Beyond the Posters: How Schools, Education and Sports Organisations Can Build Environments for Growth Mindset
1 August, 2025
Author Dr Will Zoppellini
In every classroom, learning space, and sports field, there’s an invisible current flowing beneath the surface. The beliefs, routines, and unspoken rules that shape how children think, feel, and grow. We usually refer to this as the culture or the environment.
When we want to shift that environment, new ideas and interventions are often introduced. But too often, these are rolled out with high expectations, sometimes even sensationalised, only to fizzle out a few months later.
I’ve seen this happen many times with educational approaches and psychological interventions, especially with growth mindset. When the deeper structures aren’t aligned, even the best ideas remain surface-level.
Over the past decade, I’ve worked on developing growth mindset across multiple levels of education, from early years to university, as well as within sports organisations, across a range of contexts and countries. From the reading corner to the training pitch, I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and why.
Table of Contents
If growth mindset hasn’t stuck in your setting, there’s likely a reason, and it’s probably one of the areas I’m about to explore.
This post brings together the most common and critical factors that determine whether growth mindset truly takes in your organisation. Grab your coffee, clear your thoughts, and let’s examine some key areas to reflect on.
Focusing on Growth Mindset Alone Isn’t Enough
Growth mindset has been associated with many positive outcomes in education including higher achievement, greater persistence, improved retention, and increased engagement1,2. These benefits are especially significant for marginalized groups3. But there’s a reason “growth mindset” has become a buzzword. Too often, it’s reduced to a slogan, and it’s expected to transform deep-rooted issues with altering any structural support.
At its core, growth mindset is a psychological framework, not a quick fix. For it to have a lasting impact, the broader learning environment must be aligned. Mindset alone won’t create the change you are hoping for is wider conditions in a school, team, or organisation aren’t addressed.
When reflecting on mindset interventions, prominent researchers Dr David Yeager and Dr Gregory Walton noted that “growth mindset isn’t magic4″, and other contexts need to be considered to gain the benefits in education. They explained that responses from schools to the studies were often polarised, where educators either rushed to implement it as fast as possible or dismissed the results entirely.
The answer is found in the middle ground. Growth mindset is a powerful tool, but not a silver bullet4. Its impact depends entirely on the context in which it is applied. Students may be motivated by the idea that they can improve, but without support systems, feedback structures, and safe learning spaces, that motivation won’t translate into lasting growth.
One critical misunderstanding is the idea that praising effort alone is enough. But research clearly shows that belief in the malleability of intelligence must come first5. Let’s take a deeper look at what needs to be addressed in your learning environment to unlock the full benefits of growth mindset.
Context & Culture Matter
Growth mindset research has been carried out around the world in early years settings, primary & secondary schools, universities, and beyond. Yet many resources and training programs are overly generalised. What works in the U.S. might not be suitable for Senegal, Sweden, China, or Samoa. Cultural, systemic, and institutional differences deeply influence how psychological interventions are received and sustained.
A rigorous study in Scotland led by Fiona Seaton6 showed that growth mindset training had a sustained impact when it was tailored to the specific school cluster and educators involved. The takeaway is that educators need to understand the theory well, then adapt the application to suit their context and culture. A one-size-fits-all program won’t foster lasting change. What’s needed is thoughtful design, space for reflection, and ongoing dialogue.
Achievement Matters for Mindset
“Achievement is the evidence that mindset is working”.
Growth mindset begins with belief but needs to be validated by visible achievement. I have seen a focus on motivational assemblies, displays, mindset messages, or real stories of overcoming failure. But these must be aligned with interventions that address achievement in children. Otherwise, there won’t be much change to mindset or behaviour.
Think about a personal goal like weight loss. Watching an inspiring video or meeting a personal trainer may spark motivation, but it’s the small wins like seeing change, feeling progress, that keep you going. It’s the same with students. They need to see that their effort leads somewhere. Even minor achievements help reinforce belief in their own growth.
What is important to consider is the tasks and activities you set and what level of challenge they present. The feedback, scaffolding, and strategy guidance used. Helping a student plan, structure, attempt and reflect on a task, giving them process-focused feedback is where mindset becomes real7. As a child gains a sense of achievement it establishes their mindset beliefs, and it becomes a reality. Focus on achievement and motivation often follows.
Mindset Isn’t Fixed
Mindset isn’t binary. We all carry fixed and growth mindset tendencies, sometimes even within the same situation or the same day8.
A student might feel confident in art but hopeless in science. Or begin the day believing they can succeed, only to unravel by lunchtime.
You might think, “I’ll never learn this language,” and a week later find yourself making progress. That shift happens when the environment allows for reflection, safe struggle, and structured support. If you haven’t set up processes for reflection, then don’t be surprised when the motivational phrases fail.
