A comparative study of growth mindset in physical education and classroom teachers in Ghana

Abstract

The study compared the growth mindset scores between physical education and classroom teachers in Ghana. The response variables were teachers’ growth mindset scores regarding student learning and teaching ability. The predictor variables were areas of study, degree type, age, participant’s sex, year in program, and marital status. Participants included a purposive sample of 153 (72 male and 81 female) education students from one university in Ghana. There were 19 physical education, 35 early childhood, and 99 basic (primary) education teachers in the sample. The study utilized adapted versions of the student learning and teacher ability subscales of the Physical Education and Sport Ability Survey (Sofo et al., 2016). Results showed that physical education teachers (62.86%) had the highest strong growth mindset score in student learning, followed by primary teachers (38.38%), and early childhood teachers (36.84%). Alternatively, the strong growth mindset scores for primary teachers (21.21%) and early childhood teachers (21.05%) were higher than those of physical education (11.43%) teachers for teaching ability. Inferential analyses indicated that there were significant differences in areas of study, age, and marital status for student learning. There were no significant differences in growth mindset scores for all the predictor variables regarding teaching ability. A Pair-Wise t-Test analysis revealed that overall, the participants had a significantly higher growth mindset score in student learning than in teaching ability. The findings from this study can inform policymakers, educational administrators, teacher educators, and teachers in developing a growth mindset culture among students and teachers.