Growth mindset has spread like wildfire in Britain’s classrooms. Never has an idea seemed to chime so much with the ideals of teachers. The central tenet of Carol Dweck’s influential work is that you should attribute educational progress to effort rather than innate capability.
Like compound interest, the learning gains of two children with equal capability but differing mindsets diverge over time. The pupil with a growth mindset will strive harder and get further; their fixed mindset counterpart will tend to give up when stuck and attribute failure to lack of ability.
So it’s simple, right? Just tell the pupils to try harder when they get stuck and make them believe they can do it. If only it was that straightforward.
What is the evidence?
A trial supported by the Education Endowment Foundation found that teachers trained in the principles of growth mindset had zero impact on the pupils they taught subsequently. However, when the ideas were embedded in practical workshops with pupils, children gained an extra two months’ progress compared with similar children not involved. The evidence so far suggests growth mindset lifts all pupils equally.
What do teachers need to consider when implementing it?
As ever, it is a matter of providing feedback to pupils with pinpoint accuracy. Praise a child for succeeding and they will value this (particularly if it was a challenging task). Praising them for effort may be mistaken for, “Well done, (at least) you tried hard (but did not really succeed).”
Crudely implemented, growth mindset reinforces the notion that pupils are to blame for not having enough “grit” to succeed, when the system is stacked against them.
Teachers need to adhere to the Goldilocks principle governing pupils’ leaps in learning. The teacher has to set (or agree with the learner) the right level of challenge. Too easy and the pupil may not need to try hard (or will not value positive feedback if they succeed); too difficult and no amount of effort will let them succeed (and may damage the pupil’s confidence if the task ends in failure).
What are the pitfalls?
Growth mindset should never be seen as a reason for teachers to abdicate their responsibility for designing effective tasks that fulfil fixed curriculum objectives for pupils. You can’t excuse a poor task by blaming the learners for not trying hard enough. We must also recognise that pupils do have different academic capabilities, alongside many other differing skills and attributes.
The evidence is encouraging, but it should not be seen as a panacea. Some of Dweck’s original studies have failed to show similar effects when replicated. The effects at best are moderate, and not enough to close the gap between poorer pupils and their more privileged peers. Perhaps as well as learning the maxim of Robert the Bruce, “Try, try and try again”, you may also need some Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Lee Elliot Major is chief executive of the Sutton Trust and Steve Higgins is a professor of education at Durham University. Together, they authored the teaching and learning toolkit, now the Education Endowment Foundation toolkit
