Mindset: Does it Matter?: An Investigation into the Relationships between Mindset, Achievement, Grit and Engagement of Primary School Children with Consideration of any Differences According to Socioeconomic Status

This thesis considers the significance of mindset to the education of students in primary schools throughout Ireland. Specifically, it investigated whether a relationship existed between the mindset, school achievement, grit and school engagement of 9 and 10 year old in a nationally representative sample while also examining whether any relationship between growth mindset and achievement was mediated by school engagement. Furthermore, the research considered whether the results were moderated by the schools’ socioeconomic status. The associations between a growth mindset and grit were considered in the systematic literature review. Some short term effects of a growth mindset on grit were found and there were no significant differences according to school socioeconomic status. The Implicit theory of Intelligence formed the theoretical framework for the work, supported by the concepts of grit and school engagement. Research findings indicated that a growth mindset was associated with higher scores in literacy, numeracy and school engagement while the relationship between growth mindset and literacy was mediated by literacy. The research provides evidence with implications for the work of educational psychologists and the practice of educational practitioners and beyond. Suggestions for future direction are illustrated also.