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Is adaptive teaching just differentiation under another name? Absolutely not, says Mike Askew A couple of decades ago, when England had the National Numeracy Strategy, Osted noted that differentiation within mathematics lessons was common and that ‘Teachers usually organise pupils into three ability groups’ ( tinyurl.com/ tp-Dera ). Since then, with the focus on all pupils mastering more of the mathematics curriculum, the language has changed, with Ofsted Making maths work FOR EVERYONE guidance focusing on adaptive teaching rather than differentiation. So what are the distinctions – and similarities – between these two ideas? Both have the same underlying intent: to help pupils make progress; and adaptive teaching does involve a degree of differentiation.But adaptive teaching is not simply differentiation in new clothes. To clarify the essential differences it’s helpful to address what I would call ‘classic differentation’ – the practice of Planning for adaptive teaching I’ve written before in Teach Primary about the distinction between task and activity – a task being what pupils are asked to do, and an activity being the mathematical thinking a task can potentially provoke ( tinyurl. com/tp-MathsThinking ). Consider this ‘consecutive numbers’ challenge: • Jot down pairs of consecutive numbers, such as 3, 4; 15, 16; 37, 38. • Add the numbers in each pair: 3 + 4 = 7 and so on. • What do you notice? • What do you wonder? This is an unambiguous task, but beyond simply providing practice in addition, it has potential for considerable mathematical activity. For example, pupils will quickly notice that all of their answers are odd numbers. They may then wonder, Can all odd numbers be expressed as the sum of two consecutive numbers? What happens with three consecutive numbers? grouping pupils by their perceived ability or level of attainment, and then assigning different work to different groups according to their needs. The problem with these practices, as many research studies have shown, is that over time, the spread of mathematical attainment in a class often increases rather than decreases. Unlike classic differentiation, adaptive teaching is about helping the great majority of pupils all succeed at the same learning outcome. The key question behind adaptive teaching then is not What is the need of this pupil? but How must I change my teaching to enable all pupils to access the ideas being taught? To answer this question, adaptive teaching has to operate at two levels: the intended (the planning for teaching) and the implemented (the moment -to-moment classroom interactions). www.teachwire.net | 27 F EATURE S MA THS , P EDAGOGY “Unlike classic differentiation, adaptive teaching is about helping the great majority of pupils succeed at the same learning outcome”