PowerPoint Presentation

Mindsets: The Good, The Bad and The Unknown

Mark Healy & Marc Smith

Seminal Texts?

What do we mean when we talk about mindsets and Self Theories?

Go.To.Source. or we fight the war of the ghosts (AifL)The Meaning SystemApproach and Self TheoriesStudents with high ability are more likely to display mastery oriented qualities?

Success in school directly fosters mastery oriented qualities3.Praise, particularly praising a students intelligence, encourages mastery oriented qualities?

4.Students confidence in their intelligence is the key to mastery oriented qualities?Theory of Fixed Intelligence- Entity Theory

Theory of Malleable intelligence- Incremental Theory

Impact on how both frame self esteem and self efficacy

When Failure undermines = The Helpless

When Failure motivates = The Mastery Oriented

The Two Patterns16/06/201516

The Good 3 Headlines1. Allow us to Walk the Words of our values16/06/201516

What's the biggest factor in explaining inappropriate behaviour?

The Good 3 Headlines2. Failure is not an indictment of ourselves- a locus of self control / self regulation

16/06/201516

What's the biggest factor in explaining inappropriate behaviour?

The Good 3 Headlines3. Longitudinal research that OVERLAPS and TALKS WITH with other psychological constructs- measurable???

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What's the biggest factor in explaining inappropriate behaviour?

The Growth Mindset

A good theory easy to implement badly

Complex ideas, often over-simplified

A middle-class theory?

Links to other psychological concepts cannot be taken in isolation (no silver bullet) Assembly only intervention?Youve done the assembly - What now?

Many different considerations. (e.g. Strong links to Self-regulation: Goal Setting, Goal Operating and Goal Monitoring - Burnette et al., 2013)

Pupils cannot just go away and develop a Growth Mindset because theyve learned about it in an assembly

Does the system conspire against the Growth Mindset?

Setting and StreamingTarget SettingParental ExpectationsLabelling & Teacher Expectancy Effects The Halo Effect; Self-fulfilling Prophecy; Pygmalion in the Classroom (Rosenthan & Jacobson, 1968)Creating confusion in young minds?Cognitive Dissonance: The discomfort and distress experiences by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas or values at the same time, or is confronted with new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas or values.

Assembly on Growth Mindsets then send them back to bottom set maths with their target grade!

Is Growth Mindset compatible with Setting/Target Grades/Differentiation?Whole school cognitive dissonance? Personality Traits?Personality Traits Generally stable over time (e.g. Introvert-Extrovert)

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation - Self-Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci)Some students are naturally intrinsically motivated (More likely to embrace the Growth Mindset)

Flow

How do you see yourself?Academic Self Concept How we view ourselves as learners:ASC tends to be state rather than trait specific

Im good at English but I just dont get maths

Translates to: I have a Growth Mindset for some subjects but a Fixed Mindset for othersPoverty can have a negative impact on self concept (Herberle and Carter, 2015)Emotional Learners?Emotional Regulation; Positive/Negative Affect

Anxiety negatively impacts on Working Memory function (Ng and Lee, 2015)

Positive emotions positively correlate with academic achievement (e.g. Pekrun, 2009) Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions

Broaden and Build theory (Fredrickson)

Can we build Positive Psychological Capital?Resilient Learners?Academic Buoyancy (Martin & Marsh) Day-to-day resilienceReconceptualising the idea of failure Failure = Growth

Test anxious pupils display lower levels of academic buoyancy

Worry predicts lower mean GCSE scores; Academic Buoyancy predicts higher mean GCSE scores (Putwain et al., 2015)

Where does Mindset fit in?The Role of Executive FunctionsThe regulation and control of cognitive processesWorking MemoryInhibitory Control (attention, emotions, behaviour, thoughts, Marshmallows!) Self-regulationProblem Solving

How does the Growth Mindset encourage executive function?

Do we need to consider a number of interventions rather then simply focussing on Mindsets?

HeritabilityResearch suggests that intelligence (IQ) is around 60% genetic (e.g. Asbury and Plomin)

What about the other 40(ish)%

Individuals from poorer backgrounds tend to score lower on IQ tests (see Mani et al., 2013 Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function)

Children from poorer backgrounds are usually placed in lower sets at school (labelling or IQ?)

Are we guilty of labelling?Attributing labels to children based on some arbitrary categorySocio Economic StatusGender (girls tend to be more positively labelled)AppearancePast experienceGrowth Mindset based on the principle of change and individual growthSo is it easier for middle-class kids to buy into the GM attitude? Identifying the Fixed MindsetAcademic Self Handicapping (pre-emptive explanations of future failure)

Measuring the Growth MindsetDo we need to bother?

Given the right implementation, the intervention works so why measure?

Because knowing if our intervention works allows for improvement

Any intervention is only as good as its implementation

Measuring the Growth MindsetOutcome Measures Exam results or change in Mindset?Who measures Self Report Scales (Bias?), Teacher Observations (Bias?), Triangulation, Inter-rater reliability?How do you know if you are a Growth Mindset school?Competing interventions Mindset, Resilience, Character Which one has worked? The Unknowns & The QuestionsInclude sense of purpose & goals - 'future self- what interventions sit behind this? Pastoral? Curricula? Teachable?

So, what does a growth mindset school even mean?Assemblies to setting in Maths with target / predicted grades in all subjects?

How does growth mindset talk to GRIT & resilience? Can we even pretend we know?

The Unknowns & The QuestionsEqual Applicability to high stake testing of secondary schools?

Cross situationally consistent - across subject areas? Psychologically stability in a time of change? Physiological / brain maturation? Emotional?

Not derailed by intellectual or social difficulties? How is that even possible?