If learners are hearing the same growth mindset messages at home as they are hearing at school, then there is a higher likelihood they will internalise those messages.
Engaging parents with growth mindsets is therefore a two-step process.
First comes communication.
Second is providing tools and techniques.
Many parents will never have heard of growth mindsets, Carol Dweck, or the body of work she has produced.
The first step is to change this.
Communicating to parents about growth mindsets means giving them an insight into the research you are using to inform teaching and learning in your school.
It also means opening up teaching and learning, along with any other aspects of school life, to show parents what the theory means in practice.
Approaching parental engagement in this way means setting yourself three clear goals to achieve before moving onto tools and techniques:
- Ensuring every parent knows what growth mindsets are.
- Telling parents why growth mindsets is important, what benefits it can bring to their children, and why this is better than the status quo.
- Showing parents what change looks like in the classroom, in the wider school, and in their children’s thinking.
Each step builds on the one before.
Once parents know what growth mindsets are, they are ready to be convinced of the benefits.
Once they are convinced of (or, at least, have heard) the benefits, they are ready to know more about what the school is doing.
At this point, there is a natural segue into sharing tools and techniques.
Hopefully, parents will be convinced of the benefits and supportive of the changes you are making.
They will then probably ask: but what can I do?
And this is where you present them with the tools and techniques they can use at home to support their children.
The process of engaging parents is thus partly about getting them to a point where they are ready to receive ideas they can put into practice.
If the groundwork isn’t done first, sharing the tools and techniques will have less impact.
We need to sell the efficacy of promoting growth mindsets before showing parents how to go about doing it.
Information Evenings
Information evenings are a simple way through which to tell parents about growth mindsets.
You can run a single event, a series of linked events, or a series of repeat sessions.
Whichever option you choose, the aim is the same: to give parents an insight into growth mindsets, and to help them think about this in the context of their own children.
A key obstacle is ensuring parental attendance.
Here are five strategies you can use to boost numbers and to reach as many parents as possible:
Scheduling
Think carefully about the scheduling of any event.
Ask yourself what will make life easiest for parents in your area.
For example, could you provide a crèche service or a kids’ film room for the duration of the event?
Another possibility is to present parents with a choice of three options for when an information evening could be scheduled, and to then go with the date that receives the most support.
Broadcast the information evening
If you film the information evening you can publish it online – either through YouTube or via your school website.
Doing this means you can reach parents who do not attend.
It also gives you the option of reminding parents, in person or via email, to review the film – keeping growth mindsets at the top of their agenda.
Create supplementary materials
For example, a booklet.
You can give this to parents who attend the evening, but you can also email a PDF version to all parents who don’t attend.
This is another way of reaching those parents and of giving them a way to access the content.
Use social media
The various social media platforms provide a great way through which to engage parents and to build interest in an event.
An added benefit is that you can share some of the growth mindset content already available online – such as videos, articles and interviews.
This helps prime parents to attend your event and also demonstrates that growth mindsets is a well-supported idea with a high level of cachet.
Invite a guest speaker
Doing this can increase the number of attendees due to the novelty value or because of the reputation of the speaker.
Options include teaching and learning experts, teachers from schools in your area who are already using a growth mindsets approach, psychologists from local universities, or individuals who have used growth mindset theory to achieve something – such as a local sportsperson.
Parents’ Evening Opportunities
Parents’ evenings are another good opportunity for communicating about growth mindsets.
The traditional high turnout means it is a chance to reach a large number of parents.
More, perhaps, than might attend an information evening.
In addition, parents will be thinking about their child’s learning and will be ready to ask questions like: What can we do to help?
Here are five ways to take advantage of the opportunity.
Information Booklets
Create an information booklet to hand out to parents covering all the key information they need to know about growth mindsets.
You might also like to include an overview of what the school is doing (and why it is doing it) to promote the idea.
Headteacher’s Talk
Schedule a talk by the headteacher and invite parents to attend while they are at the parents’ evening.
In this talk, the head should explain what growth mindset theory is, why it matters to the school, and how it can help children to learn more effectively.
Work Displays
Create a display of learner work with an explicit growth mindset theme.
For example, you could have a display called: Good Mistakes and What They Teach You.
Or one called: What can we learn through trial and improvement?
This provides a talking point, giving you and your colleagues a way to engage parents with growth mindsets.
You might like to create a booklet or leaflet that parents can take away with them, to go alongside the display.
Growth Mindset Learner Film
Create a learner film in which growth mindset messages are to the fore.
You can play this for parents in a series of showings or have it playing on a loop somewhere near the entrance, for parents to watch when they first arrive.
Teacher Messages
Ask colleagues to help you get the growth mindset message across to parents by including key mindset themes in their conversations.
For example, you might ask colleagues to explain why making mistakes is a good thing and what they are doing to minimise learners’ fear of failure.
A final point to note is that you can use parents’ evenings to find out what parents already know about growth mindsets, or what their perceptions of learning are.
The easiest way to do this is through a survey or questionnaire handed out at the entrance to the event.
