The Mindset Continuum: Why Growth Mindset Stalled—and How to Move Forward

You know the pattern. Growth Mindset arrives with fanfare. Teachers learn the language. Students say “not yet.” Everyone praises effort.

Six months later, you’re observing a classroom where a teacher unconsciously sorts students into “math kids” and “not math kids” – while the Growth Mindset poster watches from the wall.

What we rarely examine is why this keeps happening.

The False Mindset Problem

When Growth Mindset arrived in schools, we presented it as a choice between two boxes. Naturally, no teacher wanted to identify as “fixed.” So everyone declared themselves “growth-oriented” and moved on.

Mindsets aren’t declarations. They’re our unconscious autopilot – the default settings that guide our actions when we’re not paying attention.

A teacher can champion Growth Mindset in staff meetings, teach lessons about it, yet still transmit fixed beliefs through countless small daily decisions.

This is the False Mindset – when the words sound right but the underlying beliefs remain unchanged. Here’s the uncomfortable truth most principals recognize but rarely voice: the majority of teachers operate with some degree of False Mindset. Not because they’re poor teachers, but because changing deeply held beliefs requires more than professional development and posters.

We saw this most clearly in how effort was often framed. “Praise effort” inadvertently became “praise the struggling students for effort.” Instead of effort being the path to mastery, it became consolation for those perceived as less capable.

The Missing Piece: Invitation Without Tools

A Growth Mindset isn’t growth. It’s just the invitation to grow.

A student might genuinely believe they can improve at mathematics. But without knowing how to practice effectively, analyse mistakes productively, or act on feedback, that belief alone won’t generate improvement. They need what I call Learnership – the expertise in learning itself.

This is why “not yet” so often became “still not yet.” We gave students the invitation without the tools to accept it. We changed their vocabulary but not their capabilities.

Without Growth Mindset, students don’t see themselves as having choices. But Growth Mindset alone isn’t enough. It must be paired with the skills to act on those newly visible choices.

Creating Culture Through Mindset Movers

Real change doesn’t come from what we say but from what students experience daily. I call these experiences Mindset Movers – the small, repeated nudges that gradually shift beliefs along the continuum.

Three powerful nudges from a set of over 30 that transform culture:

“Focus on the backstory.” When celebrating achievement, trace the journey. Show how experts became experts: through years of practice, setbacks, and refinement. Picasso’s two-minute sketch wasn’t about talent – it was the culmination of a lifetime’s work. Value lies in the becoming, not just the being.

“Assessment is about where you are, not who you are.” When giving feedback, are we describing a student’s current position on a learning journey, or defining them as a type of person? This distinction shapes everything.

Group by verbs, not adjectives. Say “students who are achieving highly” instead of “high achieving students.”

“Group by verbs, not adjectives.” Instead of “high achieving students,” say “students who are achieving highly.” Instead of “struggling readers,” say “students currently working on foundational reading skills.” This isn’t semantics – it’s accuracy that preserves possibility.

These nudges accumulate. They reprogram the autopilot. Over time, they transform competition into coopertition – where students push each other to grow rather than proving who’s naturally better.

Your Leadership Opportunity

As a school leader, your role isn’t to implement another Growth Mindset initiative. It’s to architect the conditions where mindsets shift through lived experience.

This means:

• Acknowledging that everyone, including you, sits somewhere on the continuum

• Designing systems that generate positive Mindset Movers daily

• Identifying and eliminating hidden fixed messages in your school’s structures

• Creating accountability for growth in learning capability, not just achievement

Beliefs follow experience. When students repeatedly experience their own growth and understand how they created it, their position on the continuum shifts.

No poster required.

Moving Forward

The schools that succeed don’t teach Growth Mindset as content. They create cultures where growth is the lived experience. Where struggle is normalised. Where effort is sophisticated and strategic. Where mistakes are goldmines. Where students know “I can grow” because they have grown, repeatedly, and know exactly how.

Your challenge as a leader isn’t to put up better posters. It’s to create the conditions where every student experiences their own growth – and learns how to repeat it.

That’s not a program. That’s a culture. And it’s the culture your leadership can create.

Download The Mindset Continuum ebook  for the complete framework on moving your school beyond false starts into authentic growth culture.