The ways in which education is delivered, assessed and utilised is changing across the curriculum. A key area of change currently being implemented in the UK secondary school system concerns Key Stage 4 and above curricula,and this is impacting the way in which children learn.
This new curriculum is aimed at providing learners with the skills and knowledge to meet the ever-changing, fast growing world by giving learners greater individual flexibility and methods of study with a new emphasis on personalised skills, processes and assessments to support teaching and learning within and across the curricular dimensions. This is further aimed at building the confidence and self-esteem of students in order for them to develop the skills to positively contribute to society.
This new curriculum facilitates what is now known as the ‘growthmindset’, proposed by Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck,who carried out decades of research into achievement and success. The growth mindset is when people believe that their basic skills and abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work, rather than the ‘fixed mindset’, which is when people believe that their potential is fixed and is due to their innate or inherited abilities rather than their efforts.
Teaching the growth mindset to your children gives them the confidence and the motivation to take on new challenges and to attempt to learn new skills that, otherwise, they may have felt were areas of weakness for them. There are techniques that can be used by parents and carers that can help facilitate the growth mindset in their children, which Your magazine will discuss in future articles.

By Samantha Rockson