Topic/research question/theoretical framework/objective
Approximately50% of all youth is enrolled in prevocational education. Prevocational schools deal with a high percentage of early school leavers that is relatively high compared to other western countries (OECD, 2007).Many schools have been implementing educational innovations aimed at meeting the needs of their students. In the Netherlands, education is compulsory until students have achieved a starting qualification, as a rule at the age of 16 or 17. This qualification covers the basic skills required to start at the labor market.This type of education with its diversity of students requires teachers who adequately supervise the cognitive learning process, as well as the social growth of each individual student. Students appreciate empathy and patience as relevant characteristics of a teacher; they also appreciate their teacher to stimulate their autonomy and at the same time be available in space and time (Jossberger, 2011). In addition, students expect their teachers to be competent in the affect domain and be emotionally committed to them.
In this study we use the concept of ‘scaffolding’ to investigate teachers’ support in the affective domain. The metaphor ‘scaffolding’ has been used to indicate the role of a teacher or other when offering temporary support to a student in the way a scaffold helps to construct or modify a building ( Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976). Cazden (1979) explicitly related the scaffolding metaphor to Vygotsky’s  Zone of Proximal Development (ZDP).  Scaffolding is support given by a teacher to a student when performing a task that the student might not have been able to accomplish independently. Van de Pol et al. (2010) mention contingency, fading and transfer as characteristics of scaffolding. 
Although many studies have focused on cognitive and meta cognitive scaffolding, little attention has been paid to the phenomenon of affect scaffolding. We think that scaffolding is a promising approach. Affect  Scaffolding can be defined as the support offered by teachers dealing with situations in the learning process of the student which are emotionally challenging for the student and impossible to achieve without help. This paper explores the domain of affect scaffolding (ASC) in prevocational education and more specifically affect scaffolding in vocation-oriented subjects.  In a previous case study we explored to what extent teachers in professional education use affect scaffolding in vocational subjects and which scaffolding techniques they use.  In this design-research study we aim to find answers to the following research questions:

What are the characteristics of a feasible and effective approach for affect scaffolding in prevocational education?
How does affect scaffolding improve student learning?
How do students experience affect scaffolding by their teachers?

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