Responding to student diversity : tutor's manual

Abstract

The handbook was conceived during a meeting in Malta in 2003 among an international group of teacher educators spanning from Sweden to Malta and Greece and to the U.S. The concept was then worked out as a Comenius 2.1 Project DTMp (Differentiated Teaching Module – primary) over three years from 2004 to 2007 (see Box 1, p. viii, and www.dtmp.org). The DTMp Project team consisted of an even wider and more diverse group coming from seven EU countries, namely Malta (Coordinator), Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Sweden, and United Kingdom. The background of each partner varied as well: one from an inclusive education concern, one from differentiated teaching, two from issues of disability and one from issues of disaffected students, one from socio-emotional development concerns, and one each from the pedagogy of language and mathematics. We also listened to teachers from the seven countries who were trying to reach out to the diversity of their children in the classroom, and you will find the text peppered with the experiences they related to us. We felt that this diversity enriched our teamwork and our products.