Conference Agenda

Shaping Minds, Empowering Educators: Unveiling the Power of Teacher Mindsets from University to Service

Drawing on diverse educational landscapes, this symposium aims to contribute to research on teacher mindsets. As we dive into these research narratives, we'll navigate the territories where teacher beliefs, subject specificity, and mindset evolution converge across different countries.

Theoretical Background

Developed by Dweck (1999; 2006), mindset theory centers upon the motivational mechanisms associated with our beliefs about intelligence. When faced with challenges, this theory suggests that our mindset influences our drive to learn and persevere. Rooted in early attribution theory, it revolves around the notion that our implicit theories shape how we interpret events, like attributing the causes of failure (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Dweck's theory distinguishes between growth and fixed mindsets, where growth mindsets foster incremental beliefs, such as intelligence being a journey, not a destination. Fixed mindsets, in contrast, are static beliefs about abilities. Research findings of mindset research have been transferred into many different areas, however an early focus of mindset research were educators’ mindsets and their possible advantages for students’ motivation and achievement, as well as their own mindset (Mueller & Dweck, 1998; Dweck, 2014; Yeager et al., 2022).

Methodology and Research Aim

While some progress has been made in attempting to understand the development of mindsets (Blackwell et al., 2007), the mindsets of educators at different stages of their careers remain critically underexplored. Additionally, while most mindset research focuses primarily on mindset alteration through interventions, little is also known about how mindsets can change in the absence of these interventions. Understanding how mindsets develop outside of specific interventions as well as exploring their connections with other important educational constructs, such as intercultural competences is also crucial. As classrooms have become more heterogeneous, this creates new challenges for teachers, and currently the links between the development of mindsets and intercultural competences in teacher education remain underexplored.

This symposium will bridge the gaps in current mindset research by bringing together studies on both in-service and pre-service teachers. In the first contribution, development of mindsets in several subjects throughout university teacher education will be the main focus. In the second contribution, early childhood-in-service teachers’ perceptions of mindset theory is examined, laying a special focus in identifying support mechanisms that can help them fostering growth mindsets in their students. Lastly, preservice teachers’ mindsets and their connection with intercultural competences is emphasized; and enriched by qualitative exploration. By combining research on both pre-service and in-service teachers, we aim to close the current research gap in mindset research on development of mindsets during teacher education as well as their association with an important asset to face the challenges in modern classrooms, namely intercultural competence. Additionally, we include relevant research work on early childhood educators’ mindsets to address practical implications regarding the possibility to foster mindsets in the classroom.

Conclusions

This collection of research works provides valuable and unique insights into the dynamic nature of mindset development throughout various stages in teachers’ careers across different countries. The integration of three research works from different contexts, featuring both quantitative and qualitative strategies, enriches the understanding of teacher mindset evolution in Europe and beyond, highlighting its relevance from primary in-service teaching to tertiary teacher education. By doing so, we will be contributing to the dynamic research field of mindset research, placing a special focus on teacher mindsets.

