ABSTRACT
The major concern of teachers is the quality of learning taking place in their classrooms. Children come to us with a wide range of capacities, aptitudes and experiences. A school or class community may at first appear to be fairly homogenous. However, a brief observation of children at work and at play, a short discussion, or an assessment of the end-products of an activity will soon point to significant differences. The positive aspect of these differences is reflected in the particular abilities, capacities and aptitudes which children have and which can be developed with each year of schooling. The negative aspect is the fact that teachers have been forced to differentiate, mainly to improve scores in standardised tests. Often these negatives interfere with the positives.
