Deputy Principal, Teaching & Learning 

Term One has been marked by a deliberate focus upon deeper learning in our classrooms. Drawing upon the professional development they have received, our teachers have embraced approaches drawn from cognitive science: spaced retrieval practice, interleaved problem sets, and the strategic use of productive struggle. Thanks to a landmark study by Robert Bjork at UCLA we know that these practices promote what is known as 'learning that sticks.'

Embracing the productive struggle is particularly important for girls.  In research published in Developmental Psychology, Carol Dweck and colleagues found that adolescent girls are particularly susceptible to 'helpless' responses to failure. Girls tend to attribute setbacks to a fixed lack of ability rather than effort, with impaired performance as a result. Moreover, in a related landmark study, Mueller and Dweck Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that children praised for intelligence showed less persistence after failure, chose easier tasks, and were significantly more likely to misrepresent their own scores to preserve their identity as 'intelligent.' 

The challenge therefore for teachers is to encourage students to value not their marks, but feedback, and to see feedback as an opportunity for growth. This is the essence of what psychologist Angela Duckworth calls grit. Duckworth's research found that grit was a more reliable predictor of success than IQ, talent, or family background. This finding has profound implications for how we teach, how we encourage girls to respond to failure, and how we talk to young women about their own potential.

This week in the Academic Advisory session, students learnt about neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to learn new things through effort and practice. One of the most empowering things a young person can learn is that the brain genuinely changes in response to challenge. Research published in Child Development found that when students were explicitly taught about neuroplasticity, they showed greater motivation and academic improvement compared to control groups. Teenagers respond strongly to this knowledge because it shifts the locus of control back to them.

Alongside grit, Dweck's core findings that students who believe their intelligence is fixed, a 'fixed mindset', tend to avoid challenge and give up when things get hard. Students with a 'growth mindset' who believe intelligence can be developed through effort and strategy embrace mistakes, seeing it as an opportunity for growth. 

Parents can empower their children to develop a growth mindset by:

• Praising effort and strategy, not outcome: 'I can see how hard you worked on that' rather than 'You're so clever.'

   

• Normalising struggle: Share your own experiences of finding things difficult and what you did about it.

   

• Reframing failure as information. Ask: 'What did you find out from that? What would you try differently?' Rather than, 'What went wrong?'

   

• Embracing the concept of growth. When your daughter says, 'I can't do this,' try redirecting: 'You can't do this yet. What would help you get there?'

   

• Noticing and naming progress, not just achievement: 'You couldn't do that two weeks ago — look where you are now.'

   

• Allowing natural consequences: Resisting the impulse to rescue builds the very competence our daughters need.

   

Of course, here at St Catherine’s, we are preparing our girls life beyond the gates. A growth mindset can sustain them through the inevitable challenges and setbacks and give them the confidence to know that they can manage, and grow through, future adversities so that they can embrace their rich and rewarding lives.

Ms Lisa Hanlon

Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning