How ‘scaffolding’ has been perceived as a strategy for construction of knowledge in the early childhood classroom: A reflection on the reported case studies in Hong Kong with those in the West

This paper reports data from a study about the challenges of educational reform carried out by three in-service preschool teachers in Hong Kong. Intending to abide with the new paradigm shift to quality teaching and learning originated from the West; these teachers adopted the social constructivist theory and the application of the technique of scaffolding. The main difficulties when applying the scaffolding techniques in a child-centered curriculum, as observed by the author in her capacity as a teacher educator and researcher, could be the misunderstanding on the part of the teachers that there is only one kind of scaffolding technique. This paper reports the application of scaffolding technique and its difficulties in application as identified by the Hong Kong preschool teachers in the case studies. The findings highlight the differences between the types of scaffolding techniques employed by the West as reviewed in the literature with those adopted by the Hong Kong preschool teachers. The paper concludes with a discussion that education is a complex and complicated endeavor involving a plethora of judgments and ideologies affecting diverse people and the “meanings” of their experiences, lives and Institutions. Implications are drawn for future policy refinement and development in Hong Kong (SAR).