The first stage of programming typically involves analysing the curriculum to identify key syllabus  outcomes, and setting goals. Consideration of each student’s interests, strengths, abilities, readiness, learning profiles and cultural identity can inform each of these processes, and helps develop priorities and goals that are challenging, interesting and engaging for students. 

Whole-school curriculum planning helps prioritise and make decisions about which syllabus outcomes will be addressed across classes. Further analysing the curriculum to differentiate for a specific class or cohort often involves asking questions such as:

• What are the key syllabus outcomes for these students?
• What do students need to learn outside the curriculum?

Breaking down the key knowledge, concepts, principles, and skills for students to acquire helps inform goal setting that can be tailored to the strengths and abilities of individual students.      

Setting challenging and attainable long-term goals (yearly and beyond) and short-term goals (unit/learning sequence) is an important step in identifying priorities that inform how teachers may plan and program. Collaborative curriculum planning is the process to determine the most appropriate curriculum options and adjustments for a student with disability. It involves collaboration between teachers, the learning and support team, the student, their family and other key stakeholders. 

Identifying the sequence, that is, the specific order, repetition, and arrangement of syllabus outcomes, can result in a learning program that supports students to consolidate their learning through opportunities to apply new skills or knowledge across multiple contexts. Repetition of key skills or knowledge across key learning areas can be particularly helpful for students with disability. Furthermore, careful consideration of student strengths, abilities and readiness.

Collaboration between teachers and the learning and support team during sequencing can help create programs that provide consistency for students that help them achieve their learning goals and generalisation of the skills they have learned. When planning learning intentions, formative and summative assessments, and instructional objectives, consider how student characteristics, including reports or information included in students’ personalised learning and support plans, may inform the flow and sequencing of these activities. 

Key questions that may be helpful include:

• what opportunities are there for repetition across key learning areas?
• what order shall I teach new concepts in?
• how much time will be allocated for different components for this student and others in the classroom?
• at what stages will formative assessment be most helpful for determining next steps?
• what types of assessment tasks are going to be planned so students are able to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum?

Task analysis can be a helpful tool for teachers to use in breaking down how many steps are in a task or activity. Task analysis can also provide valuable information about where a student needs additional support or adjustments within tasks. Understanding and recognising the sequence of steps involved for an individual student to complete a task and any prerequisite activities or experiences for that student to have achieved beforehand aids teachers in not only planning for sequencing overall, but within tasks themselves.

Flexibility, creativity, collaborative planning, and careful consideration of student characteristics are important for planning for differentiated lessons and learning experiences. This will usually include planning how to provide learning activities that include curriculum, instructional and environmental adjustments for individual students, as identified in their personalised learning and support plan.        

Making connections to students’ prior learning by understanding previous learning opportunities they have had at the school and beyond supports teachers to create authentic and meaningful teaching and learning opportunities for students. When planning for individual learning, teachers must reflect on whether goals and learning experiences offered to the class or individual are pragmatic and attainable. 

For example, if written work is a barrier to a student’s participation, consider providing opportunities for them to instead engage in the same content using speech to text software, hands-on tasks, or verbal responses.

Teachers can use assessment to guide decision making in teaching and future programming. Formative assessments can help identify further adjustments or differentiation opportunities to support student engagement, comprehension and achievement. 

Assessment that is focused on understanding where the class currently is and where they are expected to develop requires deliberate and intentional assessment that regularly appraises students’ understanding and achievement. Use of mastery learning, when teachers allow enough time for students to understand the concepts being focused on, is founded on the basis that learning is cumulative.

When designing both formative and summative assessments, consideration of the adjustments that best support student learning is key. For example, if a student typically learns through time-limited, hands-on activities, providing opportunities for time-limited assessments or practical assessment tasks can assist teachers to establish where the student is in their learning and further learning progress can be monitored over time. 

Providing choices in assessment modalities is one way in which differentiated assessment can be offered. Key questions that may be helpful when planning assessments include: 

• In what ways are there opportunities for student self-assessment?
• What are the ways that students can take charge of key aspects of their own learning to support deeper levels of engagement?
• How do the students in my class typically engage in their assessment as learning?

The process of actively teaching and providing learning experiences for students involves a number of interlinked and dynamic steps. Teachers implement planned differentiated learning activities, including planned adjustments for individual students. These adjustments should be strengths- and evidence-based. Effective delivery of planned adjustments requires clear communication and understanding of how teachers, and SLSOs when relevant, can work together. 

Ongoing monitoring of student progress, including through formative assessments, is needed to ensure adjustments are effective. This includes seeking the student’s views on whether the learning materials and adjustments are still suitable and effective. Teachers may need to modify their approach to adjustments or planned learning activities in response to this monitoring process. 

One key question to ask during this stage is - are individual students receiving too little or too much support for specific tasks or contexts?

Ongoing critical reflection and evaluation of student progress, and the implementation of modifications to future learning activities and programming, is an essential process for delivering effectively differentiated learning experiences. 

Communication between teachers, SLSOs, the student, the Learning and Support Team, the student’s family, and other key stakeholders, can help identify how adjustments can be modified, and strengthen everyone’s understanding of a student’s strengths, abilities and preferences. This strengthened understanding may help inform further development of the student’s personalised learning and support plan, as well as future programming.