Measuring teachers’ beliefs in their capacity to use differentiated instruction in their classrooms: Development, validation and confirmation of a self-efficacy scale

Authors/Creators

• Kathryn Gibbs
• Stuart Woodcock, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Nicole Dargue
• Leah Le
• Eunjae Park
• Tom Porter
• Gemma Scarparolo

Author Identifier (ORCID)

Stuart Woodcock’s ORCID record

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop, validate and confirm a scale to gain a better understanding of teachers’ beliefs in their capacity to use differentiated instruction in their classrooms. Differentiation is an effective approach to teaching, designed to enable equitable learning opportunities for every student. Teachers are recommended to differentiate aspects of teaching, instruction, learning, assessment and the learning environment due to the increasing student heterogeneity within classrooms worldwide. Emerging literature has suggested that teacher self-efficacy may influence how teachers use this teaching approach. It is unknown if there is an existing scale that measures teachers’ self-efficacy when adapting a specific model (Tomlinson) of differentiation. This model utilises several key elements and guiding principles to ensure that all students are maximising their learning. By means of exploratory (N = 380) and confirmatory (N = 314) factor analyses totalling 27 items, results provided support for the development of, validity of scores on, and confirmation of the Teachers’ Self-efficacy Scale Using Differentiated Instruction. Future educators, researchers, and practitioners can use the scale to gain a better understanding of teachers’ beliefs in using differentiated instruction as a teaching pedagogy in their classrooms.

Keywords

differentiated instruction, differentiation, scale development, self-efficacy, teacher beliefs

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2026

ISSN

13540602

Publication Title

Teachers and Teaching Theory and Practice

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

School

School of Education

RAS ID

99969

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Gibbs, K., Woodcock, S., Dargue, N., Le, L., Park, E., Porta, T., & Scarparolo, G. (2026). Measuring teachers’ beliefs in their capacity to use differentiated instruction in their classrooms: Development, validation and confirmation of a self-efficacy scale. Teachers and Teaching. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2026.2696276