QUESTIONING VYGOTSKY’S MORE COMPETENT PEER IN THE SCAFFOLDING RELATIONS

Abstract

The present communication is the fourth of a series of reflexive reports about a work in progress that aims to measure the transformative impact of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) within his/her intervention nucleus in a bidirectional logic of learning and personal and social development, thinking about education as a multilateral process in a learning community. An interactionist practice is studied in which the systemic evolution arises from the capacity of individual transformation, in a dynamic of mutual influence, in a continuum in which each and every one will be subject and object of transformation and learning. The intervention method is described, focusing on the community construct, the refinement of their internal process of learning and monitoring, in a collaborative performance of sharing knowledge, skills and objectives, capable of promoting effective learning and transforming the course of personal and collective development. Vygotsky and Bruner’s social constructivism and Brufenbrenner’s ecological vision are resumed, defending knowledge as a social construction. Some theories were revisited, discussing the construct of more competent peer, in the sense of trying to broaden it, contributing to understand the importance of the decentralization of the child of the learning process, also guiding it towards the educator and his/her ability to question and change, constructing and deconstructing the concept of scaffolder. Learning is studied as a democratic practice in which progress is made as a result of transferences of competences, promoted by the child's development potential and by the availability of each educator to regulate and make internal changes, resulting from socializing with that child, letting oneself focus with and by him/her, on a parallel path of self-knowledge and transformation. It is intended to assess the importance of each educator's position in the whole learning process and within this community, trying to confront the weight of scientific and technical competence with the importance of a reflective and integrative attitude. The possible fragility of a methodology centered essentially on the child and on his/her needs is discussed because it may legitimize a practice of power in which Vygotskynian “more competent peer” is able to adapt his/her intervention to the particularities of the child, capable of adjusting to external changes, capable of questioning his/her training, even capable of learning, but unable to translate that learning into change and transformation. Autism is assumed as a sociorelational dysfunction and the intervention plan was outlined based on the principles of The Son-Rise Program. A qualitative methodology was used, contextualizing the field work, describing and responding to the intervenients’ particularities, beliefs and perceptions. We resorted to semi-structured interviews and focus groups, trying to understand how the creation of a learning community allowed us to make an entire intervention plan, centered on the relation and exchange among all the members of this Learning Community.