Attention to Diversity

Attention to diversity is one of the principles of the educational system. In this article, we are going to look at some of these measures and their classifications.

Measures of attention to diversity are a necessity in educational institutions since diversity among students is a reality. Diversity must be addressed by all teachers using criteria of standardization, personalized attention and inclusion.

Measures of attention to diversity are understood as organizational and curricular actions that can be carried out in the planning process, as well as in the development of teaching-learning processes. These measures aim to meet the diversity of all students.

“Diversity is a common characteristic of all and refers to their different ways of thinking, feeling and acting. At the same time, we talk about the different personal, cultural characteristics and different interests of the students”.

Ordinary attention to diversity measures

Ordinary attention measures are designed to apply the principle of diversity in the education system. They are, therefore, the most important line with regard to measures of attention to diversity.

Ordinary measures are those that do not imply a significant change in curriculum elements. Thus, they do not drastically modify the objectives, basic competences, contents or evaluation criteria.

These measures of attention to diversity are considered ordinary because they can affect all students. It is not necessary to carry out a psychopedagogical evaluation before applying them. Above all, they are related to the adaptation and organization of the curriculum to the context of each institution and are divided into curricular and organizational.

of a curricular nature

Some of the curricular measures to be adopted may include:

• Address the fundamental needs of students.
• Create cooperative work methodologies.
• Encourage peer help.
• Train teachers with a focus on attention to diversity.
• Define the base content of each discipline.
• Think about the context.
• Use different forms of evaluation.
• Establish objective criteria in relation to the promotion of the course.
• Create an easy and useful classroom schedule.

Organizational measures

As the name implies, it is basically about organization. Therefore, these actions can change over time according to the group and the student.

These measures include creating a system to share information among teachers. The teachers’ initiative must be taken into account and strengthened, as well as collaborative actions. There must be a good system of communication between teachers and families.

A fundamental organizational measure is the creation and development of Schools for Fathers and Mothers. These schools are designed to improve the educational competence of families.

Likewise, it is also necessary to propose basic measures to avoid school absenteeism . So, it is also necessary to encourage the collaboration of families in the educational process.

In addition, there needs to be a measure to welcome foreign students who do not speak the language . In this sense, it is necessary to create forms of collaboration with entities external to the educational institution.

The Attention to Diversity Plan must take into account the proportion between professors and students. Likewise, the hours that professors dedicate to each student and attendance by number of students (due to specific resources) must also be considered.

It is important to distribute students with specific educational needs by levels and in a balanced way. Therefore, it is necessary to have programs for the early detection of the most frequent childhood disorders.

Specific attention to diversity measures

These measures are designed to respond to the specific needs of students. Some of these measures include:

• Language immersion programs
• sociocultural programs
• curriculum diversification
• individual action plan
• Flexibilization of permanence in the level or stage.
• Stimulation methods to compensate for gaps associated with specific educational needs.

Extraordinary attention to diversity measures

This type of measure should meet the extraordinary needs regarding student diversity. Unlike the previous one, these measures include essential modifications to the common curriculum. In contrast to the specific ones, they can imply extraordinary changes in the organization or in the elements of access to the curriculum.

The most important ones are:

• Combined teaching (organizational and outside the educational institution).
• Group programs in specific rooms
• Specific schooling in mainstream institutions or special  education centers .

Finally, it must be remembered that attention to diversity measures seek to respond to any educational need. Therefore, they are designed precisely to promote school and social integration.