Cultural Mediation. The Usefulness of Selected Concepts of Developmental Psychology for Coaching and Mentoring Relations

• Main Author: Barbara Smorczewska
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Lower Silesia 2013-09-01
• Series: Forum Oświatowe
• Subjects: coaching; epizody wspólnego zaangażowania; mentoring; społeczny kontekst rozwoju; strefa najbliższego rozwoju
• Online Access: http://forumoswiatowe.pl/index.php/czasopismo/article/view/34

Some developmental psychological concepts, such as L. S. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development or H. R. Schaffer’s joint involvement episodes, gave a new perspective in perceiving the process of teaching and development, by providing very detailed characteristics of the situation of acquiring competence in social relations. The mentioned concepts are based on a belief in the developmental potential of humans, and they perceive teaching as future-oriented. These assumptions are also characteristic for coaching and mentoring which are nowadays becoming more and more popular forms of development in work places; hence an attempt to find some analogy between them. The prepared comparison contributes to extending the theoretical bases of “development cooperation relations,” as coaching and mentoring are jointly referred to.