I remember back to my teacher training days and how the pedagogical aspect of it was founded on Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development. It was only through undertaking the requisite reading for an assignment that I came across Lev Vygotsky’s approach to cognitive development and, whilst it is sometimes seen as an alternative view of cognitive development, we should see it as complementary.
Put simply, Piaget tells us what a child should be able to do based on their stage of cognitive development and the English Key Stage system is structured around the stages of development. I’ve seen this proven in practice when teaching Year 3 children (the start of KS2) and found that their ability to learn and the progress they make, accelerates at that age. For any Year 3 teacher, the bonus is that parents believe the progress their child makes is entirely down to the excellent work of the teacher whereas pedagogues will attribute part of the progress to the children entering a new stage of development.
Vygotsky’s work, and notably the Zone of Proximal Development, could be seen in simple terms as a guide to helping a child to reach their potential and, as such, is probably more important in pedagogical terms than Piaget.
ZPD, encourages teachers to identify three areas (zones) of learning:
1 – The tasks that a child cannot complete even with intervention
2 – The tasks a child can achieve with the help of a ‘More Knowledgeable Other’ (MKO)
3 – The tasks a child can complete without intervention (Mastery)
It’s the second strand that is of most importance to education, setting challenging work for a child which they will need scaffolded support to be able to achieve but which then can be moved into strand one as mastery.
The MKO could be the teacher or teaching assistant, it could be a peer but the important element is ensuring the task fits into strand two and that the support enables the child to develop the skills and knowledge but without being given the answer or the task being done for them.
As you probably realise, the ZPD is fluid and whilst the second strand (ZPD) stays approximately the same size, knowledge and skills pass through it from strand one to strand three.
This approach relies on schools and teachers knowing where a child is in their learning journey and where they need to get to whilst planning and effectively resourcing the ZPD.
At Elea High, our teachers use this approach to provide sufficient challenge for each student, supporting them to meet the challenge and then take a step towards the next level of challenge and a new ZPD.
What approach to challenging children does your school take?
As a parent, does your child come home to regularly tell you things like; ‘Last week I couldn’t do addition of fractions but with Miss Brown’s help, I can do it myself now’?
If not, you need to ask about supported challenge for your child as it is a prime vehicle for cognitive and academic progress.