That’s why labelling students as either “fixed” or “growth” is not only inaccurate, it’s unhelpful. Instead, we should normalise mindset as fluid and evolving. Teach students to notice their thinking, reflect on it, and shift it when needed. Displays and language should reflect this, and not make out that fixed mindset is evil.
A critical and often overlooked point is that all these changes take time. Unrealistic expectations can derail even the best-intentioned interventions. Children will not suddenly adopt a growth mindset after a few lessons. A 15-year old may have spent their whole life absorbing messages that tell them otherwise, turning that perception around may take years too.
Educators and organisations also need space to develop. For many, adopting a mindset-based approach is a significant shift in practice. It requires not only understanding the theory, but becoming confident in using new strategies, and that takes time, experimentation, and reflection. Give yourself permission to move slowly. Mindset doesn’t shift overnight, like anything worth doing in education, it takes time and patience.
Environmental Shifts That Support Growth
Here are some areas to consider if your environment is aligned with a growth mindset approach:
Give students clear, scaffolded steps for improvement. Use visuals, guides, lists, and tools. Teach learning independent strategies and self-monitoring.
Aim to develop lifelong learners, not just content absorbers. Build your curriculum with learning processes in mind and help students internalise how to learn.
From Theory to Classroom
Let’s take the theory and see how it plays out in practice with Toby.
It is midway through the school year and Toby, a boy in your class is often eager to learn and enthusiastic about classroom topics. But his assessment results consistently tell a different story, especially in math. He struggles to grasp key concepts and apply them later on.
Last week, while practising multiplication, Toby told you, “I’m the worst in the group. I want to quit.”
Today, during independent work, you see it happening again. He becomes frustrated with one of the math problems, tenses up, then slams his pencil down. Under his breath, you hear: “I hate this. I’m not smart enough.”
These are the moments we become unsure with how mindset approaches work. Here are four strategies to consider from the points I’ve explored:
1. Treat It Like a Thought, Not a Trait
Don’t label Toby as having “a fixed mindset.” That thinking often reflects our own fixed assumptions about a child’s potential. Instead, see his words as a thought, and not a permanent identity.
Create space for him to reflect and introduce ways to regulate his emotions. Growth mindset doesn’t require perfection, it requires moments of pause and redirection.
2. Acknowledge Emotions, Then Redirect to the Process
It’s important to recognise Toby’s frustration as valid, and we want to continuing praising the effort: “I can see this is really frustrating. That tells me you’re pushing yourself.”
Then redirect his focus to using different strategies: “Let’s look at where it’s breaking down and try a different approach.”
3. Normalize The Struggle
Guide Toby to understand that struggling is not a sign of low ability, but a sign he’s working on something challenging and worthwhile: “Success comes after a series of stumbles, not instead of them.”
You might remind him of another subject or skill where he used to struggle and now feels confident. Break it down: What steps helped then? What’s similar now? This helps with learning to learn skills.
4. Offer Specific Actionable Steps
Give Toby something he can try right now. A checklist. A new method. A peer to talk it through with. Some one-to-one support or modelling. No matter what motivational phrases you use, this step is how we combat doubt, through strategy.
Final thoughts
Growth mindset is a framework that requires structure, design, and adaptation. It offers benefits when implemented in environments that support its core values. But it won’t fix deeper issues on its own, and it can’t make up for what’s missing in the broader culture of a school, club, or organisation.
To be honest, if you’re searching for a quick fix in education, one intervention to turn everything around – you’re not aiming for deep learning.
Real improvement takes time, collaboration, and multiple tools. Growth mindset isn’t the whole solution, but when the environment is ready, it can be powerful.
Until next time, stay curious.
Dr Will Zoppellini
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References
- DWECK, C. S. 2008. Achievement in Math and Science. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(1), 97-109
- DWECK, C.S. 2000. Self-theories. New York, NY: Psychology Press
- DWECK, C.S., and YEAGER, D.S. 2019. Mindsets: a view from two eras. Psychol. Sci. 14, 481–496
- YEAGER, D.S., and WALTON, G. 2011. Social-Psychological Interventions in Education: They’re Not Magic. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 267-301
- DWECK, C.S. 2015. Carol Dweck revisits the “growth mindset”. Education Week, 35,20, 24.
- SEATON, S. 2018. ‘Empowering teachers to implement a growth mindset’. Educational Psychology in Practice. Vol. 34, No. 1, 41–57
- Dweck, C. S. (2002) ‘Caution – Praise Can Be Dangerous’, in Abbeduto, L. (ed.) Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Educational Psychology, pp. 117–125.Guildford, CT: McGraw-Hill.
- DWECK, C.S. 2015. Carol Dweck revisits the “growth mindset”. Education Week, 35, 20, 24.
- RISSANEN, I., LAINE, S., PUUSEPP, I., KUUSISTO, E., and TIRRI, K. 2021. Implementing and Evaluating Growth Mindset Pedagogy–A Study of Finnish Elementary School Teachers. In Frontiers in education. p. 385.