Growth Mindset

Solution One – Growth Mindset

Developing a growth mindset is a great way to build resilience in day-to-day life. Many of the challenges faced by adult and access learners involve a lack or loss of confidence in their setting. A growth mindset can encourage learners to see this new environment as a challenge rather than a problem, encouraging them to rise to this said challenge!

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset is different to a fixed one. With a fixed mindset you believe you are either good or bad at something. There is not an in between and you feel like you cannot develop skills.

This is different from a growth mindset, where you believe you can teach yourself and develop your ability. You don’t give up straight away and like a challenge.

This is crucial for adult learners to develop!

How can this help adult learners?

An adult learner with a fixed mindset will go to university and feel like they don’t fit in, the work is too hard, and they have too much on to be studying! In turn they will immediately give up and talk themselves down.

However, an adult learner with a growth mindset will appreciate that although university is difficult, seeing it as a challenge and begin to produce solutions for these problems – such as staying behind for a few hours after lectures to study, visiting office hours of lecturers, and so on.

Developing a growth mindset cannot be done overnight, however there are some steps you can take to begin developing a growth mindset today! Such as:

• Realising and accepting that the challenges you face will make you stronger.
• Accepting that mistakes and failure are part of the journey, no one is perfect!
• Finish self-criticism points with the word yet or but – “I didn’t do too well on that assignment, but I did learn how to properly reference for next time