Teachers significantly influence student learning and motivation, with their beliefs playing a key role in shaping instructional behavior (Dweck et al., 2006; Hattie, 2023). Growth mindsets, emphasizing the malleability of abilities through effort, have been linked to better educational outcomes (Burnette et al., 2023). Field-specific ability beliefs (FABs) focus on the context-specificity of mindsets, assessing beliefs about the necessity of innate ability for success in a subject (Leslie et al., 2015). Most longitudinal mindset studies focus on the development of Growth Mindset in the context of an intervention (Yeager et al., 2022); there is a scarcity on research regarding the question how mindsets, especially field-specific mindsets, change in the absence of interventions; even more so related to teacher mindsets. This study investigates the longitudinal development of FABs as well as Growth Mindset in 1,015 preservice teachers across 21 subjects over four years. Structural equation modeling and latent growth models were employed to analyze changes in both field-specific mindsets and general mindsets of intelligence. Pre-service teachers rated both their belief in the necessity of talent in their subject and their belief in the necessity of intelligence for academic success in general. Covariates were gender and prior achievement. Overall, FABs decreased over four years, indicating a shift toward reduced emphasis on innate ability for success. STEM subjects (Science, Technology and Mathematics), in general, started with higher FABs and showed steeper declines compared to non-STEM subjects. Pre-service teachers in mathematics showed the strongest FABs at T1, but also the strongest decline. Physical education was the only subject where FABs increased over time. Gender influenced initial FABs, with men exhibiting stronger beliefs in innate ability at the start of teacher education. Growth mindset, on the other hand, showed a different trajectory throughout teacher training, with a decreasing curve at the first two years of university. After the third year we found a weak increase in growth mindset in most subjects, however, Physical Education showed once again a more complex pattern. The findings highlight the dynamic nature of mindsets during teacher education. Results suggest that teacher university training may contribute to a shift towards a growth-perspective in specific subjects, but not in the mindset of intelligence. Subject-specific variations emphasize the need for tailored interventions and teacher training strategies. Overall, the study contributes valuable insights into the complex interplay between teacher beliefs, subject specificity, and mindset development during the crucial phase of teacher education.

Burnette, J. L., Billingsley, J., Banks, G. C., Knouse, L. E., Hoyt, C. L., Pollack, J. M., & Simon, S. (2023). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Growth Mindset Interventions: For Whom, How, and Why Might Such Interventions Work? Psychological Bulletin, 149 (3-4), 174-205. Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House. Hattie, John A. C. (2023): Visible Learning: The Sequel. A Synthesis of Over 2,100 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. New York: Routledge Kunter, M., Klusmann, U., Baumert, J., Richter, D., Voss, T., & Hachfeld, A. (2013). Professional competence of teachers: Effects on instructional quality and student development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 805-820 Leslie, S.-J.; Cimpian, A.; Meyer, M.; Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262–265.

A growth mindset positively impacts academic achievement, motivation, and student’s agency for learning (Dweck, 2016). There is increasing evidence that students’ recognition of their capacity to learn using a growth mindset assists them to achieve greater success in learning in the primary and adolescent years (Claro et al., 2016; Good et al., 2003; Paunesku et al., 2015; Yeager et al., 2019). However, very few studies have researched how to support the development of student’s growth mindset in the early years. A limited understanding of the teaching of mindset theory as a metacognitive strategy in early childhood classrooms warrants further exploration. Developing student’s growth mindset in the early years may assist students to build effective learning strategies for future academic success. This study investigated the current perceptions that early childhood teachers have of mindset theory and devised principles to support them to incorporate the teaching of mindset theory and foster a growth mindset in students. The theoretical framework for this study draws upon Deweyan pragmatism whereby knowledge is gained through interventions as connections between actions and consequences are made (Tashakkori, 2010). Design Based Research (DBR) was used in this study as a methodology for exploring an educational problem to understand how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. Entrenched in practice, DBR considers the influence of place to produce theoretical and practical insights to extend knowledge and sustain innovative learning environments. Using a pragmatist paradigm this mixed methods study followed four stages of DBR (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992) over 10 weeks to develop design principles in early childhood classrooms in one school in Western Australia. Two iterations were designed and examined with teachers of children aged 3.5–6.5 years. The participants recorded weekly video diaries to reflect on the principles. Three focus groups were conducted, at the beginning, middle, and end of the two iterations, allowing the researcher and teachers to collaboratively develop, refine, and reflect on the principles. Throughout the DBR process, design principles were developed by drawing on theory and the real world to address the research problem. This study’s contribution lies in the theoretical and practical grounding of the nine design principles which teachers found highly effective in assisting them to foster students’ growth mindsets for positive learning outcomes in early childhood contexts.

