Effect Of Teachers Qualification On The Secondary School Students Performance In Geography In External Examination
[A CASE STUDY OF KAJOLA LOCAL GOVERNMENT]

Differentiation in Teaching and Learning Geography
    Within any class group there will be marked variations in the ways that pupils learn, the speed of their learning and the levels of attainment they achieve as well as the kind of learning difficulties and problems they experience. This would suggest that there is a need for differentiated teaching and learning strategies in all our classrooms, to match learning opportunities to learning needs of pupils.
    Differentiation was identified as an equal opportunities issue by the prime minister, John Major, when he stated in 1992 that he wanted to ensure that we actively recognize pupils’ abilities and aptitudes and create the means for this diversity to flourish. That is the way to genuine equality of opportunity’ (major 1992).
    Differentiation in the National Curriculum is meant to be an enabling process focused on the development of the curriculum and concerned with creating optimum learning conditions for each child. Previously, differentiation was identified as a tool used to separate and rank the pupils, as a means of organizing them. Differentiation is now equated with good practice in teaching which allows for difference within a reaching group rather than leading to the distribution and allocation of pupils to a supposedly homogeneous group which could be taught as a separate unit.
    Differentiation really came onto the curriculum agenda as a result of Better schools (DES 1986a). The acceptable curriculum was identified as broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated. Differentiation has been a key issue in any discussion of curriculum change and planning and is seen as being essential to achieving a curriculum entitlement for all pupils. The Warnock Report (1978) stated that the purpose of education for all children is the same, the goals are the same but the help that individual children need in progressing towards them will be different.
    In clearly identifying levels of attainment for each Attainment Target, the National curriculum assumes that individuals do not progress at a uniform rate. It states that it will help alert teachers to problems experienced by individual children so that they can be given special attention. The National Curriculum encourages teachers and pupils to operate on a more individual basis, to plan programmes of work which take account of pupils achievements and which allow them to work at different levels to ensure that they each achieve their maximum potential.
    Differentiation is based on an understanding of individual difference, and of the worth and value of each pupil’s learning. Consequently, teachers need to differentiate in their curriculum planning according to Barthorpe and Visser (1991). However, Dowling (1990) and others feel that differentiation is a means of emphasizing and reinforcing inequalities in curriculum provision. The curriculum has to satisfy two apparently contrary requirements. On the one hand it needs to reflect the broad educational aims which apply to all children, of whatever ability and at whatever school, while on the other hand it needs to accommodate differences in the ability and other characteristics of children, even of the same age.
    A number of important questions emerge in relation to pupil entitlement to the Key Stage programme of Study. The order for Geography states in its access statement that the programme of study for each Key Stage should be taught to all or the great majority of pupils in the KeyStage in ways appropriate to their abilities (DFE 1995). Can differences in pupils abilities affect their access to the curriculum? Does differentiation imply teaching a different curriculum to pupils of different ability? Can we teach the same curriculum to all pupils by tailoring teaching strategies to the learning needs of the pupils?
    Responses to these questions have implications for curriculum planning through schemes of work. differentiation is not necessarily about creating individual programmes for individual pupils. In some cases this may be a good idea but not in others, as for example, the pupil who learns more effectively in a group than in isolation for all pupils and to match learning opportunities with individual learning needs.
    As pupils’ learning needs vary it will be necessary to employ a range of teaching styles and methods in the classroom. It calls for skilful teaching, detailed planning and preparation and perceptive responses to the individual pupil’s. Detailed knowledge of each pupil’s learning needs is essential if they are to be addressed successfully. This involves the careful selection of relevant learning resources, building suitable expectations into pupil’s work programmes, and sharing learning objectives with the pupils. Individual pupils will then be enabled and encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their own learning, to measure their successes and achievements, to begin to identify their own learning needs and to help in meeting them.