Understanding Scaffolding and the ZPD in Educational Research

As the focus of Australian educational research has shifted to studying the quality of teacher intervention, the notion of scaffolding is becoming increasingly popular among educators in different areas such as literacy and numeracy, early childhood education and educational psychology for adults. Vygotskian socio-cultural psychology, and the zone of proximal development (ZPD) in particular, is commonly referred to as the theoretical underpinnings of scaffolding. However, the interpretation of the term and its implementation varies significantly from study to study. An oversimplified approach to scaffolding can lead to its interpretation as direct instruction which is a concern. This paper examines the ways that scaffolding has been interpreted, defined and implemented in educational research. The definitions and explanations of scaffolding in modern texts on educational psychology for pre-service teachers are also reviewed. The ways that different aspects of the concept of the zone of proximal development have been reflected and utilised are analysed.