Growth Mindset

Over the last few years at Ashmount Primary School, we have been learning about the theory of growth mindset. This theory has been extensively researched by world renowned American psychologist, Carol Dweck. Her research shows us that by learning about mindsets, children can become more resilient and better able to overcome the learning challenges that they are presented with. Learning about mindsets improves children’s mental wellbeing and can increase their learning power.

We know that pupils who have a positive attitude towards their learning will be successful in all that they do. Consequently, instilling all our pupils with ‘growth mindsets’ has become a priority for us and it is now very much part of our school ethos.

We want all our pupils to embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process, relish the challenges that we set for them and value the importance of effort and determination in order to improve in their learning and thinking. We strive to encourage children to respond to feedback on their learning and take inspiration from others.

Encouraging children to become confident and resilient learners

We know that in order to fulfill the potential of our pupils and encourage them to become confident and resilient learners we, as a team of parents and staff, need to be modelling the mindset of a learner who is not afraid of making mistakes but who thrives upon them, knowing that this is all part of the learning process. The way in which we encourage children to learn and explore is vital to their success, not only at school but at home as well.

At Ashmount, we want to challenge and develop the attitudes of all pupils and staff towards learning by considering what makes a successful learner. Children learn about how we can positively approach challenges both inside and outside the classroom. Staff at school have received training in how to promote ‘growth mindsets’ and we have all read Mindset by Carol Dweck as part of our book club.

Carol Dweck and her research identified the characteristics of learners with a fixed and a growth mindset:

The following video explains the concept in more detail: Growth and Fixed Mindset 

Aspects of growth mindset that we encourage at Ashmount:

• Making mistakes in our learning is a good thing – we can learn from them;
• Perseverance is the key if we are to succeed – don’t give up;
• Learning from each other – no matter our age;
• Using feedback to help us improve;
• Challenging ourselves and take risks;
• Remembering that our brains are always growing and developing;