1. Nick Bowater - Wheatley Park School
Past ‘Growth Mindset’
Nick Bowater - Wheatley Park School

2. Rationale Behind The Research
The psychological principles behind mindset interventions are sound and interventions can have positive impacts on student outcomes (Blackwell et al., 2007; Dweck 1988, 1999, 2012; Good et al., 2003; Walton, 2014).
The implementation of interventions in UK schools seems to be an issue (EEF, 2015; DfE, 2016).

3. Data Collection Interview with the headteacher Students survey
Students focus group

4. Findings
Students value teachers applying principles of growth mindset theory to their practice:
Avoidance of labelling students based on academic ability - ‘you're so clever…’
Process based praise
Feedback that identifies a student's next steps rather than focussing on an outcome
Students dislike discrete growth mindset interventions delivered by teachers in extended tutorial
Students dislike ‘teachers going on about it [mindsets] all the time’
Some members of the school community have seen/see growth mindset as ‘gimmicky’

5. References
Blackwell, L. A., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Theories of intelligence and achievement across the junior high school transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78, 246–263.
Department Of Education (2016) Closing the gap: test and learn. [Online] Available from: [Accessed 29th June 2016]
Dweck, C.S. and Leggett, E.L., (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological review, 95(2), p.256.
Dweck, C. (1999) Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press / Taylor and Francis.
Dweck, C. (2012) Mindset. London : Robinson
Education Endowment Fund (2015) Changing Mindset. [Online] Availiable from: [Accessed 2nd January 2016]
Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645–662.
Walton, G. M. (2014). The new science of wise interventions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 73–82.