Understanding Differentiation in Early Childhood Education and Care
Palit, Arpita (2025)
2025
Master's Programme in Teaching, Learning and Media Education
Kasvatustieteiden ja kulttuurin tiedekunta - Faculty of Education and Culture
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-11-25
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025112410862
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025112410862
Tiivistelmä
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are becoming increasingly diverse as children enter ECEC learning environment with diverse developmental levels, backgrounds, interests and support needs. Though nowadays ECEC is more diverse, differentiation is not explicitly defined in the Finnish ECEC curriculum and this may question about how ECEC teachers and educators can provide support to every child in everyday pedagogy. This study aims to address this gap and aims to explore how ECEC teachers/adults define, implement and reflect on their differentiation in teaching.
For this research, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Seven ECEC professionals including teachers and other educators who work directly with the children in Tampere early childhood education settings. The five O model of differentiation was selected as through five dimensions, this model conceptualizes differentiation, allowing to analyse differentiation in terms of everyday pedagogical practices in ECEC settings. The interviewed data were studied thematically using the Five O model of differentiation (Roiha & Polso, 2021), which includes 1) teaching arrangements, such as flexible grouping and collaboration among professionals through co-teaching; 2) learning environment refers to both physical and psychosocial space; 3) teaching methods includes using different pedagogical approaches to support diverse learners; 4) support materials refers to the resources and tools can be used to scaffold learning for diverse learners; 5) assessment refers to monitor learners progress and adjust pedagogy accordingly.
The results showed that differentiation is practiced through small-grouping, flexible arrangements in the learning environment, and the creation of a psychosocial environment. Educators emphasized the importance of providing individualized support, offering guided, free play and positive feedback. Differentiation is perceived through regular pedagogical work, not as a separate instructional strategy. However, this research also explores how differentiation is often implemented intuitively by educators in regular pedagogies rather than through formal frameworks.
For this research, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Seven ECEC professionals including teachers and other educators who work directly with the children in Tampere early childhood education settings. The five O model of differentiation was selected as through five dimensions, this model conceptualizes differentiation, allowing to analyse differentiation in terms of everyday pedagogical practices in ECEC settings. The interviewed data were studied thematically using the Five O model of differentiation (Roiha & Polso, 2021), which includes 1) teaching arrangements, such as flexible grouping and collaboration among professionals through co-teaching; 2) learning environment refers to both physical and psychosocial space; 3) teaching methods includes using different pedagogical approaches to support diverse learners; 4) support materials refers to the resources and tools can be used to scaffold learning for diverse learners; 5) assessment refers to monitor learners progress and adjust pedagogy accordingly.
The results showed that differentiation is practiced through small-grouping, flexible arrangements in the learning environment, and the creation of a psychosocial environment. Educators emphasized the importance of providing individualized support, offering guided, free play and positive feedback. Differentiation is perceived through regular pedagogical work, not as a separate instructional strategy. However, this research also explores how differentiation is often implemented intuitively by educators in regular pedagogies rather than through formal frameworks.