Boylan, F., Barblett, L., & Knaus, M. (2018). Early childhood teachers’ perspectives of growth mindset: Developing agency in children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 43(3), 16–24. https://doi.org/10.23965/AJEC.43.3.02 Brown, A. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141–178. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls0202_2 Collins, A. (1992). Toward a design science of education. In E. Scanlon & T. O’Shea (Eds.), New directions in educational technology (pp. 15–22). Springer-Verlag. Claro, S., Paunesku, D., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(31), 8664–8668. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1608207113 Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success (updated edition). New York, USA: Random House. Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents’ standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2003.09.002 Tashakkori, A. (2010). SAGE handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. Yeager, D.S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G.M. et al. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature 573, 364–369. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y

Recent findings reveal a significant achievement gap between native Finnish students and first- and second-generation immigrant students in Finnish education systems (Jahnukainen et al., 2019). This underscores an urgency for targeted research focusing on Finnish teachers’ intercultural competences. Intercultural competences refer to the attitudes, knowledge and skills that enable teachers to effectively interact within intercultural contexts (Perry & Southwell, 2011). Research in psychology on implicit beliefs has shed new light to the study of teachers' intercultural competences. Individuals with orientation towards incremental theory (i.e. growth mindset) believe that qualities and traits can be altered, while individuals oriented towards entity theory (i.e. fixed mindset) believe they remain stagnant (Dweck, 2010). As these orientations have been found to impact stereotyping, prejudice, and intergroup relations (Carr et al., 2012; Rattan & Georgeac, 2017), they are increasingly being found to be useful for examining intercultural competences as well. Research focused on in-service teachers in Finland shows how orientations towards these different theories strongly influence teaching practices and interactions with students as well as are associated with their intercultural competences (Rissanen & Kuusisto, 2023; Rissanen et al., 2023). However, currently the link between mindsets and development of intercultural competences remains unexplored within the territory of teacher education. This study addresses this gap by utilizing mixed-methods research to explore Finnish student teachers’ malleability beliefs and intercultural competences. Survey data from student teachers (n=232) as well as semi-structured interviews (n=13) utilizing vignettes, was gathered to gain a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between implicit beliefs of malleability and intercultural competences. Findings based on statistical analysis of survey data found that student teachers were more oriented towards incremental theory mindsets which also correlated significantly with social justice beliefs. Enthusiasm for teaching culturally diverse groups was moderate, but those with more experience with diversity were more enthusiastic for teaching culturally diverse groups. Preliminary findings from qualitative analysis of interview data seem to indicate that student teachers are in fact more oriented toward growth mindset, and that these orientations may make them more inclined to favor teaching practices that align with culturally responsive pedagogical practices. Implications of findings will be discussed for intercultural competence research as well as teaching and teacher education.

Carr, P. B., Rattan, A., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Implicit theories shape intergroup relations. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 45, pp. 127–165). Elsevier Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394286-9.00003-2 Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1), 16–20. Jahnukainen, M., Kalalahti, M., & Kivirauma, J. (2019). Oma paikka haussa: Maahanmuuttotaustaiset nuoret ja koulutus [Searching for a place of one’s own: Young people with an immigrant background and education]. Gaudeamus. Perry, L. B., & Southwell, L. (2011). Developing intercultural understanding and skills: Models and approaches. Intercultural Education (London, England), 22(6), 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2011.644948 Rattan, A., & Georgeac, O. A. (2017). Understanding intergroup relations through the lens of implicit theories (mindsets) of malleability. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(4), e12305-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12305 Rissanen, I., & Kuusisto, E. (2023). The role of growth mindset in shaping teachers’ intercultural competencies: A study among Finnish teachers. British Educational Research Journal, doi: 10.1002/berj.3875. Rissanen, I., Kuusisto, E., & McMullen, J. (2023). Identifying core beliefs of an intercultural educator: How polyculturalism and group malleability beliefs shape teachers’ pedagogical thinking and practice. Social Psychology of Education, 26(5), 1201–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09785-z