ABSTRACT
The surest way to identify a school's policy about any area of the curriculum is to see what goes on in the classroom and school. Policy documents in different forms - from those with glossy covers to drafts in process of review - may line headteachers' bookshelves but there can often be a gap between what a document says and what is done. The crucial element of any useful or workable policy is that it will capture a set of live and active practices. It will not be a set of pious platitudes or abstract statements (often unattainable) repeating the word 'should' with frightening frequency! Shared understandings are essential for any school to provide the most satisfying learning environment and experiences, and this is the strength of any thought-out, discussed, negotiated and agreed set of principles; they are still alive even when captured on paper. The written document represents not a frozen once-for-all statement but a point in the history and development of shared ideas. It has to be tailor-made for the specific context of the school and capable of modification as the context changes. For these reasons, Part V will be concerned with examining how a policy-in-action for differentiation might be described, and how existing policy and practices in curriculum provision might be reviewed.
