Curriculum differentiation in a Postgraduate TEFL programme: An Activity Theory analysis of distributive justice principles

In the context of education, differentiation, as a means of addressing the diversities to maximise the learning opportunities, has gained prominence (Roiha & Polso, 2020; Tomlinson, 2017). The present study reports on an investigation of differentiation at the curriculum level in a TEFL programme for international postgraduate students in Iran. The study had a two-fold goal. First, the choices made by the Department Head, four supervisors, and seven course instructors involved in the programme regarding curriculum differentiation were identified. To do so, three rounds of semi-structured interviews at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of a sixteen-week semester were conducted to gain insight into the adjustments made to the curriculum elements. An iterative thematic analysis was used for analysing the interview transcriptions and the six components of an activity theory systems analysis (Engeström, 1987), including subject, object, tools, rules, community, and division of labour, were considered as themes. It was revealed that while the instructors mostly applied differentiation to the components of tools and rules, the Department Head and supervisors leaned toward making adjustments to object and division of labour. The study’s second aim was to explore how the involved subjects legitimised their decisions for implementing differentiation in terms of distributive justice principles. The three distributive justice principles of equity, equality, and need were considered as themes in analysing the interview data. The findings indicated that while the Department Head’s and the supervisors’ beliefs were dominated by the principle of need and equity, the instructors’ beliefs about differentiation were more in line with the principle of equality (of both outcomes and resources). Overall, the found discrepancies caused tensions in the curriculum’s activity system, which highlights the possible benefits for the decision makers to systematically and collaboratively reflect on their choices about differentiating the components of the curriculum in alignment with prioritising the principles of distributive justice in their programmes.