1. A Growth Mindset
Dr Carol Dweck is Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.
She has carried out research into the best way to talk about learning and developed the theory of growth and fixed mindset.
Research shows that students with a fixed mindset believe their ability is fixed and that there is nothing they can do about it. Students with a growth mindset believe they can grow and build their skills if they put in effort.
If we talk about learning in the right way, we can encourage a growth mindset.
You can see her talk about this in her presentation ‘The Power of Yet’ available on youtube:

2. ‘Scientists are learning that people have more capacity for lifelong learning and brain development than they ever thought’

3. ‘…the major factor in whether people achieve expertise is not some fixed prior ability, but purposeful engagement’ Dr Robert Sternberg

4. ‘…it’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest’ Alfred Binet

5. What does this mean for your child?
Your child might have some fixed ideas about their ability in some subjects:
‘I’m rubbish at spelling and punctuation’
‘I can’t do maths’
‘I’m a natural with English’
This can cause them to avoid working in these areas.
We can help by encouraging the idea that with effort we can improve ability in any area.

6. Fixed Versus Growth Mindset
A fixed mindset is based on the belief that intelligence and ability are carved in stone – we are who we are and there’s not much we can do about it.
People with a growth mindset believe your basic qualities can improve through efforts. Although we may differ in our initial talents, interests and temperament – everyone can change and grow through application and experience

7. Do I have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?
Probably both
A person might have a growth mindset about riding a bike, playing a computer game and learning guitar – they wouldn’t expect to do any of these things perfectly at first
But the same person could have a fixed mindset about writing accurately – ‘I’ve always been bad at it’ – or maths – ‘I’m rubbish at maths’

8. How this affects learning
A person with a fixed mindset might:
Avoid difficult things for fear of failure
Feel the need to constantly prove what they can do by repeating simple tasks
Avoid risk or effort
Be discouraged by mistakes – personalising failure to feel like a ‘loser’
Be concerned with how they are being judged rather than being concerned with how to improve
Blame others or outside circumstances when things don’t go their way
Connect their self-esteem to their grades and outcomes
A person with a growth mindset might:
Believe you can control things with effort and practice
Enjoy challenging tasks
Be comfortable taking risks and appreciate the need to put in effort
See mistakes and failures as a way to learn how to get better
Focus on how to improve
Take responsibility for working to improve – be self-motivated
Connect their self-esteem to their effort and commitment

9. The problem with language:
From ‘Mindset’ by Carol Dweck
The problem with language:
You learned that so quickly! You’re so smart!
If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not smart
Look at that drawing. Martha, is he the next Picasso or what?
I shouldn’t try drawing anything hard or they’ll see I’m no Picasso
You’re so brilliant, you got an A without even trying
I’d better quit studying or they won’t think I’m brilliant

10. What we find ourselves saying
Suggestions for what to say instead
You’re a bright lad, you’ll be fine
Praise carefully – not for intelligence but for effort
Keep working hard and you’ll make progress
You’re so clever at…
Praise targeted effort
I’ve noticed you’re putting effort into…
You’re so intelligent at…
Discuss the process of learning – ask what they did
All your hard work and practice is resulting in… Tell me what you think went well..
You’re lucky you’re gifted at… it’s easy for you to…
Show you value persistence with difficult work
I’m proud of how committed you’ve been to learning... How did you learn to…
Don’t worry if you didn’t get an … it was just really hard / did you do better than…
Encourage reflecting on mistakes as a normal part of learning
Don’t worry you didn’t get… this time, are you clear on what you need to do to improve for next time?
You always make that mistake
That same question is proving tricky, how else might you approach it?
I was rubbish at science too
Avoid communicating areas where you may have a fixed mindset
I found science difficult as well – what has your teacher suggested to help improve?
You have to get a B for college.
Focus on the process not the outcome
How are you going to revise? Which strategy works for you?
If a child is ‘brilliant’ and ‘amazing’ when they succeed, what are they when they don’t?

11. In all, Beckham scored astonishing 65 free kicks during his career.
As a six year old he would spend afternoons practising keep me ups in his tiny back garden in East London.
At first little David was pretty average. He could do five or six.
He spent afternoon after afternoon, slipping up again and again, but with each mistake learning how to finesse the ball, sustain his concentration, and get his body back into position to keep the sequence going.
Sandra, his mother, told me ‘…He was such an amazing kid when it came to his appetite for hard work.’
After six months, he could get up to 50 keep-me-ups. Six months after that he was up to By the time he got to the age of nine, he had reached a new record: 2,003.
For an outsider looking in this sequence would have seemed miraculous. Two thousand and three touches of the ball without it even touching the ground! It would have seemed like a revelation of genius.
But to Sandra, who had watched three years through the kitchen window, it looked very different. She had seen the countless failures that had driven progress. She had witnessed all the frustrations and disappointments. And she had seen how young David had learned from every one.
In the spring of 2014, I went to Paris to interview Beckham. ‘When people talk about my free kicks they focus on the goals,’ he said. ‘But when I think about free kicks I think about all those failures. It took tons of misses before I got it right.’