IMPROVING CHILDREN'S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING

Self-esteem can be considered as the difference between self-image (self-awareness, or

individual's sense of themselves) and ideal-self (or the culmination of desirable characteristis,
standards, behaviour and skills) (Alpay, 22)! "n turn, in the conte#t of education self-esteem
may have important implications for the learning process, through effects on self-confidence
and motivation for new challenges!
Self-esteem should be understood, so, as a property of the individual learners, which will
condition their e#istence at the school! $ecause learners are, first of all, individuals, each one
bearing different opinions and views but with the same dignity! So, the first step is to learn
how to acknowledge and meet the needings of different identities, understood as the
interaction between the personal and the social self!
%ender, class and race, within a particular geographical conte#t, are among the main
drivers of identity! %ender must be considered one of the most determinant factors, especially
in certain cultures! &ot only there e#ist a lot of general pre'udices about one or the other se#,
which have a reflect in social roles and opportunities( furthermore, this results often in
differences in the access to culture, education or basic social services! Se#-specific challenges
may have even practical impact on school life! )or e#ample, girls have less time allocated to
education because in many cultures they must take charge of the family and the house from
early ages! *orevover, as it will be developed below, every teacher bears a heavy charge of
socially- transmitted stereotypes!
+his biased treatment, which far from celebrating difference makes the worst of it, can
hamper self-esteem of learners of both se#es, and so impact their academic performance and
school life! $ecause self-esteem can be, in part, understood as a social product! in fact,
children perceive personal attributes, but are unlikely to make any relative evaluation about
the self( on the contrary, self-esteem may reflect the parents' perception in the child
($rookover et al! ,-./), and internalised perceived values and norms of society (Alpay, 22)!
0hildren should not assign any meaning to gender, but when the society 1feeds1 the children
with 'udgements linked with gender, they (both males and females) may learn about their
inferiority!
As said above, as a teacher, is easy to fall in stereotypes! $oys are supposed to be noisy,
active, competitive, assertive and physically strong, whereas girls are e#pected to be 2uiet,
passive, collaborative, compliant and gentle!! +eachers interact differently with boy and girls,
use different language and terminology and, most important, have different e#pectations of
the genders, which results in different forms of sanction and reward! As a conse2uence, boys
are more fre2uently penali3ed and disciplined, are more likely than girls to be diagnosed with
A454, and obtain lower grades, because teachers tend to be biased towards behavior, rather
than academic performance (6ahey, 2,7)! $oys learn they're disruptive and de-motivated,
disengage, achieve lower and retreats from school! %irls interiori3e they're e#pected to be
submissivee, empathic and hard-working, and become perfect housewifes with little weight in
society!
$ut we should be aware that our responsability is to cater with the needs of both se#es to
promote them as individuals! +his is through differentiated teaching that we can provide both
se#es with learning opportunities that match each one's needs and interests! 8e could, for
e#ample, design activities matching different learning styles, and design based on fle#ible
approaches which respond to both se#es' readiness, needs of preferences! $y proposing
challenging and engaging tasks for every learner, we are most likely to transfer the locus of
control to the students and increase their ownership of the learning process and to raise their
overall self-esteem by improving its academic counterpart, whatever their gender!
"t's our responsability to stay neutral and do not transmit valuations related with gender
which interferes with self-confidence of the students! )or me, this does not mean to 1teach to
the middle1, but to target both boys and females! 8e are different, physically and
psycologically! 6et's try so to acknowledge and celebrate our differences, but not classify! As
for social class, "9 or races, with respect to se#, let's pass on our students that everybody is
valuable and can make it through:
;<)<;<&0<S=
Alpay, <! (22)! Self-concept and self-esteem! ;etrieved from=
http=>>www!imperial!ac!uk>chemicalengineering>common?room>files>@sych<d?.!pdf! 6ast
accessed 2,A>/>2B
$rookover, 8!$!, 6e@ere, C!*!, 5amachek, 4!<!, +homas, S!, <rickson, <!6!,(,-./),Self-
conceptofability nd school achievement ""! 0o-operative research pro'ectno! ,.7., *ichigan
State Dniversity
6ahey, C! (2,7)! Stop @enali3ing $oys for &ot $eing Able to Sit Still at School! ;etrived from
http=>>www!theatlantic!com>se#es>archive>2,7>.>stop-penali3ing-boys-for-not-being-able-
to-sit-still-at-school>2B.-B.>! 2,A>/>2B