Welcome this post on the use of scaffolding to support adaptive teaching. This is part of a wider set of article and resources aimed at improving our ability to achieve inclusive excellence and high expectation within our classrooms.
What?
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) defines scaffolding as a metaphor for temporary support that is removed when it is no longer required. Like construction scaffolding used on a building, classroom scaffolds are designed to provide sufficient assistance so that pupils can successfully complete tasks they could not yet do independently.
Scaffolded supports provide temporary assistance to students so they can successfully complete tasks that they cannot yet do independently and with a high rate of success. Teachers select powerful visual, verbal and written supports; carefully calibrate them to students’ performance and understanding in relation to learning tasks; use them flexibly; evaluate their effectiveness; and gradually remove them once they are no longer needed. Some supports are planned prior to lessons and some are provided responsively during instruction.
Why?
Scaffolding supports pupil learning in the following ways:
1. Maintains high expectations and challenge level: Scaffolding enables all pupils to complete tasks, keeping the challenge level high while providing the temporary support needed to reach it.
2. Reduces cognitive load and anxiety: Scaffolding serves as an external support for a pupil’s limited working memory, stopping them from becoming overwhelmed or anxious about not being able to achieve success.
3. Builds confidence and enables pupils to work independently: Effective scaffolding enables pupils to experience success and to do so with none or minimal support from others. This builds confidence which fuels deeper engagement and increase agency and independence.
4. Improves motivation and resilience: Scaffolding increases the anticipation of success and pupils perceptions of capability which fuels motivation and buids confidence that they can overcome challenges and barriers.
How?
Grow and Fade
Teachers and teaching assistants should maintain high expectations by giving the least amount of additional support first and then gradually adding more as required. It is then important to also gradually remove the scaffolding as success increases. The gradual increase might look like:
Self-scaffolding
Self-scaffolding represents the highest level of pupil independence. TAs observe, giving pupils time for process and think about how to approach a task; problem-solve as they go; and review how they performed.
Prompting
Pupils are encouraged to draw on their own knowledge but teachers & TAs refrain from specifying a strategy. The aim is to nudge pupils into deploying a self-scaffolding technique.
Clueing
Often pupils know the strategies or knowledge required to solve a problem, but find it difficult to call them to mind. Clues worded as questions can provide a hint in the right direction.
Modelling
Prompts and clues can be ineffective when pupils encounter a task that requires a new skill or strategy. In this scenario TAs, and teachers can model while pupils actively watch, listen and then try it themselves.
Correcting
Occasionally it is appropriate to provide direct input and answers, however, the principle of providing least help first should be considered before deciding to do so.
Verbal Scaffolds
Verbal scaffolding is often the most immediate and dynamic form of support and is used to re-teach, re-explain and nudge a pupils thinking through questions and prompts such as: “The first thing I usually do is…”, “Don’t forget, your work needs
to include…”, “What have you done before, that might help you with this task?”, "What would happen if...?"
Written Scaffolds
Written scaffolds such as word banks, knowledge organisers, checklists and writing frames provide a permanent reference point or structural framework that act as a map or resource for pupils as they navigate complex tasks
Visual Scaffolds
Visual scaffolds support pupils by making the abstract more concrete and enabling them to see what excellence looks like, the relationships between ideas and to quickly understand instructions. Examples include: Diagrams, models, charts and infographics, Images that support vocabulary learning, Recognisable icons, colours and formatting, Model examples of work.
Barriers & Solutions
Below are a series of common challenges that staff may face and some strategies for overcoming them
| Common Barrier | Possible Solution |
|---|---|
| Dependency - The support is maintained for too long, preventing the pupil from progressing toward independence | Plan for gradual reduction: Teachers must explicitly plan how and when scaffolds will be removed or partially removed (e.g., moving from a fully completed frame to a partially completed frame) |
| Lowered Expectations - Using scaffolding too often or adding too much support too soon can communicate alack of belief and lower expectations. | Maintain the Goal: The scaffold must enable access to the same high-level curriculum content as peers, ensuring the adaptation facilitates attainment rather than capping it. |
| Workload Burden - Creating elaborate, resource-heavy, individualised scaffolds for multiple pupils creates unsustainable workload. | Focus on Live/Embedded Scaffolds: Scaffolding should be viewed as a verbal reteach or a visual aid provided at the whole-class level, or embedded within existing planning, rather than always requiring extensive, separate planning and resourcing. |
| Inhibiting Reflection - Supports that are too specific leave no room for the pupil to engage in critical thinking or metacognitive monitoring | Deliberate Difficulty: Introduce some "deliberate difficulty" (appropriate challenge) that forces pupils to monitor their learning, select strategies, and reflect on their understanding. |
| Distraction and increased cognitive load - the overuse or unsuitability of images and icons can cause distraction and unnecessary cognitive load. | Less is more: Keep the use of images and icons to the absolute minimum and force yourself to justify their relevance and usefulness |
Measuring Success
Below are a series of indicators that we can use to judge whether the adaptive strategy has been successful:
Further Study
Below are a series of links to additional reading, research and CLF bright spots
