Literature Review: Empowering Teachers in Growth Mindset

The following is a literature review of Fiona Seaton's study on empowering teachers to implement a growth mindset.  The study was published in 2017 in Educational Psychology in Practice. 

Seaton's work revolves around the idea that implementing a growth mindset in schools must first start with the teacher.  She supports that in order for students to succeed with a growth mindset, the teachers must first experience through the experience of a student (Seaton, 2017 p. 43).   She also argues that because appropriate feedback is so important for students to be able to change their mindset, teachers should first be adequately trained to give constructive feedback.   In her study, Seaton provides training sessions to teachers to provide them with a genuine experience in changing mindsets, and appropriate tools to instill practices within the classroom (Seaton, 2017, p.42).

The trainings were offered to schools that showed an interest in growth mindset.  One high school and five elementary schools decided to participate. Data was collected using Carol Dweck's Theories of Intelligent Scale Self form for Adults, which was given to all participants before and after the study.  In  between data collections, participants participated in six training sessions to provide background information pertaining to growth mindset and useful practice strategies (Seat, 2017, p. 44). In addition to the training sessions, participants kept a daily record of three positive thoughts each day about their teaching practices called, "blessings."  This activity was designed to provide a psychological positive feedback loop to address the cognitive dissonance experiences brought on by a shift in one's mindset (Seaton, 2017, p. 44).  A follow up questionnaire was given to participants 3 months after the sessions ended to gain feedback on the usefulness and effectiveness of the training (Seaton, 2017, p. 46).

The findings indicated that the teachers showed a significant increase in their own growth mindset over the instructional period according to Dweck's scale (Seaton, 2017, p. 47).  This quantitative data supports that the instructional sessions worked to shift a teacher's individual mindset.  The qualititative data collected involved random samples of the participant's daily journal, and the follow-up debriefing session to gather feedback about the training.  The teachers reported that the trainings were very useful in their practice (average of 9.25 out of 10), and all participants felt very confident or fairly confident about sharing the concept of growth mindset .  The teachers also indicated that the four most useful areas of the training were a change in feedback language, a change in themselves, implementing the practice, and the impact on students (Seaton, 2017, p. 49).

 Seaton uses this research study to emphasize the importance of training teachers in order for growth mindset to work and make a cultural impact throughout a school.  She argues that the follow up questions given to the participants indicate that a growth mindset and level of actively practicing growth mindset in the classroom were sustained for the three months that followed the instructional period, and therefore training in growth mindset can make a lasting change within a school (Seaton, 2017, p. 54).  She implores schools to take an active role in training teachers when new pedagogical practices are introduced to combat the cognitive dissonance that discourages teachers from sticking with a new implementation.

Implications to my study:

I really liked the practical approach that Seaton takes with her study, and how she supports her methodology with educational psychology research.  As a fairly new teacher of six years, I have seen the look on veteran teachers' faces when a new educational buzzword is promoted in a professional development meeting.   As Seaton points out, this is a part of cognitive dissonance, in which a new idea is trying to replace an old one.  There is always going to be struggle when new practices are introduced, so getting teacher buy-in can be a challenge.  I like how Seaton invited schools to participate and kept it optional, then re-addressed this issue by having participants rate their confidence level of sharing it with other professionals.  Sharing what we do with other professionals is kind of the big idea anyways right?  That is my plan with my research as well. 

I also really like how Seaton invited so much qualititative data in her data collection.  The evidence provided by the participants in their journal entries provided a wide range of experiences of the participants.  Although I am not implementing this strategy exactly, I am inviting my students to share experiences daily that reflect on their strategies, finding their mistakes, and what they have shown growth in.  For every share, the class receives "a point."  This points add up to meet a class goal in order to earn a fun activity, such as going outside to play a game.  I think the process of sharing positive learning experiences also provides a positive feedback loop when instilling a new mindset for academics. 

The limitations of this study in regards to my study is that it is not about student achievement directly, whereas my study involves collecting data from students.  Although it doesn't measure student data directly, Seaton makes a valid argument that changing mindsets within the classroom need to start with the teacher.  I think this article is a great reference for me to use when preparing my presentation of research.

References:

Fiona S. Seaton (2017) Empowering teachers to implement a growth mindset, Educational Psychology in Practice,34:1, 41-57, DOI: 10.1080/02667363.2017.1382333