Why Is Shoring So Important In Education?

The notion of shoring is not very well known, it is however widely used in the world of education. In fact, shoring is particularly effective in facilitating children’s learning and skill development. However, this concept is not only intended for nursery or primary education. It is also aimed at secondary school students or even university students.

How could we define the concept of shoring? Many studies define it as follows. Support designates the different types of help provided by the adult to facilitate the accomplishment of tasks that the child could not solve alone. However, this definition can be qualified. Indeed, as we pointed out above, scaffolding can also be implemented in university students.

Vygotsky and the shoring

The term shoring is based on Lev Vygotsky’s constructivist view of the healthy development of children. This Russian psychologist introduced a fundamental concept known as the Proximal Development Zone. This term refers to difficult tasks that present a challenge for the child. This zone falls between the tasks that are too difficult for them (even with adult help) and those that are easy.

Psychic development is all that a child is capable of doing on his own. On the contrary, potential development is what it can only achieve with the help of a teacher or an adult who plays the role of guide. Shoring fits in some ways between these two levels of development. Thanks to the support, the child can achieve a goal that he could not have achieved on his own. It could be doing a job, performing an exercise, or completing a project.

Be careful though, shoring is not a shortcut. It is not a question of pre-chewing the child’s labor. This tool is designed so that a competent person, such as the teacher or a parent, can provide the resources a child needs to meet a challenge. However, the adult does not at any time do the work for the child. It is the child who is responsible for carrying out this work.

The keys to effective shoring

For the shoring to be carried out effectively and to really become a useful support for the development of psychological processes, a certain number of rules must be taken into account. If one of these is not followed, the shoring may not give all the desired results.

• The child must be involved in the activity. This means that it is essential that he makes a personal contribution to it. To do this, the activity must be adapted to his level

• The importance of adaptation to the level but also of the challenge. If the activity must adapt to the level of the pupil, it must also represent a certain difficulty. Taking up this challenge and achieving it will allow him to progress instead of stagnating
• The development of structured learning. Activities or tasks must be organized in such a way as to offer a certain development or natural progression
• The intervention of the adult. The person in charge of the shoring must act as a partner who guides the student. This is possible thanks to good interaction and fluid communication.

Transfer of control

When scaffolding is used in the correct way and the student thus achieves his or her level of potential development, what is called a “transfer of control” occurs. The child, confident in his new skills and abilities, then feels more able to master the situations that will arise. In this way, the shoring allows him to always keep a sense of responsibility when carrying out a task.

In this way, the child learns to adopt an active and engaged behavior through simple exercises. What seems relatively trivial, however, is of great importance in everyday life. In addition, scaffolding allows the child to develop much more elaborate concepts and knowledge. Having been the main protagonist of his success, he gains confidence and feels capable of taking on other challenges.

Shoring is a tool that is frequently used by teachers and parents to improve children’s development. Many of them have certainly already used this technique without necessarily giving it a name. Unfortunately, some teachers do not always put it into practice, yet it is a fantastic tool for the child to learn both to accept frustration, as well as being a driving force when it comes to achieving. tasks within their reach in order to develop their skills and knowledge.

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