Staffroom Secrets - Growth Mindset
STAFFROOM SECRETS - Growth Mindset by Jane Chappell “Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.” Albus Dumbledore An extract from Staffroom Secrets: ‘This is how we do it…’ For a brain to learn effectively, it needs a bit of help. It needs its owner to be aware of what a GROWTH MINDSET is. I am passionate about the power of instilling our children with a growth mindset because I have seen the remarkable (nay, gobsmacking) difference it can make. I worked with a superhero colleague on an action research project relating to girls’ attainment in mathematics, and the results were startling. For me, the bedrock of teaching is in a growth mindset approach. The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed one – where you believe intelligence is pre-determined at birth. A person with a fixed mindset avoids failure, avoids challenge, sticks to what they know and takes personal offence when given feedback. Someone with a growth mindset embraces challenge, sees failure as key to learning, piles in effort and seeks feedback – often learning from others. Some people are very much one or the other – some are a mix of the two, depending on the situation they find themselves in. What is key, however, is our ability to BECOME an individual with a GROWTH MINDSET by working at it. Schools up and down the country have latched onto this because they have seen how children’s emotional wellbeing and consequently their results have been positively affected. However, schools cannot teach this alone – they need parents and families to join in too. After all, these are our children’s most influential teachers. If the school is embracing a growth mindset approach but you are asking your child, ‘Who is the cleverest at maths?’ horribly mixed messages will confuse and muddy the waters.
Huge potential can underperform Parents are often surprised when I warn that high-achieving children are susceptible to falling into the fixed mindset very early on in their development. If told by beaming, proud adults how ‘bright, talented, gifted and clever’ they are, children can quickly fear being seen as anything less – for fear of upsetting those who clearly value them for their innate gifts. Oh, the pressure must be unbearable. They daren’t fail. Mistakes feel like such disasters. They hide misunderstandings for fear of being found out and shy away from asking questions. These ‘bright, talented, clever’ children will most likely plateau early and achieve less than their full potential. The poor things – what a burden these labels can be. Undoing the damage labelling children can cause is sometimes a very tricky task indeed, which is why they are best avoided in the first place. However, it is never too late. I read Dweck’s book when Bethany was in secondary school. I explained it all to her and apologised profusely for labelling her as clever, etc. I’d been well-meaning; I was trying to boost her selfesteem and confidence. Poor old Beth. The eldest is so often our unwitting guinea pig…however, no guilt is allowed: Jane-of-the-past was not a fortune teller! When children get everything right in an exercise without any struggle, they are not learning; they are demonstrating what they already know. A page of ticks is not necessarily the mark of a good superhero. If I see a page of ticks (without challenge/struggle/extension), I haven’t done my job properly, and I should be apologising – not handing out gold stars to the pupil and patting myself on the back. However, it’s great to see a page of ticks as part of the consolidation process, when they’ve completed the journey and the struggle. That’s when the EFFORT is praised and it’s time to move on and find a new challenge.
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