ABSTRACT

One of the many challenges in the work of the Primary school teacher is to respond to the individual characteristics of each of the thirty or so children in their class, some of whom are very different from themselves. This chapter reviews the psychological processes whereby teachers form views of the children in their class and looks at children’s own, perhaps surprisingly sophisticated, perceptions of how they vary. It goes on to examine the ways psychologists have described individual differences, through notions such as self-concept, temperament and personality, multiple intelligences and cognitive styles. In the final section the implications of going ‘beyond the comfort zone’ and developing inclusive approaches which help all children learn in school are explored. This includes consideration of processes whereby teachers can make their classrooms truly ‘hospitable to diversity’.