18/05/2025
📚 Growth Mindset: Nurturing the Potential of Our Children
🧠 What is a growth mindset?
The term growth mindset was introduced by psychologist Carol Dweck to describe the belief that abilities can be developed through effort, perseverance and learning. In contrast, a fixed mindset is the belief that intelligence and talent are innate and unchangeable.
👧👦 Why is it important for children?
Promoting a growth mindset means helping children to:
• see mistakes as part of the learning process,
• face challenges with greater confidence,
• develop perseverance and autonomy in their educational journey.
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🧪 The Study by Mueller and Dweck (1998): How Praise Shapes Motivation
In a classic study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Mueller and Dweck (1998) examined how different types of praise influence children’s performance and motivation.
👉 Method:
Primary school children were asked to complete a problem-solving task. Afterwards, they were divided into three groups:
• one group received praise for intelligence (“You’re very smart!”),
• another was praised for effort (“You worked really hard!”),
• a third group received neutral feedback.
👉 Results:
Children who were praised for intelligence were more likely to avoid challenges, gave up more easily after mistakes, and were more prone to lie about their performance. In contrast, those praised for effort chose more difficult tasks, stayed motivated after failure, and had a more positive attitude towards learning.
🧩 Conclusion:
The kind of feedback we give children can significantly shape their attitude towards learning, their resilience, and their self-perception.
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🏫 Implications for Educational Settings
🔸 Praise the process, not the person: It is more effective to reinforce strategies, consistency, and progress rather than perceived innate qualities (“You organised the information well” instead of “You’re a genius!”).
🔸 Normalise mistakes as part of learning: Teachers can create a classroom environment where it is safe to make mistakes, reflect and try again.
🔸 Teach growth mindset explicitly: Through metacognitive activities and classroom discussions, pupils can become more aware of their thinking and learn to embrace a flexible approach.
🔸 Train key adults: Parents, educators, and teachers are instrumental in modelling positive attitudes towards learning. A growth mindset is transmitted through consistent behaviours and expectations.
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🌱 Nurturing a growth mindset in children means offering them a more flexible and developmental view of themselves. In a school system that often rewards outcomes over processes, it is a bold and transformative educational choice.
