Primary school teachers work with increasingly diverse groups of students, including pupils who perform well below or above grade-level expectations (OECD, 2023). In the Netherlands, teachers have substantial autonomy in deciding whether students are promoted, retained, or accelerated, alongside adapting instruction to different learning needs (Meissner et al., 2025). Although differentiated instruction (DI) is often described as an alternative to grade retention or acceleration, it is not clear how teachers combine these approaches in practice. This study examines how Dutch primary school teachers manage classroom heterogeneity by analysing patterns of DI use and their relationship with beliefs about grade retention and acceleration. Survey data were collected from 292 teachers using a 49-item questionnaire covering five dimensions of DI (Gaitas & Alves Martins, 2017; Pozas et al., 2020), as well as two parallel scales measuring beliefs about retention and acceleration (Hoogeveen et al., 2005; Ribeiro et al., 2017). Latent profile analysis was used to identify groups of teachers with similar DI practices. Differences in beliefs between these groups were then examined. On average, teachers report using most DI strategies sometimes or often. They generally hold negative views about grade retention as a tool for motivation or classroom management, while expressing somewhat more positive views about early retention and acceleration. Three DI profiles were identified: teachers with average differentiation, teachers with above-average differentiation, and teachers who prefer heterogeneous grouping over homogeneous grouping. These profiles differ clearly in their use of DI strategies. Teachers in the above-average differentiation group hold more positive beliefs about grade retention and some aspects of acceleration than teachers in the other groups. These findings challenge the idea that differentiated instruction and grade retention beliefs are necessarily opposed. Instead, they suggest that teachers’ beliefs are internally complex and that intensive use of DI can coexist with more favourable views of retention and acceleration. The study provides a more nuanced picture of how teachers deal with heterogeneity in their classrooms and raises questions about how educational policies frame responses to student diversity.

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