'Growth Mindset'

[MerryMarigold]

Introduced by newish HT.

AIBU to eye roll? [Sounds like a lot of David Bannerish type stuff]

Or is it genuinely good?

“Growth mindset” as a current system popular in schools is not the same as encouraging your pupils to grow and fulfill their potential. You’re looking for a fight I fear!

Growth mindsets and BLP (building learning power) both have nice ideas at their basis. Ideas that good teachers try and incorporate at every opportunity to encourage students to basically try their best and not give up. My issue with it is when it's taken as a 'miracle cure' to fix issues of so-called underachievement. Lessons have to be rewritten to incorporate BLP or GM buzzwords or students have to get certain types of feedback etc.
It often seems to be the case that some middle manager takes up the cause, rejigs everything, gives staff a load of (extra) work to do and then since they've single-handedly improved teaching and learning in the school (!) they are promoted. After this, GM, BLP or whatever dies a death and is never referred to again......

I’m not sure the TES ‘slates’ it, but questions it’s application, and cites studies into the way it is used:

“A trial run by the 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.”

My kids play Growth Mkndset Bingo in assemblies etc, and are sick of it. It clearly doesn’t work if used at the Motivational Poster Level. But embedded I can see it can make subtle differences. I think without knowing or using the glossary of GM parents who instinctively deploy approaches that encourage ‘grit’ sometimes do their kids more of a favour than those who constantly praise and try and build self esteem that way.

Montessori method shares some GM ground.

I wish I had been able to naturally adopt and embed GM techniques when my kids were younger.

OP The Hulk is called Bruce Banner.

"Growth mindset" makes me glad I'm not in teaching anymore.

honeysuckle, I worked that out by my second post thanks to countrybump who referred to David Brent! Well, they have all done a workshop on it at the beginning of term. I think if it helps more negative teachers be more positive with kids, then it's a good thing. Not everyone is a positive, encouraging teacher naturally. And quite a lot of teachers praise achievement rather than effort, so if we manage to crush that, it'll be a good thing too.

Its not about a child believing they can do anything they want.. it's about teaching a child that making mistakes is an important part of learning and not to fear failure but recognise this is how you grow and develop both educationally and in yourself.
Anything that encourages a child to have an open mind, not be scared to try new things, recognise that you learn through mistakes and to be successful you have to be resilient has, to my mind, be a good thing. A fixed and closed mind set holds anyone back.. how many children do we all know who have the potential to be good at (I use these examples as they are to my mind the biggest examples of a fixed mindset) maths or languages who have a fixed mindset and self fulfilling belief that they are naturally no good at these subjects and they will never be able to do them? Keep an open mind and you will start to see how many fixed mindset conversations surround us and our children in the education world.. I'll bet be there are plenty of 'my child is naturally good at maths but is weak in English.. well, you are one or the other.. '.