STUDY: Vygotskyian idea of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

As Warford (2011) state, student teachers 'take the facts and appropriate their own meanings by means of cultural tools... This process... grows in systematicity and complexity as teacher knowledge is continually reshaped to accommodate the dynamic nature of schools and classrooms; consequently, a Vygotskyan approach to teacher development sees the education of teachers as situated learning.

Wargord sees a Vygotskian approach to ITE as involving a three way conversation between:
- Student teachers prior experiences as learners and often tacit beliefs about pedagogy
- Pedagogical content of the teacher education program
- Observations of teaching and learning in the field placements.

The three way conversation can lead to tensions, conflicts of beliefs or direct contradictions.

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