There is obviously a need to be sensitive towards pupils' feelings and aware of their individual aspirations but there must also be a response to the situation if pupils' learning needs and positive aspirations are to be met. A practical difficulty was that it wasn't always possible for the teacher to check work immediately the end of a topic was reached, making it difficult to advise the pupil about whether to use a Fastrack for the next topic. Implications Fastracks seem to provide an effective means of improving the match of materials to the needs of able pupils in computing studies. This suggests a need to develop and implement whole-school approaches to differentiation and the need to identify underlying principles to guide teachers' thinking and practice. The use of Fastracks may also contribute to broader objectives.
Programming is problem-solving intensive.
Having to puzzle and going down blind alleys are part and parcel of problem-solving unless the problem is so simple that it becomes a routine exercise. Fastracks helped by freeing time for able students to work on complex problems. If we, as educators, are serious about developing pupils' skills in solving problems, we must give them challenging problems and make time available for pupils to think. A Study of Differentiation in Scottish Secondary Schools. Northern College of Education, Aberdeen Campus.