1. Growth Mindset – A Parents Point of View

2. Growth Mindset – Just another fad?
When I first heard of the new direction the school was planning to take on how they taught my child I am sure like many others questions came to my mind like “why are they changing what already works”, “is this just a new fad”, “is the new headmistress just trying to ‘make her mark’ ”?
I have experience with Growth Mindset in a business context so was interested to see how this would translate to a learning environment and if there are real benefits to my child, so I began my research.
What I found was very interesting and I could certainly see how my child’s current behaviour could be damaging to his learning and future - and more importantly, how I can support their mindset change.

3. What I Found In My Research
In 1988, Dr. Dweck first presented a research-based model to show the impact of mindsets.
It showed how a student with a performance goal might be worried about looking smart all the time, and avoid challenging work.
On the other hand, a student with a learning goal will pursue interesting and challenging tasks in order to learn more.
Other studies show that children’s theories about their own intelligence had a significant impact on their motivation, effort, and approach to challenges.
In addition to their academic ability, children may develop a fixed mindset about their personal characteristics, which research has shown can impact levels of aggression and other social behaviors in a child.

6. How does a child’s mindset effect their behaviour socially?
Common social problems faced by children, which are heightened when they move to Secondary School, include shifting social groups; social labels flying around, and kids are really stressed.
This, along with the common belief that  people can’t change—that everyone is fixed in their roles and that you are always going to be picked on or always going to be a loser— causes further destruction. 
Studies show many students believe that people are just fixed. They believe that if you are a bully you’ll always be a bully and if you are a victim you’ll always be a victim. When these students are picked on, they feel like losers, ashamed of themselves, and may feel a strong need to retaliate violently.
When a child is taught a growth mindset, they are shown that people’s behaviour is due to thoughts and feelings that can be changed. In test situations it was shown that children who had been taught the growth mindset were 40% less likely to retaliate and 2-3 times as likely to engage in pro-social behaviour than students who did not receive the training.
When addressed with the children their beliefs had change and they had began to realize that people can have all kinds of motivation. For example, in the most part, people are not good or bad; they might just be insecure, have incorrect beliefs, or have some unmet needs, but those can be changed.
Students with a growth mindset understand that no one is fixed and that everyone has the potential for change and so their response is much more adaptive; they react to exclusion, bullying and aggression with much less retaliation.
What was interesting is that in these test when children where just taught students coping skills, without the growth mindset training, it found that it didn’t help them deal with aggression. They retaliated just as much, they felt just as bad, and they showed no improvement in conduct in the classroom. They did report fewer depressive symptoms but it didn’t help them cope socially. However, changing their beliefs, their mindsets, about whether people can change, had a positive effect across the board.

7. What Can I Do To Help My Child? (1)
Having read the research I became more aware of how my own mindset and how this could have an impact on my child
I realised very quickly that the questions I asked my child at the end of their school day and the conversations we had were, unconsciously, promoting a fixed mindset.
So I began to change this straight away – not asking immediately what the results were for the spelling test but asking how they found it, where any words more challenging and how did he work it through.
I immediately saw a change in the level of disappointment they felt for the result, which being honest is probably down to the fact that my reaction was very different. We had already looked at the achievements in the process and discussed tools to use next time. I had also used phrases like “I know how much effort you put into learning the words” and “you worked hard practising the words”. So the actual result had become secondary to the process and efforts.

8. What Can I Do To Help My Child? (2)
I also sat down with my child before they began their homework and asked them to explain what they had to do and how they were going to go about it, what would they do if they came across a challenge? How would they tackle it? This helped to get them to think about how they were thinking
I stepped away and watch as they began to work. And yes, we still got the ‘Oh I can’t do it’, these things to not change overnight! So I stepped back in and said ‘”you can’t do it yet, if you could do everything you wouldn’t be learning anything and life wouldn’t be interesting, so let’s see what you can learn from this. Let’s take your brain to the gym for a workout!”.
I worked with my child, asking them to explain what they were thinking and could that look at the problem differently. I noticed the rest of the homework was tackled with more confidence and didn’t turn into what we usually experience… confidence levels drop, moaning and much longer spent on the task than needed. And my child claiming afterwards with pride that their brain “felt bigger”!

9. How Does My Own Mindset Impact My Child’s?
Understanding that subconsciously my own mindset has an impact on my child’s I carried on researching what I should look for in my own beheaviour, again I found some very interesting questions that I asked myself….
Watch for a fixed mindset reaction when faced with a challenge. Do you feel overwhelmed or challenged, or does the voice in your head warn you away?
What for it when you face a setback in your parenting, or when children don’t listen, do you feel incompetent or defeated? Or do you look for an excuse?
Watch to see whether criticism or complaints brings out your fixed mindset. Do you become defensive, angry, or crushed instead of interested in learning from the feedback?
What happens when you see someone that is better than you at something you value. Do you feel envious and threatened, or do you feel eager to learn?
Accept those thoughts and feelings and work with and through then. And keep doing it.
I found a link to a Mindset Assessment tool that I took and told me more about my own mindset -

10. How Can We Promote a Growth Mindset for Our Children?
Help your child understand that their brain works like a muscle, that can grow through hard work, determination and lots and lots of practice.
Don’t just tell your child how clever or talented they are, as this can imply hey were born with the knowledge or its just comes to them naturally, which can result in them feeling that they don’t need to push themselves to grow, holding back their potential growth.
Let your child know when they show a growth mindset.
Praise the process, their effort, hard work and practice that has resulted in your child achieving their true potential
Don’t just praise (or be frustrated with) results – this can limit growth and development for your child
Embrace failures and miss-steps – our children often gain the most learning when they fail. Let them know mistakes are a big part of learning

11. Change Vocabulary…

12. Next Steps
So after my research and the changes I have began to make, I can say in a short space of time I have seen a difference not only in my child’s attitude to learning but with frustration levels when they are playing, building, making and it doesn’t go the way they planned.
I’m no super Mum, I haven’t remembered to use the right vocabulary every time, and I am not always conscious of my own mindset, but this is a journey and its going to take time for me and my child to change.
But I personally see this as a change for the better, and a positive change to the kind of adult my child will become.