To succeed in education, and in life, young people have to be prepared for bugs. Adults who are over-protective and micromanage children: parents through praising them (how clever and brilliant they are) and teachers through spoon-feeding for exam preparation and/or feedback focused on ability, actually turn children off learning and discourage them from trying to solve problems for themselves.
“’I
can’t’ isn’t a reason to give up, it’s a reason to try harder.” (Voltaire)
If children are not used to learning from their own
mistakes, they become defensive about trying when faced with difficulties and
tend to blame outside factors, for example teachers, material, lack of
resources or not enough time for their own failings. Moreover, when students are not allowed to
deal with setbacks as natural part of learning, they shy from taking on
challenges, become bored, give up at the first hurdle because they are afraid that
their deficiencies may be exposed, and instead of putting more effort into
trying or ‘having a go’, they put effort into hiding their mistakes, switch off
learning and may misbehave as a way of diverting attention from getting low
grades or appearing stupid.
Influenced by praise, (“Well, done! What a clever
boy/girl you are.”), children may take their natural ability for granted and
believe that it is enough to be clever to achieve. Therefore when they encounter difficulties,
often when the material gets harder, they lose confidence and stop enjoying
learning or problem solving. This kind
of attitude, where children stop trying when faced with difficulties, lowers
their achievement and stops them from developing their learning autonomy, which
is an essential skill for learners in the digital age as young people have to
be prepared for multiple career changes – learning after school!
Grading of pupils’ work can have a similar, negative
influence on their future learning and achievement, where top grades can signal
a ceiling on learning and reinforce belief in natural ability without too much
effort (until the goalpost move), and students attaining lower grades can be
satisfied from a particular grade without making more effort to achieve higher
– the “C-grade for life syndrome” and satisfaction from mediocrity without much
questioning or desire for improvement.
Therefore specific feedback for improvement, formative-type feedback, is
absolutely crucial to achievement, learning and future progress. It is imperative that educational leaders are
committed to in-depth understanding of what assessment for learning involves
and that schools have effective assessment processes, including feedback, based
on reporting where students are in their learning, where they need to get to
(closing the gaps) and how to get there, and that teachers use assessment
information when planning future learning.
Among many school aims, one of the most important ones is
preparation for future life – life after school. In the 21st century, more than
previously, because of rapid technological advancement and fast moving job
market, students need to be prepared for ‘learning for life’. To be successful, they must embrace learning
and understand the important role of effort in achievement. They must be taught resilience and how to
deal with setbacks. Since adult praise –
‘my child is special-type’ (Dweck, C.) is a major factor in influencing ego and
undermining achievement, young people need to be taught that learning and
effort are more important than being clever so they believe in their unlimited
potential through effort and getting better.
It is important to future progress that schools get their assessment
procedures right and provide their students with effective feedback for learning
that is task-related, not person-related.
Any feedback which is person-focused, e.g. “That’s a really high
score. You must be good at this topic”,
is counter-productive to future learning and can lead to underachievement. For long-term success, students should be
rewarded for effort and persistence so they understand that everyone can learn
and achieve. This is critical to
developing learning sustainability, which is fundamental to future success and
employability.
On the danger of praise and positive labels, Dweck writes:
...almost
40 percent of the ability-praised students lied about their scores. And always
in one direction. In the fixed mindset,
imperfections are shameful – especially if you’re talented – so they lied them
away.
So
telling children they’re smart, in the end, made them feel dumber and act
dumber, but claim they were smarter. I
don’t think that this is what we’re aiming for when we put positive labels – “gifted”,
“talented”, “brilliant” on people. We
don’t mean to rob them of their zest for challenge and their recipes for
success. But that’s the danger.
When
you’re given a positive label, you’re afraid of losing it, and when you’re hit
with a negative label, you’re afraid of deserving it.
Recently, in the British press, in response to summer
public examination results and educational reforms afoot, much has been written
about “helicopter parents” (hovering above every child’s move). Despite their best intentions, their actions
can have a negative effect on their children’s achievements and it is important
for schools to communicate this message to parents. In my experience, many parents are not aware
of the danger of praise and that caring about learning is more important than
caring about grades. Openness of communication
is important. And so is trust.
Students need to understand the value of learning from
own mistakes and that everyone can improve through effort, and we need to be
consistent in conveying this message across.
Dr
Joanna Goodman, Director of Cromwell Consulting Ltd
