TITLE:
Equity, Equality, and Need: A Qualitative Study into Teachers’ Professional Trade-Offs in Justifying Their Differentiation Practice
AUTHORS:
Marijke Van Vijfeijken, Eddie Denessen, Tamara Van Schilt-Mol, Ron H. J. Scholte
KEYWORDS:
Distributive Justice, Meritocracy, Education, Classroom Differentiation, Learning Opportunities
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.8,
August
12,
2021
ABSTRACT: This
article reports on the findings of a qualitative study of 15 primary school
teachers’ differentiation beliefs which were assessed against principles of distributive justice. The study was performed to
examine which beliefs about justice teachers use to legitimize the
choices they make regarding differentiation in the classroom. We used justice
principles (equity, equality, and need) as
themes to describe and analyze teachers’ arguments. By doing so, we gained more insight into what teachers consider to be fair in the distribution
of educational goods as outcomes and as resources. Consistent with our
expectations, teachers simultaneously reason from different distributive
justice principles to account for their beliefs. Findings demonstrate that the
equity principle combined with the equality
principle of equal distribution of educational resources dominated teachers’ beliefs about differentiation. In
their practice, however, teachers perceive an educational support
dilemma with, on the one hand, a desire to distribute time and support equally
among students and, on the other hand, the
urge to provide more time and support for students who are in need. The
principles of distributive justice as an embedded aspect of social ethics may be useful for teachers to
systematically reflect on their choices about distributing educational
goods and to discuss and align the distribution of resources with colleagues or
other stakeholders.