Scaffolding in education is an instructional approach where a teacher provides temporary, tailored support to students to help them learn new concepts or skills. This support is gradually removed as students gain proficiency and become able to perform independently. The goal is to build students' abilities progressively so they can achieve stronger understanding and skill acquisition without assistance. Key aspects of scaffolding include:

• It is a support system designed to give structure to a student's learning journey, based on the theory of the Zone of Proximal Development by Vygotsky, where a learner is supported by a more experienced individual until they become independent.
• The support is temporary and future-oriented, helping students understand how to do something, not just what to do, so they can later complete similar tasks independently.
• The process often follows the "I Do – We Do – You Do" model: the teacher demonstrates, then practice is done together, and finally, students work on their own.
• Scaffolding can involve providing outlines, templates, guidance, modeling tasks, or coaching.
• The instructional support fades as students develop autonomous learning strategies and confidence.

In practice, scaffolding might look like teaching children to read by building up skills (alphabet recognition, phonics, sight words) before expecting independent reading, or breaking down complex tasks into manageable parts with supportive feedback. Overall, scaffolding is a dynamic, flexible teaching technique aimed at enabling deeper learning and independence in students by gradually transferring responsibility for the learning process from teacher to student. It is especially helpful for new learners, those lacking confidence, or students encountering new concepts beyond their current ability to do alone. This concept has been widely acknowledged and developed from educational psychology theories and is a fundamental part of effective teaching practices today. If you want, I can provide examples or specific strategies for scaffolding in different educational contexts.