CHARACTER EDUCATION
following four key beliefs , with support from their teachers to instil them , there is evidence these will have an impact on their ability to persevere :
1 . A belief that they belong in an academic / school community .
2 . A belief that their ability and competence will grow with effort .
3 . A belief that they can succeed . 4 . A belief that work has value for them .
Farrington et al conclude , from their literature review , that if students hold these beliefs they are more likely to persevere through the challenges they encounter at school . individual and team goals are not achieved , and the disappointment this may bring . These all appear to be important considerations for achieving student success in a difficult task over a long period of time .
The problem with grit
However , there appears to be some discussion over whether the concept of grit actually exists , and how it is measured . Tyumeneva et al ( 2019 ) contest whether ‘ consistency of interests ’ and ‘ perseverance of effort ’ do indeed form a single personality trait of ‘ grit ’. Through their research , they found that only effort resulted in academic engagement , and argue therefore that the grit scale measures two independent constructs of effort and interests .
Additionally Didau ( 2017 ) highlights a meta-analysis conducted by Crede et al ( 2017 ) suggesting that grit is only moderately correlated with performance and retention but strongly correlated with the trait of conscientiousness . Didau questions whether “ Given these problems , can teachers have any confidence that interventions or character education initiatives based on the idea of developing grit will influence student outcomes ?”
Is grit the answer ?
It appears hard to measure grit as a concept and this perhaps leads us to question whether grit is an indicator of academic success as presented by Duckworth . Farrington et al ( 2012 ) suggest it might not be possible to help pupils to develop grit as a character trait , but they can perhaps be helped to ‘ act gritty ’ which will impact outcomes in school . Drawing on the extensive research into academic mind-sets , Farrington et al suggest that if students are able to embrace the
References
Credé , M ., Tynan , M . C ., & Harms , P . D . ( 2017 ). Much ado about grit : A metaanalytic synthesis of the grit literature . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 113 ( 3 ), 492 – 511 .
Didau , D . ( 2017 ) Is resilience even a thing ? Learning Spy , 3rd May 2017 . Available at https :// learningspy . co . uk / featured / resilience-even-thing / ( Accessed 19.08.20 )
Duckworth , A . ( 2017 ) Grit . Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success . Vermilion .
Duckworth , A . L ., Peterson , C ., Matthews , M . D ., & Kelly , D . R . ( 2007 ). Grit : Perseverance and passion for long-term goals . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 92 ( 6 ), 1087-1101 .
Dweck , C . ( 2006 ) Mindset : the new psychology of success . Random House , New York .
Farringdon , C . A . et al ( 2012 ) cited in Tough , P . ( 2016 ) How kids learn resilience . The Atlantic , June 2016 . Available at https :// www . theatlantic . com / magazine / archive / 2016 / 06 / how-kids-really-succeed / 480744 / ( Accessed 19.08.20 ).
Hinton , C . and Turnbull , S . A . ( 2015 ) Getting gritty with it : gritty students cultivate effective learning strategies and dispositions . Research Schools International and Wellington Learning & Research Centre . Available at : https :// learning . wellingtoncollege . org . uk / first-working-paper-published-gettinggritty-with-it / ( Accessed 19.08.20 ).
McDonald ( n . d .) Can we develop or enhance the concept of grit ? BelievePerform . Available at : https :// believeperform . com / can-we-develop-orenhance-the-concept-of-grit / ( Accessed 14.08.20 ).
Tyumeneva , Y ., Kardanova , E . and Kuzmina , J . ( 2019 ) Grit Two Related but Independent Constructs Instead of One . Evidence From Item Response Theory . European Journal of Psychological Assessment , 35 , pp . 469-478 .
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