TEACHERS' BELIEFS AS THE DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION STARTING POINT

Today's school, now compulsory for all the children, creates more classroom diversity than ever before. Teachers' beliefs towards differentiated instruction fundamentally influences the way students become products of profound and continuing societal changes. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to trace the beliefs of primary school teachers regarding the differentiated approach to teaching and learning. Moreover, the paper attempts to identify the reasons why teachers use differentiated strategies or not as well as their frequency and impact on student achievement. The findings of this paper are meant to serve as starting point to further research studies on how teachers' beliefs about differentiating instruction are translated into daily activities, instructional procedures and classroom interactions. This study highlights the necessity of mapping teachers' educational needs in the field of differentiated instruction and demands an appropriate approach. Furthermore, it is very important to develop teachers' positive attitudes towards differentiation and to train teachers' self-efficiency in differentiated educational practices.