Stalled in the process to a transition: Implementation of differentiation in the school from the perspective of teachers

Differentiation is rarely investigated from a system perspective, while we need this to support teachers’ engagement in differentiated instruction and foster students’ learning. We interviewed teachers and interpreted their perspectives with the Implementation Science Framework and Complexity Leadership Theory. Teachers described many types of complex leadership, more absent than present implementation drivers, and many interactions between leadership and implementation drivers. Furthermore, teachers expressed constraints to and a couple of seized opportunities for differentiation. We conclude that the schools of this study’s teachers are stalled in the process to a transition to implementing differentiation, and offer suggestions for breaking that stall.