Imagine someone is baking a cake.
After a couple of hours, an end product appears.
It sits on a plate, resting on the worktop.
Smooth, white icing covers two layers of sponge.
Jam is spread between.
The cake is decorated with marzipan shapes of different colours.
It looks beautiful.
But what has caused the cake to be?
What has turned a set of ingredients into an end product?
What constitutes the history of the cake’s creation?
Process.
When we meet the cake as an end product, we find it fixed.
Finalised.
And this fact can easily give rise to the misnomer that the end product is therefore a result of some fixed or innate qualities existing within the creator of the cake.
So, we might say, the cake is as good as it is because the cake-maker is a genius.
Or because they’re brilliant.
This could be seen to imply that the cake-maker has innate talent that causes them to create enviable cakes.
It may also imply that this talent is something the cake-maker is lucky to possess, not something they have striven to develop.
In addition, it sets up a deficit position: those who do not have the innate skill of the master cake-maker will never be able to produce cakes such as the one we see before us.
Imagine, though, if an expert baker entered the room and started to look at the cake.
Through what eyes would they see the product?
Through the eyes of someone who has experienced the process of cake making time and again.
Who, through this process, has come to understand the separate elements that constitute successful execution of the necessary skills.
Who appreciates the nuanced range of quality that can result from subtle tweaks or mistakes that may be made in each of those elements.
If we look at end products as being without history, we risk focussing our attention on traits and innate qualities, seemingly suggesting that these are the causes of what we see.
If, however, we acknowledge that all products are the result of prior work, then we begin to turn our attention to the effort and other processes that have led to their creation.
Effort can be targeted, changed, and developed.
Processes can be improved, learned, and reflected on.
We thus find ourselves in a position from where we can talk about growth more easily.
Instead of risking the possibility that we discuss and respond to a product as a fixed entity, we find ourselves ready to discuss such a product as the result of processes – as being achieved incrementally, through the accumulation of effort in given directions.
This leads us to three conclusions.
Conclusions that are worth considering:
- All learners can improve, change, and adapt the processes they use to think, work and create things.
- Drawing attention to processes means getting learners to think about what they have done, what has resulted, and how changes to the former can lead to changes in the latter.
- Focussing on processes promotes growth mindsets and sends a clear message that everyone can develop their talent, ability and intelligence.
Processes of Learning versus Goals of Performance
If I am obsessed with scoring a try in a rugby match, all I might think about is scoring a try.
Every time I see the ball coming towards me, I set myself with the intention of scoring.
Sometimes I will, and sometimes I won’t.
When I do, I am delighted that I have done what I wanted to do.
When I don’t, I feel I have failed, at least in comparison to the goal I set myself.
If I am focussed on the processes that give rise to try-scoring opportunities, things might be different.
Every time I see the ball coming towards me, I think about the things I need to do to give myself the best chance of scoring.
My focus is on executing the processes and observing what is in front of me.
When I score, I reflect on how my actions helped me to do this.
When I don’t score, I analyse why – and ask myself what I can learn from the attempt.
What I might do differently next time.
This idealised vignette demonstrates the difference between having a dominant focus on performance and a dominant focus on learning.
The former often creates a zero-sum game of success or failure in the mind of the thinker.
That doesn’t mean it necessarily makes the individual in question less successful.
Far from it.
However, it might mean they miss opportunities and perceive failure in a more negative way.
The latter promotes a focus on processes because these are perceived as part of the path to mastery.
Get the basics right, and the rest will follow.
Refine the basics, improve and develop them, and even more becomes possible.
When helping learners in your class to think about and reflect on the processes they use in lessons, this is what we are aiming to achieve.
Not an outright dismissal of performance goals (after all, the latter example above still has an ultimate result of wanting to score a try), but a dominant position for learning goals.
(And, in our example above, the learning focus still leads to tries, fulfilling the goal of the performance focus, anyway.)
For this reason, it is worth talking to learners about the differences between the two types of goals.
It is also worth explaining to them why you talk about processes and give feedback on them.
All the while, you will be helping them appreciate the benefits of seeing their intelligence, talent, and ability as open to change.
As intimately tied up with the processes in which they engage.
Processes they can develop.
Defining Process
One of the problems with talking about processes is that the term can be vague or ambiguous.
So, what do we mean when we use it? And how can we convey this meaning to our learners?
Put simply, a process is a procedure we go through to do or produce something.
We might use a series of processes when creating a piece of work, or we might practice using just one, depending on what is at issue.
Here are some examples of processes:
A learner is writing an essay
- Processes include: sequencing ideas, applying a paragraph structure, following success criteria, making revisions, using the conclusion to give an opinion.
A learner is practising a dance routine
- Processes include: thinking about the routine, observing what happens on each attempt, making tweaks and changes, focussing on specific sections of the routine, paying attention to transitions, seeking and using feedback.
A learner is conducting a science experiment
- Processes include: collecting and checking data, paying attention to detail, controlling variables, observing what happens, making judgements about the data collected.
A teacher is planning a lesson
- Processes include: delineating the topic, thinking about what the class already know, deciding on the structure of the lesson, picking out activities, refining the questions that need to be answered, fitting the content into the structure.
A learner is learning a new topic
- Processes include: paying attention, focussing effort, making connections with what is already known, trying different problem-solving strategies, asking for and implementing feedback, analysing information.
We need to make a few points here, before we go on.
First, the examples above are not exhaustive.
They serve only to demonstrate what we mean by processes and the range of processes that might be used in different situations.
Second, there are two wider processes contained in all the examples above: the process of learning and the process of thinking.
Third, one of the common criticisms of focussing on processes is that it denigrates knowledge and overemphasises skills.
But processes are always used in context.
So, for example, the learner who is writing the essay is writing that essay about something.
Therefore, the processes on which they call are used in the context of the knowledge and understanding they have developed.
Thus, while we might define process as the procedures we use to do things, these procedures do not exist independently of knowledge – they cannot.
They are always used in conjunction with knowledge.
So, when we give learners feedback on processes, or draw their attention to these, to foster learning goals and a growth mindset perspective, we do so with the intention that learners will implement this in the context of knowledge – that they possess already, or that they will learn through our lessons.
