Curriculum, learning and teaching
Teaching and a growth mindset: do we really embrace failure? Kaeyla Wilmoth-Hogg tackles a difficult question How often are we crushed when our students don’t do as well as we had hoped? We tell them it’s OK – setbacks or even failures are just part of the learning process. But how often do we take on their failures as a negative statement about our own ability as an educator? We support them in developing skills to negotiate their own learning process, but are we really leading by example? For many years now, educators have been influenced by the work of Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck. Dweck’s research includes debunking ideas about intelligence being related to fixed traits and innate abilities: a ‘fixed mindset’. An individual with a ‘fixed mindset’, according to Dweck, generally believes “You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are” (2006: 12). Dweck promotes notions of a ‘growth mindset’ or, as Guy Claxton suggests, an expanding or ‘expandable intelligence’ (2002). In essence, this research has developed key methods Winter
Summer |
| 2018
for helping students to embrace challenges and develop resilience: to see their minds as ever changing, with the capacity to expand and grow. Dweck’s research explores how a teacher’s ‘growth’ or ‘fixed’ mindset will influence student learning. If little Rachel fails an exam, will the teacher assume that Rachel does not have an aptitude for that subject? – a possible consequence of a teacher not having or promoting a growth mindset, assuming that aptitude, ability or intelligence are measurable and to a large degree ‘fixed’. So, a fixed mindset teacher may advise little Rachel towards other pursuits, working under the assumption that there is little that can be done if she does not display a ‘natural ability’. Dweck’s research also proposes that if we as educators over-empathise (‘It’s OK – not everyone can be good at creative writing’), then we are actually doing more harm than good. Teachers should be careful of the language they use, including the use of praise
25
