Knowledge Resource Bank

Teachers’ Practice of Differentiation to Support Diverse Needs

How findings from Differentiated Instruction for Diverse Needs can help your students

Key Insights

While teachers were found to understand and have knowledge of Differentiated Instruction (DI), they faced challenges in applying DI effectively.
Some identified gaps in DI implementation include:
- Poor alignment of assessment tools with the lesson topic and students’ individual needs.
- Fewer chances for students to exercise their agency.
There is a need for schools to better support DI use in teachers, such as by:
- Having more professional learning support.
- Having a dedicated DI resource repository.

Introduction to Differentiated Instruction for Diverse Needs

Research Team

To learn more about this research, please contact Dr Letchmi Devi d/o Ponnusamy at letchmi.p@nie.edu.sg.

Principal Investigator

Dr Letchmi Devi d/o Ponnusamy, Assistant Dean, Professional & Leadership Development, Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning, and
Senior Lecturer, National Institute of Education – Psychology and Child & Human Development

Co-Principal Investigator

Dr Thana Luxshme Thaver, Assistant Dean, Professional & Leadership Development, Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning, and
Senior Lecturer, National Institute of Education – Psychology and Child & Human Development

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the Education Research Funding Programme, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (project no. OER 04/21 LDP). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Singapore MOE and NIE.
This knowledge resource was extracted and reconstructed from the published materials from the research team by Ms Shee Yi Xuan, Katherine with input from Dr Letchmi Devi d/o Ponnusamy, Dr Thana Luxshme Thaver, and Ms Lorraine Ow and presented on 20 June 2025.