Nurturing A Growth Mindset in Schools and at Home

Growth Mindset is a powerful collection of approaches which help to shape the way children think to have greater self-believe in themselves and resilience in the face of setbacks. While incredibly important for helping children to maximise their education and learning potential, having a Growth Mindset supports emotional resilience and helps children (and adults) to 'bounce back' from difficulties they face.

Growth Mindset is a one of the key components of Confidence within the RISE: Resilience in Schools and Education programme which can be embedded within schools. Parents can also access bite sized videos and learn more about Growth Mindset at Parent Hub.

By Claire Cooper, Trainee Educational Psychologist

When faced with a challenge, children need confidence in their ability to overcome it. For confidence in their ability, learners need to understand that their abilities can improve and grow.  As we develop throughout childhood, we become acutely aware of our strengths and weaknesses; we soon realise that there are some things that come naturally to us, and some things that others do with ease which we find particularly challenging.

When asking learners what subjects are strengths and which require improvement, often “I’m not very good at maths” is heard, and often echoes around the classroom. These comments demonstrate a ‘fixed mindset’ about one’s abilities, that their ability is an arbitrary value, is fixed and will not move. Alternatively, an example of a student with a Growth Mindset describing their challenges in maths would be “I’m not very good at maths yet, but I’m getting better with practice”.

A Growth Mindset refers to the idea that we truly believe we can get better at anything - sometimes it may be harder, and other times it may be easier - but we can always improve if we try hard and practice. 

In order to support children in building a ‘Growth Mindset’, there are three key intrinsic values and concepts to be built upon...

Growth Mindset: Teaching 'Growth'

The first, is what the concept of ‘growth’ actually means. This could be done through explaining in basic neuroscience terms the importance of exercising our brains, as though it is a muscle. Many children will understand that for a muscle to grow, it needs to be pushed to the limits of its ability.

Another method of demonstrating growth to children is by watching or listening to famous people talk about what they have had to do (i.e. practice and try hard) to achieve what they have done. This can be anyone, from a famous footballer, to a YouTube Vlogger, neither will have started out super successful from day one, and a lot of them talk about what they have been through to get to where they have got to. This reminds the child that everyone has to start from somewhere and they can easily identify the growth the person has made.

In order for the concept of growth to be really understood, it is also important for children to regularly reinforce their awareness of the growth they make in all aspects of their life every day.

The RISE programme has a selection of essential growth reinforcement activities that aid this process. A useful technique schools and professionals working with children adopt in trying to foster a Growth Mindset is the power of yet, adding ‘yet’ to the end of fixed mindset comments that are made. For example, “I’m not very good at maths” instantly becomes a more optimistic sentence when it is said as “I’m not very good at maths, yet”. Another example is when children say "I can't do this" (how many times do you think this happens a day across the school!?), we can respond with "you don't feel that you can do this yet. That's okay. We'll get there with practice"). This simple word transforms the child’s perspective about the future and the limits to their capabilities.

Growth Mindset: Effort Focus

The next transformation that needs to occur is ‘Effort Focus’. When we value what it means to apply effort, and appreciate that effort can equal achievement, we are more likely to value effort itself. To identify value levels that are being applied, we can look at them as three separate ‘zones of effort’.

The inner zone, also known as the Comfort Zone, is where the activity being completed lacks challenge. Completing tasks within this zone may lead to an increase in confidence in one’s ability in the short term, but children are likely to demonstrate very little growth.

The middle zone- the Growth Zone - can be thought of as the perfect balance between optimal levels of effort and challenge. When a child is working in this zone, praise is particularly important as it will lead to a child valuing the work they do here, over any other zone. This means they are more likely to strive to apply effort in their growth zone, as they have previously received praise for this. 

The outer zone, or the ‘Extreme Zone’, is where challenges require particularly high levels of effort. Activities in this zone can demonstrate to children specific areas where they have successfully grown and improved but working in this zone for too long can cause confidence problems as mistakes are likely to happen.

Growth Mindset: Valuing Mistakes

The final stage of building a Growth Mindset is to understand the value of mistakes. Mistakes should be seen as evidence of pushing ourselves to get better, as they are more common the harder we push ourselves. Learners should be made to feel proud when making a mistake if they are able to recognise where they have gone wrong.

Identifying making mistakes as a positive thing also aids in children’s metacognitive development as they are able to think about their own thinking. As mistakes are made regularly, children learn that they are not a bad thing and become desensitized to the negative emotions that can sometimes be associated with making mistakes, such as embarrassment and shame. This desensitisation allows for children to become more resilient when faced with a challenge, as they are not preoccupied with anticipating negative emotions. 

A powerful way of demonstrating to children the importance of making mistakes is for trusted adults, such as teachers and educators, to make mistakes themselves. To acknowledge what the mistake was and where the teacher went wrong demonstrates that mistakes are a part of life for everyone, and therefore are nothing to be ashamed about. Sadly, unless children feel comfortable making mistakes, they'll never feel comfortable moving out of their comfort zone, never fully stretch themselves, and are unlikely to achieve their true potential.

The Importance of Growth Mindset for all

Whilst working as an Education Coordinator in an inner-city alternative school provision, I have seen the positive impact of students developing a Growth Mindset, on both their academic progress but also personal development. My students are faced with a combination of hurdles to their access to education; learning difficulties, social challenges such as gang affiliation, and being in care to name a few. Fostering a Growth Mindset for these students has allowed them to believe that these hurdles can be overcome, and that they can succeed academically and have positive futures.

One of the first steps for students to believe they can improve, is to have trusted adults as positive role models around them to give them confidence to succeed - it is essential for staff working with students to also have a Growth Mindset.

A Growth Mindset can remind children that there are no limits to what they can achieve, and that they can improve at anything with practice. Combined with the remainder of the 7 C’s of Resilience, a Growth Mindset builds children's confidence, resilience and determination to overcome challenges.

Parents and School Staff Growth Mindset Training  

To learn the skills and access the tools to develop a Growth Mindset with children, there are training options for both school staff and parents here: 

School Staff: RISE: Resilience in Schools and Education 

Parents: Parent Hub