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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• coaching
• epizody wspólnego zaangażowania
• mentoring
• społeczny kontekst rozwoju
• strefa najbliższego rozwoju