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Background Research has highlighted that personal characteristics such as teachers’ attitudes play an important role in the implementation of inclusive education. However, there are only a few studies that have shed empirical evidence on the relationship of attitudes and inclusive teaching approaches, such as differentiated instruction. In this vein, the present study tackles this research gap and aims to explore teachers’ attitudes specifically towards the inclusive practice of DI in Germany. Aims The present study aimed to investigate teacher profiles based on their attitudes towards differentiated instruction, as well as further to explore whether teachers differentiated instructional implementation varies between the teacher profiles. Sample The sample consists of 450 teachers (Mage = 42.89, SD = 10.48, 65% female), from different school tracks in Germany. Methods A two‐step cluster analysis was performed in order to identify teacher attitude profiles concerning their implementation of differentiated instruction. Moreover, an analysis of variance was conducted in order to identify variations in terms of the implementation of differentiated instruction across the three clusters. Results Results from the cluster analyses indicate three distinct teacher attitude profiles: Cluster 1 ‘The valuing‐teacher’, Cluster 2 ‘The non‐valuing‐teacher’ and Cluster 3 ‘The challenged‐but‐valuing‐teacher’. Moreover, the findings reveal gender and school track differences between the three teacher attitude profiles. Lastly, an analysis of variance indicated that teachers’ differentiated instruction practice varied significantly across the clusters. Conclusions The findings from the present study indicate that teachers not only perceive the value of DI but also the insufficient resources. Thus, it can be assumed that teachers identify both the ‘positive’ and the ‘negative’ aspect of DI, and more importantly, they can recognize both attitude domains towards DI in a similar or different level. Consequently, the results show that attitudes in the context of inclusion cannot be characterised as continuum with two distinct poles.

Interest has been considered an important determinant of teacher quality. However, research into teacher interest, and more specifically, pre-service teachers’ interest is limited. Hence, the current study tackled the current gaps in pre-service teachers’ interest and aimed to explore pre-service teachers’ interest profiles based on the multidimensional framework of teacher interest. A total of 225 pre-service teachers, enrolled in various initial teacher education programs of two universities in Germany, participated voluntarily in the study. The results revealed two distinct pre-service teachers’ profiles based on the three teacher interest factors. Interestingly, the two profiles did not significantly differ in their subject interest levels, but did vary in their didactic and educational interest. In addition, the findings also revealed gender and school track differences in pre-service teachers’ interests and profiles. Consequences for future research and teacher education are discussed in detail.

The Corona virus (COVID-19) crisis forced many countries to follow strict protocols ordering schools to close. With schools under lockdown, homeschooling has become the only form of schooling avail...

March 2020 will be reminded as the time when schools around the world came to a shutdown. This resulted in a necessary and immediate redesign of teaching and learning. School-based instruction had to be replaced by a home-based instruction format. This required students, parents and teachers to adapt their daily routines to a new and unknown educational reality. Given this unprecedented situation, research into the impact of homeschooling during the COVID-19 crisis became urgent. This brief report introduces a nation-wide research project in Germany. Following a mixed-methods design, the SCHELLE project titled Student-Parents-Teachers in Homeschooling (abbreviated as SCHELLE following its German name Schüler-Eltern-Lehrer) was developed in order to comprehensively explore students’, parents’, and teachers’ experiences during homeschooling. Overall, the studies focused on collecting quantitative and qualitative data on how homeschooling was implemented, whether inclusive education was considered, and the well-being of all three perspectives. The main findings of the SCHELLE project revealed that the impact of homeschooling expanded not only into the educational domain, but as well into the social (e.g. social distancing), psychological (positive and negative activation), and educational equality matters (implementation of inclusive education).

Prior knowledge, motivational factors, and metacognition have been long considered basic elements for successful problem-solving process. However, the interplay of these variables with context-based task characteristics has rarely been explored in research. The present study aimed at investigating how context-based task characteristics influence these three elements, and further expands to explore potential differentiated effects across physics’ topics. A multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted with 232 participants from high-track schools in Germany to investigate the effects of task characteristics and task topic with regard to their motivational and metacognitive variables. Overall results indicated that students’ situational interest and estimate of solution correctness decrease through time as a result from their interaction with the tasks characteristics. Furthermore, between-subject factor analyses revealed important differences across the task topics of mechanics and thermodynamics. Finally, the covariate of prior knowledge was positively significant across all analyses. The findings demonstrate the importance of appropriate design of context-based tasks to positively influence students’ motivation and metacognitive processing. Implications of the results, as well as further lines of research are discussed.

With the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, school-related closures and the hasty transition into homeschooling, parents were required to take a more active and positive role than ever before in collaboration with their children’s educators. Thus, with this unprecedented situation, parents became an important source of information during the pandemic. Considering this unique event, the study at hand aims to explore parents’ perspectives regarding primary and upper secondary school teachers’ digital competence, digital differentiated instruction, and feedback during the first SARS-CoV-2 school shutdown in Germany. Additionally, the study examined parents’ evaluation of teachers’ characteristics. Results reveal that parental ratings were generally positive. Moreover, parents with children attending primary schools perceived and evaluated teachers’ digital competence and digital differentiated teaching highly, and perceived significantly more teacher feedback than parents whose children attend upper secondary school. In addition, positive correlations were found between parents’ evaluations of teachers’ feedback and how motivated, appreciative, and devoted teachers are perceived to be. Practical implications and further research areas are discussed.

Following a mixed-method approach research design, this paper reports on two studies that seek to investigate teachers’ sense of preparedness to deal with student heterogeneity and its effect on th...

Student heterogeneity is not limited to performance, but encompasses cultural background, language competence, learning styles, and motivation. Thus, heterogeneity inherently changes the demands placed on teachers and requires them to practice differentiated instruction (DI). However, existing DI frameworks tend to describe single exemplary DI practices and widely lack an empirical view. Thus, these frameworks may provide little help to classroom teachers when it comes to the question of how or by which instructional arrangements they can address student heterogeneity in their everyday classroom teaching. In an attempt to bridge the gap between educational theory and everyday instructional practice, this theoretical paper focusing on differentiation within secondary school education proposes a comprehensive taxonomy of the DI practices known in the literature and practice. Outlines for future research on DI are discussed.