Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset is a concept developed by the American Psychologist Carol Dweck. She suggests that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems. There are two ways of looking at a difficult problem: I am not smart/clever enough to solve it 2. I have not solved it yet

A fixed mindset fears: Challenges Obstacles Effort Criticism Success of others

A growth mindset loves: Challenges Obstacles Effort Criticism Success of others

Carol Dweck Growth Mindset: The power of yet!

First Attempt In Learning

Responding to failure

Fixed Mindset Makes excuses and blames others Feels like not trying again Feels foolish and inferior - gets extremely upset Tries to conceal results, afraid of judgement Ignores the teacher’s feedback as she believes “you either have it or you don’t.” Tries to give herself a boost by searching for others who got worse results

Growth Mindset Accepts responsibility. Reads the feedback carefully so she understands how to improve. Very open with her results, no inclination to conceal them. Seeks out those students that did better so she can learn from them. Remains enthusiastic. Knows that with time and hard work she will succeed.

Things to say to promote a growth mindset… You tried really hard with that task. You never gave up, even when it was hard. What a creative solution to that problem! You have really improved on________ I like how you took ownership of that! You handled that situation well because_____ It was brave of you to______________ You have taken great care to_________

The Crystal Ball Gremlin and the Snow Mountain

Dr Steve Peters, a psychiatrist who has looked at the performance of elite sportsmen and women, believes that negative thinking is a massive obstacle to success. One tendency is to gaze into the future and see only failure and disaster. This leads to a rapid descent into a state of mind when your thinking is paralysed by fear. This can become a pattern of thought. It is a problem encountered by many Year 11 pupils.

To maximise a pupil or student’s chance of success and happiness we must teach her how to think positively and to promote positive mindsets. This offers a source of HOPE, one of our six values