Peer-reviewed article
Scaffolding and Individuality in Early Childhood Development
Víctor Carranza‐Pinedo, Laura Diprossimo ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines scaffolding interactions—the support adults provide to help children learn—in early childhood development. The authors argue that research has been too optimistic about scaffolding, overlooking cases where it can harm children's wellbeing. They propose a model showing how individual differences between children affect whether scaffolding actually helps, and highlight two problematic scenarios: when scaffolding works differently for different children, and when its effectiveness depends on timing. The paper calls for education policies to consider not just whether scaffolding is efficient, but whether children can actually use it meaningfully across different contexts.
Key points
- Scaffolding interactions in early childhood can inadvertently lead to detrimental effects on learners' wellbeing despite aiming to support learning
- Individual differences significantly interact with scaffolds' features during development
- Scaffolds' efficiency varies across children depending on inter-individual differences
- Scaffolds' effectiveness depends on particular timeframes related to intra-individual developmental differences
- Inclusive education policies must assess whether children can transform scaffolds into valuable learning opportunities across contexts and timescales
Limitations
This is a theoretical paper that critiques existing frameworks rather than presenting empirical data. It does not provide quantitative evidence of harm from specific scaffolding practices, making it unclear how common or severe these detrimental effects are in practice.
Abstract
Abstract Scaffolding interactions are typically portrayed optimistically within 4E frameworks of cognition. In this paper, we argue that this “dogma of harmony” has also influenced research on scaffolding interactions during development. Specifically, we show how some scaffolding interactions aimed at supporting task execution and skill acquisition in early childhood can inadvertently lead to detrimental effects on learners’ wellbeing, understood in terms of what individuals are capable of achieving rather than through the resources they possess. To characterise these effects, we propose a model that highlights the manifold ways in which individual differences interact with scaffolds’ features during developmental processes. Using this model, we discuss two types of maladaptive scenarios: those where the scaffolds are efficient to various degrees depending on inter-individual differences, and those where scaffolds’ efficiency is tied to particular timeframes depending on intra-individual differences. The upshot of this discussion is that, to challenge the harmony dogma, more inclusive education policies should not only consider scaffolds’ efficiency but also determine whether individuals can adequately transform their use into valuable opportunities for their learning across contexts and timescales.