thing on which there is agreement in the education community, it is that in order for students to take advantage of learning opportunities, their differences need to be taken into account and catered for. However, evidence shows that few teachers translate this principle into classroom practice, even though they believe it would benefit everyone (Tomlinson and Mc Tighe, 2007). This is largely due to the fact that, in general, teachers have had little opportunity to learn how to plan and develop diversified lessons that accommodate the different interests, learning styles and levels of learning that students face in the educational process.

Some of the findings from the work with schools by Ainscow et al. show that change in teaching practices often does not happen without giving teachers the possibility to observe different ways of teaching and without exposure to someone who can help them understand the difference between what they are doing and what it would be desirable for them to do in order to provide appropriate responses to student diversity. Having useful observations from a colleague to reinforce and help teachers to revise their conceptions and experiment with new alternatives for action is of vital importance in order to achieve lasting changes over time, which manage to become established in everyday teaching practice.