That is the question Angela Duckworth asked when she started studying adults in challenging settings. Her research team went to Westpoint Military Academy to predict which cadets would stay and complete their military training.     

They also went to a national spelling competition to predict which of the learners would advance the farthest and partnered with a private company to determine which of the salespeople would be the most successful. 

In all of their studies, one characteristic emerged as the most significant predictor of success. It wasn’t IQ, their background or physical strength…it was GRIT.

Duckworth defines grit as passion as perseverance for very long-term goals and sticking with your future, day in and day out. Not just for a week or month but for years – until your future becomes reality.

This characteristic is needed for our students

It is clear to see; that this characteristic is exactly what is needed for our learners to excel in school. And the best way to build grit is by… applying a growth mindset.

The idea of a growth mindset was first coined by Carol Dweck at Stanford University and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed; it can change with effort. This is also one of the cornerstones that we build our school on but I will share more about that journey in the next blog.

If a growth mindset is really that simple, the next question must be: Why doesn’t everyone have it? A growth mindset has to do with how we learn and unfortunately, there are some misconceptions about learning.

I am sure you have learned how to do something:  Riding a bicycle? Swimming? Juggling? While you were learning, you probably made a lot of mistakes on the way to mastering that skill. The reality is, when we are learning a new skill, it is crucial to make mistakes.

As a child, our mistakes are celebrated. When you learn how to walk and you fall down, everybody cheers for you and they encourage you to try again. They are proud of the fact that you tried and failed.

Unfortunately, somehow this changes as we grow older. A shift happens from celebrating the mistake to punishing mistakes, feeling ashamed of them, and then just avoiding situations where we could possibly make a mistake. One of the reasons why adults are pertinent to learn less than children is because the older you get, the less you are willing to risk.

I am sure you wonder where this fear of failure comes from. Firstly, the fear is fuelled by an external force called feedback. In a study, Carol Dweck discovered some fascinating insights about feedback. They gave hundreds of students an easy test and after the test, half of the students were praised for their ability with feedback such as: “Wow, you must be really smart.” The other half were praised for their effort, with feedback such as “Wow, you must have worked really hard to achieve this.”

After this feedback, an interesting thing started to happen.

First, they gave the students a choice for their next test. They could either take a harder version of the test or they can take another easy version. 67% of the group that was praised for their ability chose to complete the easier test, while 92% of the group that were praised for their effort, chose to complete the difficult test.

Next, they gave all the students a hard test. During this test, Dweck noticed that the group that were praised for their ability quickly became frustrated and gave up early, while the effort group enjoyed the challenge and work harder for longer. There were even differences between the two groups in ethical behaviour. Of the students who were praised for their fixed abilities, 38% inflated their test scores when they reported them, but among those who were praised for effort, only 13% inflated their scores.

Read the next blog as we discuss the impact of praising effort vs ability…

Written by 

Renate Van Der WEsthuizen