Reimagining scaffolding in marginalised contexts: equity-oriented praxis and postcolonial perspectives in early grade classrooms

Instructional scaffolding is often treated as a neutral cognitive tool, yet this view obscures its socio-political dimensions in postcolonial classrooms. Drawing on a qualitative case study of ten early-grade facilitators in Ghana, this paper reconceptualises scaffolding as equity-oriented, decolonial praxis. It argues that the primary barrier to learning is not material scarcity but a crisis of epistemological access in which colonial curricula devalue Indigenous cultural capital. Facilitators’ use of oral storytelling, peer collaboration, and local artefacts constitutes intentional acts of epistemic validation. Interpreting these practices through postcolonial theory, Bourdieu’s cultural capital, and culturally responsive pedagogy, the study advances the Zone of Epistemic Possibility (ZEP), a framework that expands Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development to highlight learning as a collective, culturally mediated, and political process. The study positions scaffolding as a site of epistemic justice and calls for integrating Indigenous knowledge and mother-tongue instruction into teacher education and curriculum reform.