How to Develop a Growth Mindset in Schools

Growth Mindset. You may have heard of it – but what is it? It is a style of thinking, behaving and learning that is revolutionising the way children think, learn and achieve in schools which are eager to equip children with all that they need for the 21st century. As teachers, it is our mission to enable every child to achieve their potential and help them gain an excellent quality education in a values-based, internationally-minded environment so that they may understand, contribute to, and succeed in an ever-developing and competitive world. In order for this mission to be met, education, learning, environments and teaching strategies have to be very different today than the experiences of parents and teachers when they were at school.

There are two mindsets that help explain how students see themselves as learners and influence how they behave as learners. With a Fixed Mindset, people believe their basic qualities, such as intelligence or talent, are fixed entities that they can’t change. With a Growth Mindset, people believe that their intelligence, talents and abilities can be developed through persistence, effort and hard work.

In this blog, we will explore the key principles drawn from Carol Dweck’s theory of Fixed and Growth Mindset and suggest practical ways to integrate it in your school. Put simply, a Growth Mindset is when an individual believes they can develop their intelligence. Whereas a Fixed Mindset is when a person believes their intelligence and characteristics cannot be changed in any meaningful way.

What does a Fixed and Growth Mindset look like? A Fixed Mindset might look like this: “I’m no good at this subject. It’s not something I’ll ever be good at”. A pupil with a Growth Mindset knows that, through dedication and effort, these qualities can change and that they can develop their intelligence and abilities. They believe they can become better in any subject. Like all things, through hard work, careful language and practice, it is possible to adjust the way pupils think.

Through the language we use, activities we plan into our lessons, and by modelling it with our own behaviour we can encourage pupils to move towards a Growth Mindset. One way is to use critical thinking questions which enable children to explore their thinking rather than just give right or wrong answers. Activities are constantly varied – children never just work from a book and they think together and support each other’s learning.

Studies have shown that if you have a Growth Mindset, you’re more likely to continue working hard, even when you meet obstacles or failures. You persevere, adapt, and try different strategies and you learn. Resilience is one of those values and is a vital life skill, now more than ever, to enable children to achieve, succeed and excel. It is important to prepare children for life from the moment they start school. It’s not just about ‘ticks’ and ‘grades’ when educating children today.

Research shows that when pupils were taught about Growth Mindset directly, they made an average of two additional months’ progress in English and Mathematics. Growth Mindset can help the KHDA meet their targets regarding education for all children within Dubai, as well as enable children to be creative and innovative risk-takers – something all progressive societies need.

Individuals with a Growth Mindset tend to like feedback because they can use it to improve. However, Fixed Mindset pupils may see feedback as purely negative if they associate it with something they’ve answered incorrectly. One way to tackle this is to give pupils a few moments each lesson to think about the feedback they have been given and how it has helped them improve. Then ask one or two of them to explain their example to the rest of the class. Weekly, all feedback can go home to parents so they can be instrumental in helping their own children develop a Growth Mindset. You can provide pupils with the freedom to choose the level of challenge in their work which has a positive impact – every Maths and English lesson can have challenge cards to enable children to just think things through. These can be left mostly unmarked and unrecorded so children don’t have to feel they have to get it right. One of the most powerful messages we can take from the Growth Mindset theory is that mistakes should be seen as an opportunity. Pupils should be encouraged to identify where they went wrong, learn from it and improve for next time. To build resilience, it is important to reward pupils for trying hard and for persevering when they are struggling. Praising effort rather than pupils getting things right all the time decreases the pressure on pupils who feel like they can only volunteer an answer if they’re sure it’s right.

People’s mindsets are shaped by their environment and the people around them. That’s why educators should work hard with parents through open days, parent workshops, inviting parents into lessons, and an open door policy. Environment shapes the Growth Mindset. It’s therefore essential that if we want to make any real changes to pupils’ mindsets we involve parents in this process.