AbstractAlgorithmic skeletons abstract commonly used patterns of parallel computation, communication, and interaction. Based on the algorithmic skeleton concept, structured parallelism provides a high‐level parallel programming technique that allows the conceptual description of parallel programs while fostering platform independence and algorithm abstraction. This work presents a methodology to improve skeletal parallel programming in heterogeneous distributed systems by introducing adaptivity through resource awareness. As we hypothesise that a skeletal program should be able to adapt to the dynamic resource conditions over time using its structural forecasting information, we have developed adaptive structured parallelism (ASPARA). ASPARA is a generic methodology to incorporate structural information at compilation into a parallel program, which will help it to adapt at execution. ASPARA comprises four phases: programming, compilation, calibration, and execution. We illustrate the feasibility of this approach and its associated performance improvements using independent case studies based on two algorithmic skeletons—the task farm and the pipeline—evaluated in a non‐dedicated heterogeneous multi‐cluster system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.