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Many factors contribute to a fixed mind-set about how capable we might be when it comes to learning. There are many attitudes, dispositions and causes that can affect a learner’s mind-set. Some of those causes that may affect the learner’s ability to learn include:
• Constantly searching for perfection, due to the perceived expectations of their peers, parents, caregivers or educators, can weigh heavily on a learner. As a result, these learners may not hand in work in case it is not of sufficient quality, from their perspective, and would not live up to the expectations of their peers, parents, caregivers or educators.
• Being convinced they cannot learn due to prior experiences can develop into self-doubt. This self-doubt can then easily spiral into negative self-talk surrounding their learning and convince them that they are not clever enough to learn successfully- “I can’t do maths!”
• Being fed constant praise for minimal effort tells the learner that minimal effort is sufficient to satisfy the expectation of the educator. Why would anyone try harder when doing a minimum amount of work is ‘amazing’! Praise needs to be used judiciously and applied precisely to a combination of effort and outcome.
• Ensuring we direct our comments to the work done rather than the individual. Telling a learner, “The improvement in your swimming stroke has improved your times” is a much better comment than, “You are an extraordinary swimmer.” By focussing on the specific improvement and connecting that to the reason, allows the learner to link the effort they have made with the improvements in their times.
• The inability to persevere. Learners can develop perseverance by gradually increasing their ‘stretch’ from a minimal effort to a slightly greater effort each time they are challenged to learn.
Resource 43: Carol Dweck – Self-Esteem & Mindset
Carol introduces the term ‘not yet’125 if the learner has not achieved a full understanding of the concept, rather than failing the learner or telling them they are ‘amazing’ or that they simply need to ‘try harder’. Learners may require targeted questioning by educator to allow them to recognise the issues they are experiencing with their learning and how they might be able to resolve those issues.
125 Dweck C. (2014) The Power of Believing You Can Improve. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU