Growth vs Fixed Mindset: What It Means For Your Child
Have you ever heard your child say:
“I can’t do it!”
It’s quite common, and it often comes out when children (and even us adults) are struggling with a challenge, trying something new, or lacking confidence to go outside of our comfort zone.
This is a fixed mindset, it’s something that we see a lot in schools, and with children that start tutoring. A fixed mindset can be detrimental to learning well beyond their primary education.
So what’s the answer? Helping a child adopt a growth mindset.
Simply put, a growth mindset is believing that you can learn new things, and that your intelligence and abilities can be developed over time.
A fixed mindset is quite the opposite. It is believing that you cannot learn new things. A fixed mindset means that you believe intelligence is fixed, so if you’re not good at something, you might believe you’ll never be good at it.
So, let’s look at the characteristics of growth vs. fixed mindsets and how it affects a child’s learning.
Growth Mindset Traits
Focus on effort and persistence
Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth
Believe in the power of learning and development
View failure as a chance to learn and improve
Fixed Mindset Traits
Believe abilities and intelligence are fixed traits
Avoid challenges and risks for fear of failure
View effort as fruitless and unnecessary
Interpret failure as a sign of lack of ability
Real-life Examples of Growth and Fixed Mindset
We’ve put together some scenarios that highlight the difference between growth mindset and fixed mindset.
When a particular learning area is challenging
Example: Maths, particularly recalling multiplication facts, is difficult for Jack.
Fixed mindset: “Times tables are difficult. I mustn’t be very good at maths.”
Growth mindset: “Times tables are challenging, but each time I practise them, it gets easier. If I keep practising, I’ll continue to improve.”
When your child receives constructive criticism
Example: Bella is struggling to kick a soccer ball with accuracy. Her coach has given her a few tips about how she could improve her accuracy.
Fixed mindset: “It feels like the coach is criticising my ability to play soccer. I must be terrible at this sport.”
Growth mindset: “I’m glad the coach gave me advice. After more practice, his advice improved my skills.”
When your child makes a mistake
Example: Sarah is learning about nouns and verbs. She completed a word sorting activity and made multiple mistakes, where she put the words in the wrong category.
Fixed mindset: “It’s so embarrassing when I make mistakes. I’m going to do whatever I can to hide my mistakes.”
Growth mindset: “Mistakes happen all the time and I can learn from my mistakes.”
So much of the magic that happens when a child begins working with us is about their confidence!
With Attain Education, our tutors are all experienced primary school teachers, and passionate about nurturing children to build their self-confidence, which ultimately sets them up for success with learning.
Why not book a call from one of our team to find out more about how our specialist primary tutors can support your child on their learning journey.