At Thurnham Glasson Church of England Primary School; children, parents, staff and governors are all learning about Growth Mindset.
We know that pupils who have a positive attitude towards their learning will make good progress. Decades of research show a powerful relationship between mindset and achievement. Consequently, instilling all our pupils with 'growth mindsets' has become a key priority for the school since September 2019 and beyond. We have introduced the theories of Dr Carol Dweck to staff and pupils and we are determined to embed these ideas within our school ethos.
We want our children to understand that it is okay to be stuck, and that some of their best learning is done when they find things difficult. We believe that the best thing to do is to teach children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, value the importance of effort, respond carefully to feedback, to take inspiration from others and keep on learning. For children who find work easy we make sure they encounter more difficult tasks.
Helping children to develop these positive beliefs in their intelligence and learning will impact on their motivation, behaviours for learning and responses to challenges and setbacks. Our children recognise that effort, persistence and good teaching are what help them improve. This will help them to achieve, not only with us, but also in their future lives as adults.
Each class has been looking at and learning about the two types of mindsets that children and adults can have, a ‘fixed’ mindset and a ‘growth’ mindset. Below is an overview of the traits of each:
Fixed Mindset
- I like my work to be easy
- I don’t like to try a challenge
- I want people to praise me for how clever I am
- I believe I cannot change how clever I am
- I don’t like to try new things because I won’t be very good at it
- I give up easily
Growth Mindset
- I never give up
- I like my work to be difficult – it means I am learning
- I love challenges
- I want people to praise me for the effort I put into my work
- I believe I can get more intelligent by working hard
- I feel clever when I’m learning something new
- I learn from my mistakes
Click here for a guide to Growth Mindset. The following video also explains the concept in more detail:
This approach links with how we mark work and give feedback too: Our marking gives ‘prompts for improvement’ or ‘next steps’ so that all learning for all children, even the very brightest, is seen as a way to grow. If children have fixed mindsets they find it hard to cope with failure: we teach our children to see mistakes and failure as positive. This makes for a very energetic and inclusive culture. It also has a really positive effect on our ethos and on how children approach learning and support each other.
A quote from Carol Dweck:
"In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that's that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb. In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don't necessarily think everyone's the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it."
This is important because (1) individuals with a "growth" theory are more likely to continue working hard despite setbacks and (2) individuals' theories of intelligence can be affected by subtle environmental cues. For example, children given praise such as "good job, you're very smart" are much more likely to develop a fixed mindset, whereas if given compliments like "good job, you worked very hard" they are likely to develop a growth mindset. In other words, it is possible to encourage students, for example, to persist despite failure by encouraging them to think about learning in a certain way.”
How you can help at home (click here)
- Praise the amount of effort your child is putting into things rather than how clever they are;
- Talk to your children about their brain being like a muscle - the more they use it, the stronger it gets;
- Encourage your children to not give up if they are finding something difficult;
- Challenge your children to try something new or challenging.
Key aspects of growth mindset at Thurnham Glasson C of E Primary School:
- We celebrate making mistakes – we can learn from them;
- We never give up – perseverance is the key if we are to succeed;
- We learn from each other;
- We don’t compare ourselves with others;
- We challenge ourselves and take risks;
- We remember that our brains are making new connections and growing all the time.
We aim to help children to become more independent in their learning, to believe in themselves and to practise a Growth Mindset. We are aiming to create a learning environment and opportunities which enable all children to develop their brains. That is, we are providing inclusive enrichment to everybody.
Below is some further information about Growth Mindset and what it means to us at Thurnham Glasson C of E Primary School:
This innovative and timely picture book teaches children that they have the ability to stretch and grow their own brains. It also delivers the crucial message that mistakes are an essential part of learning. The book introduces children to the anatomy and various functions of the brain in a fun and engaging way.
Your Fantastic Elastic Brain
The Girl Who NEVER Made Mistakes