One of the basic tasks of the teacher in modern times is to teach students appropriate skills during the learning process of their schooling so that they are able to integrate actively into society. Although the students are of identical or similar chronological age, they differ in several aspects. In recent years, special attention has been paid to the importance of the implementation of didactic principles of differentiation and individualisation of learning in the classroom. It is important that the teacher is able to identify the characteristics and needs of every individual student, and on this basis to respond appropriately by using a variety of teaching strategies.
The basic purpose of my thesis was to determine how teachers from the 1st to the 5th grade in primary schools evaluate their own competences to carry out differentiation and individualisation for different students. We wanted to know which strategies relying on the adaptation of teaching Roma children, immigrants, talented pupils and pupils with special needs they use. An important factor regarding the progress and success of an individual student is the view of a teacher, therefore, we wanted to know what the level of preparedness of teachers might be to have such different students in their classes.
The results have shown that teachers feel more qualified to teach talented students, but frequently do not tailor their lessons according to their needs. It is estimated that in general teachers pay the most attention towards teaching students with special needs. They often provide them with additional guidance and explanation of the learning material. It is interesting to compare the results of the frequency of using different forms of learning such as differentiation and individualisation regarding Roma and immigrants pupils. During the lessons teachers rarely translate Slovenian words or phrases into the pupil's mother tongue, and encourage students to use the dictionary (or to write their own). Despite the fact that the basic problem of both groups of students is an ignorance of the Slovenian language, research has shown that teachers use differentiation and individualisation more frequently when working with migrant pupils.
The majority of teachers believe that in general they adapt their teaching as much as is necessary. They say that there are two big problems. The first is a lack of time for planning and implementation of differentiation and individualisation, and the second is that there are too many students in the classroom.
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