Curriculum Differentiation

The curriculum has to satisfy two seemingly contrary requirements. One the one hand it has to reflect the broad aims of education which hold good for all children, whatever their capabilities and whatever the schools they attend. On the other hand it has to allow for differences in the abilities, aptitudes and needs of children, even if the same age. If it is to be effective, the school curriculum must allow for differences.Both ability grouping and differentiated instruction can no longer meet the increasingly different needs of our students. It has become a must to make a systematic research from the perspective of the curriculum to deal with individual differences. Although we have made a great breakthrough in the curriculum reform, which cares more and more about our students'differences, we have not yet made a systematic study of differentiation. And in addition, there still exist some issues to be solved on the way to differentiation.Curriculum differentiation is an activity, in which the curriculum is reasonably made heterogeneous from the multi-dimensions to maximize students'development so as to realize the diverse and harmonious development of the society and the thorough presentation of individual potential. Differentiated curriculum, treating human differences seriously, can provide all our students with the pathways of differentiated development so as to realize the true understandings.Firstly, curriculum differentiation devotes to the realization of each student's potential by knowing and influencing their unique development. Secondly, curriculum differentiation intends to promote curriculum accessibility. Thirdly, curriculum is to meet the multi-dimensional and maximum development of our students. Fourthly, it is an effective tool to promote teacher's development. Finally, it intends to achieve the harmonious development of education.Curriculum differentiation is characterized by being appropriate, diversified, tiered, open, and dynamic. Differentiated curriculum should be constructed from the perspective of curriculum making, that is, curriculum objectives, curriculum structure, curriculum content, and curriculum evaluation. There are three forms of differentiation, namely, common-base-with-branches model, level differentiation, and subject differentiation. Among the three forms of differentiation, the common-base-with-branches model is the most basic one, while level differentiation and subject differentiation are more specific ones. It is recommended that the latter two forms of differentiation work together so as to achieve good effects. There are three main pathways to differentiation, that is, natural differentiation, differentiation by teacher design, and differentiation by student grouping. By natural differentiation, we mean that the experiences, interests, abilities, and readiness that individual students bring to their schooling interact with the content and characteristics of the curriculum. By teacher design, we mean that teachers consciously plan curriculum and learning experiences according to students'learning needs and interest and that teachers consciously plan curriculum and learning experiences that may vary in depth, in acceleration, in complexity, or in degree of novelty. By student grouping, we mean that in order to avoid the disadvantages of the whole classroom teaching, students in heterogeneous classrooms are grouped in different ways according to their learning needs, interest and readiness on one hand, and different subjects on the other hand.Curriculum differentiation not only devotes to students'maximum development by having differentiated development as a prime mover, but also pays more attention to achieving harmony among the ingredients of the curriculum, that is, the issue of curriculum balance and harmony. Only by pursuing harmony in the process of preserving differences, can this kind of balance and harmony be achieved.