1.2 Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who was interested in how a child’s relationships support the development of their thinking and understanding. He identified that a child reaches their next stage of understanding when they are supported by a more knowledgeable adult or child. Vygotsky showed that as a child’s thinking develops, there are windows of opportunity when the ideas or skills they are learning are just beyond their current understanding, and effective interactions at those critical points help them to move their learning forward. He called this the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’.

An example of this might be a child learning to ride a bike. They can balance and push themselves along but often they need an adult to explain what they need to do, hold and push them along, and give reassurance and help. With the adult’s help the child is able to move from not being able to balance and pedal at the same time to being able to ride by themselves. Whilst they might be able to make this progress alone, the contribution of the adult makes the process more effective.

Figure 10.1 Figure 2 A dad supporting his son in learning to ride a bike

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A toddler wearing a red coat and red wellies is on a bike being pushed along a stony path by a man who is supporting the bike by holding one of the handlebars and the seat. Both of them are laughing.

Figure 2 A dad supporting his son in learning to ride a bike

Vygotsky’s work built on Piaget’s, recognising the importance of the child’s environment in developing their thinking and understanding, but also highlighting the important role that adults and others play in this development too.

Looking at these learning development theories shows us that babies learn in lots of different ways and need to be provided with lots of different opportunities and experiences to help support this.