spellings, reading and times tables and promote the use of multiple levelled practice within all classes, teachers use concrete, pictorial and abstract resources to support the pupils needs within the school, the use of free printing allows teachers to create tiered worksheets for their classes to better promote progress for all and the written responses by teachers to pupils reflection comments of their work are differentiated with the emphasis on personalised targets and outcomes for all.

Whilst some teachers at school A make three tiered worksheets such as mild, spicy and hot and give the pupils choice over which one they want to do, others create three tiered worksheets and hand them out to the pupils they deem suitable to attempt that level. We have seen from Bartlett’s (2016) influential research that ‘students should make a choice based on their performance in that skill/concept at the time built on mini assessments during the main teaching point and with the guidance from a teacher’. Differentiated instruction is a necessity in today’s world of diverse learners. It may involve providing choice among options; offering activities for various learning styles or cognitive abilities; using technology as a tool for providing varied activities, designing alternatives for students with disabilities, or providing opportunities to extend learning. Differentiation is not so much what you do, but how you think about the learning process (Pritchard,A.2005)
Often teachers differentiate solely based upon prior data (for example, they have already pre-assigned pupils to different worksheets before the lesson has even begun, teachers should use any data they have as a tool to support planning but don’t make the common mistake of using it to pre-assign pupils to a specific pathway (Bartlett, J. 2016) After observed practice took place conversations between the author and teachers arose regarding differentiation. Some teachers felt that their students would pick unsuitable worksheets having been given the choice based on 2 things; they would choose something easier that they felt comfortable with and knew they could do, therefore not deepening their understanding or challenging themselves but getting a lot of written work done, or they chose something too challenging in order to brag to their classmates but they wouldn’t understand how to complete the work and then struggle throughout the class, not improving their understanding and getting minimal work done. Bartlett, J (2016) is a known critic of the theory of categorising pupils according to a predetermined ability. He suggests ‘Where differentiation won’t work to best effect is when we categorise pupils according to a predetermined ability and this is one of the concerns when teachers