Mindset In Education

We ALL- young and old- tell ourselves ‘stuff’ about who we are and what we are capable of and that impacts what we achieve and what we do. We have approximately 60,000 thoughts a day and most of them are on repeat. Mindset work aims to makes those thoughts more positive so we can live happier, healthier, more productive lives.

If we see setbacks as failures (and we see failure as ‘bad’) then we are unlikely to put ourselves in a position to fail, which means we won’t take risks. But if we see mistakes as something to learn and grow from, if we see failure as one element of the whole process (and the process as constantly evolving) then we are able to expand our lives in a multitude of ways, in the direction we desire.

For teenagers, mindset can have a massive impact on their ability to access school content. So much of the education system with attainment targets, league tables and inspections is geared towards success vs failure that the process of learning is lost. If you are constantly ‘failing’ then what’s the point? Or if you have always succeeded in the past but fail something once, how do you emotionally deal with that with resilience?

Teachers – in many respects – know this already. However, without realising, teachers may well embody this very issue as they view themselves as inherently good at some things but terrible at others. Without realising, teachers can then pass on elements of this to their students. So, we see students who have difficulty concentrating and assume they don’t want to learn, rather than trying to be creative about HOW we can help them learn. Or, we WANT to be creative about helping that student learn but feel too exhausted.

This situation isn’t helped by teachers not being encouraged to be seen making mistakes or asking for help. Many school environments stress the need for competence and constant improvement, making it hard to show vulnerability or weakness in any way. This often creates an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality between senior leaders and staff (or staff and students) which is unhelpful in fostering a positive learning environment.

Working with mindset can make a huge difference to our lives, whether we are a twelve-year-old with self-esteem issues or a headteacher dealing with budget cuts and spiralling staff morale (and everyone in-between). Accepting our thoughts control our subconscious behaviour and improving the way we think about ourselves allows us to learn, grow, be successful and live better lives.