Large-scale mandated reform in Australian schools is currently underway as a response to the need for schools to rethink their educational approaches to school improvement, teaching, and learning so that vulnerable students are provided with high-quality, equitable learning opportunities (Simon et al., 2021). According to Ludicke et al. (2019), current reforms to improve educational outcomes for students with poor academic results have been implemented with limited consistency and permanence. This includes students with ADHD, who often experience poor academic outcomes (Jones and Allison, 2010). Students who are unmotivated and disengaged from the learning process (Fried and Chapman, 2011), who have poor connection to, and limited participation in class activities and tasks (Skilling, 2014), or who experience unwanted and emotional behaviours in the classroom, are characteristic of the schooling experience for individuals with ADHD (Gibbs et al., 2016; Gibbs et al., 2020). As a result, this student group often underachieve and do not meet academic year level expectations. While there has been some research around schooling and ADHD from the teacher perspective (Plantin Ewe and Aspin, 2021; Tegtmejer, 2019), few studies to date have investigated teaching strategies effective for students with ADHD (Hamilton and Astramovich, 2016; Nowacek and Mamlin, 2007). Given the increasing number of students with ADHD in Australian mainstream classrooms, and with a commitment to improving schooling outcomes for this vulnerable cohort, the purpose of this study was to examine the following question: How do teachers and school leaders use differentiated instruction (DI) as responsive teaching for students with ADHD?

Author: Kathy Gibbs

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2024

• Date of Conference: 23-25 July, 2024
• DOI: 10.20533/CICE.2024.0079
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-913572-65-5
• Conference Location: Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada