How to Build a Genuine Growth Mindset Culture in the VET Sector
Across the Australian vocational education and training sector, there is growing enthusiasm for the language of a “growth mindset”. Posters declare that “mistakes help you learn”, classrooms share colourful graphics about effort and resilience, and professional development days often include a slide or two linking mindset to performance. At the same time, confusion is spreading. Some providers treat growth mindset as a slogan rather than a serious psychological construct. Others implement shallow programs that tell learners to “try harder” without addressing real barriers. There is also debate within the research community about how strong the impact of mindset interventions really is on academic achievement, particularly when programs are poorly designed or implemented superficially.
This article unpacks what a growth mindset actually means, what current evidence says, and how it can be meaningfully integrated into VET without becoming a gimmick or a tool for blame. Using a practical framework built around ten interconnected habits – self awareness, reframing failure, embracing challenge, valuing effort, learning from others, consciously using growth-oriented language, developing grit, finding purpose, valuing the journey and setting growth-focused goals – it shows how trainers, assessors and RTO leaders can foster mindsets that support real learning, persistence and employability. Throughout, the article keeps a clear focus on the Australian context, acknowledging learner diversity, regulatory pressures and the need to balance mindset work with structural support, inclusive practice and high-quality training design.
The Buzzword Problem: When “Growth Mindset” Gets Lost in Translation
In theory, the concept of a growth mindset is simple. Psychologist Carol Dweck’s work distinguishes between a fixed mindset, where people see abilities as static, and a growth mindset, where people see intelligence and skills as capable of development through effort, strategies and feedback. Learners who believe they can grow are more likely to persist, seek help and embrace challenges, whereas those who see ability as fixed are more likely to avoid difficulty and interpret mistakes as proof that they are “not smart enough”.
In practice, however, the idea has often been flattened into posters, slogans and motivational speeches that promise more than they deliver. Some research shows that well-designed growth mindset interventions can improve motivation and help at-risk students, particularly when teaching practices reinforce the message. Other systematic reviews have found that many interventions have very small or negligible effects on achievement, especially when they are brief, generic or disconnected from classroom practice.
For Australian VET providers under pressure to lift completion rates, support diverse learners and satisfy tighter regulatory expectations, this mixed picture can be confusing. Some organisations pin high hopes on short mindset workshops or online modules, only to be disappointed when nothing much changes. Others react to criticism of overclaiming and abandon the idea altogether. The sector risks swinging between over-enthusiasm and cynicism, instead of viewing the growth mindset as one useful piece of a broader learning culture puzzle.
The question is not whether a growth mindset is a magic solution. It is not. The real question is how to translate the underlying principles into everyday practice in ways that genuinely support learners and staff, while remaining honest about limitations and the need for structural support.
What Growth Mindset Is – And What It Is Not
A growth mindset is fundamentally about beliefs regarding the malleability of ability. Learners with a growth mindset tend to believe that they can improve their skills through deliberate practice, effective strategies, help-seeking and feedback, even when progress is slow. Learners with a fixed mindset tend to interpret difficulty as a sign that they lack talent.
In the VET context, this plays out in familiar ways. A student in an automotive program might say, “I am just not good with electrics”, and avoid any task involving diagnostics. A learner studying aged care might say, “I cannot handle paperwork,” and mentally switch off during documentation training. A mature-age apprentice might decide, “I am too old to learn digital systems” and disengage whenever software appears on the screen.
A genuine growth mindset approach does not pretend that all learners will reach exactly the same level or that effort alone can overcome every barrier. It does not ignore disability, language needs, prior trauma, financial stress or family responsibilities. It does not say “if you failed, it is because you did not believe hard enough”. That kind of thinking simply repackages deficit language in a new vocabulary.
Instead, a mature growth mindset culture in VET acknowledges that every learner starts from a different point, with different resources and constraints, and that many need targeted support. It recognises that quality teaching, accessible materials, reasonable adjustments, student support services and safe learning environments all matter. Within that context, a growth mindset is about helping learners and staff see themselves as capable of progress rather than permanently trapped by past experiences. It is not a replacement for good training design or fair systems. It is a way of thinking that makes those systems more effective.
The Ten Habits of a Growth Mindset Culture in VET
Many popular graphics highlight “10 ways to develop a growth mindset”. These lists can be helpful starting points, but often lack depth and context. The following sections expand those core ideas into a VET-specific framework. Each habit is something that can be modelled by trainers and assessors, embedded into programs and encouraged in learners. None of them requires flashy technology or large budgets, but all of them require intention.
1. Self Awareness: Helping Learners Hear Their Inner Voice
The first habit is self-awareness. Before anyone can shift their mindset, they need to notice how they talk to themselves. In VET classrooms, unspoken inner dialogue is everywhere. A learner looking at a welding practical task might be thinking, “I will stuff this up again”. A student returning after a long break from study might be telling themselves, “I am the slowest in the class”. Self-awareness is about bringing this internal commentary into consciousness, not to shame the learner, but to create choice.
Trainers can model this by naming their own thought patterns. For example, a trainer might say: “When I first learned this software, my inner voice kept saying ‘I am terrible at technology’. I had to catch that thought and remind myself that everyone starts as a beginner.” This simple disclosure normalises struggle and makes it safer for learners to acknowledge their own doubts.
Self-awareness activities can be woven into learning without becoming heavy or therapeutic. Journalling, brief reflection questions, or end-of-session check-ins where learners identify one unhelpful thought and one more helpful alternative can gradually build the habit. For many VET learners juggling work, family and study, simply realising that self-talk can be changed is a powerful step toward greater resilience.
2. Reframing Failure: From “I Can’t” To “I Haven’t Yet”
The second habit is reframing failure. Growth mindset language is famous for adding the word “yet” to fixed statements. Instead of “I cannot do this”, learners are encouraged to say “I cannot do this yet, but I can improve with practice”. This small linguistic shift signals that the story is not finished.
In the VET sector, failure is often loaded with high stakes. Learners may be worried about their job security, visa status or family expectations. A failed assessment can trigger shame, fear or anger, particularly if the learner has had negative school experiences. If trainers respond only with procedural language about resubmissions, they miss an opportunity to reframe the experience as part of learning rather than a verdict on identity.
Reframing does not mean pretending that failure does not matter. Competence in high-risk industries such as electrical trades, aged care or construction is serious. Instead, it means separating the person from the performance. A learner might hear: “You did not meet the standard on this task, but that does not mean you cannot. It means we need to look closely at what is missing and plan how you can build those skills.”
Providers can strengthen this message by designing assessment systems that allow for formative practice, clear feedback and realistic opportunities to improve, rather than single high-stakes events with little transparency. When learners experience structured chances to correct errors, they are more likely to internalise the belief that skill grows through cycles of trial, feedback and refinement.
3. Embracing Challenges: Moving Beyond the Comfort Zone
The third habit is embracing challenge. In any cohort, there are tasks that feel safer and tasks that feel intimidating. Learners may gravitate toward familiar activities and shy away from complex or public demonstrations. A growth mindset culture actively frames challenge as a normal and valuable part of learning, not as a trap to expose weaknesses.
One practical strategy in VET is to explicitly label certain tasks as “stretch activities” and explain why they matter. For example, a trainer might say: “Today’s scenario is intentionally difficult. It is designed to surface the gaps in our understanding so that we can address them together. Struggle is expected here. We are not aiming for perfection on the first attempt.”
This honest framing reduces the tendency to interpret difficulty as personal failure. Research on mindset and teaching practices suggests that when students perceive their teachers as emphasising growth, effort and learning rather than sorting people into “able” and “not able”, their long-term interest and achievement can improve.
In VET, where many learners juggle employment, family and often complex life histories, creating a psychologically safe environment for challenge is particularly important. This includes encouraging peer support, celebrating progress and allowing learners to approach difficult tasks in stages. The aim is not to remove the challenge but to ensure that learners associate it with growth rather than humiliation.
4. Effort Over Outcome: Celebrating Process Without Ignoring Standards
The fourth habit is focusing on effort and strategy rather than outcome alone. This does not mean ignoring competency standards or lowering expectations. It means recognising that what happens on the way to competency matters too.
A common misunderstanding is that praising effort regardless of result will build a growth mindset. Research suggests that empty praise can be counterproductive, especially if learners sense that it is insincere. What helps is specific feedback that links effort to strategy and improvement. For example, saying “I can see you tried hard” is less helpful than saying “Your decision to rewatch the training video and practise that step three extra times has made your technique more precise.”
In regulated VET environments, trainers sometimes worry that talking about effort will conflict with competency based assessment. In reality, the two can coexist. Competency describes the standard. Effort and strategy describe how learners move toward that standard. Recognising effort does not change the marking guide, but it can sustain motivation so that learners keep trying until they get there.
For apprentices who may feel behind their peers, or for learners returning to study after many years, hearing that their persistence is noticed and valued can be the difference between withdrawing quietly and pushing through a difficult unit.
5. Learning From Others: Turning Comparison Into Curiosity
The fifth habit is learning from others. Humans naturally compare themselves to peers. In VET classrooms, this might sound like “She always finishes first” or “He just gets it, and I never do”. Left unchecked, these comparisons can feed a fixed mindset, where other people’s success is seen as evidence of one’s own inadequacy.
Growth-oriented cultures invite learners to see peers as resources rather than rivals. Trainers can facilitate structured opportunities for learners to explain how they approached a problem, what they found difficult and what strategies helped. This turns comparison into curiosity. Instead of thinking “I am not as good as her”, a learner starts thinking “What is she doing that I could try?”
Research on adult workers suggests that growth-oriented beliefs in workplaces are associated with greater openness to feedback and a stronger motivation to learn from mistakes. In the VET context, this means that explaining errors, asking questions and sharing strategies should be seen as signs of professional maturity, not weakness.
Industry guests and workplace supervisors can support this habit by talking openly about their own learning journeys, including early mistakes, rather than presenting only polished success stories. When learners see that experienced tradespeople and professionals still learn from colleagues, they are more likely to do the same.
6. Growth Mindset Language: Words That Shape Belief
The sixth habit is consciously using language that reflects growth beliefs. The words used by trainers, assessors and leaders send powerful signals about what is valued. Phrases like “You are naturally gifted at this” or “You are just not a numbers person” may be meant as encouragement or understanding, but they reinforce a fixed view of ability.
Instead, growth mindset language focuses on process, strategies and progress. This might sound like “You have developed strong skills in this area through consistent practice” or “You are not confident with calculations yet, but your accuracy improved after you tried the new method”.
Research shows that what students believe about their brains can significantly shape their motivation and resilience. Language is one of the main ways those beliefs are transmitted. For learners who have previously been told they are “slow”, “not academic” or “problem students”, hearing different language in VET can be deeply restorative.
Organisations can encourage consistent language by including mindset-aware communication examples in staff training, assessment feedback guidelines and learner support materials. Over time, this creates a shared vocabulary of growth rather than a patchwork of mixed messages.
7. Developing Grit: Balancing Perseverance With Self-Care
The seventh habit is developing grit, understood as perseverance and passion for long-term goals. VET learners often display remarkable grit already. Many study at night after full-time work, care for children or older family members, travel long distances or manage health issues. Recognising this existing grit is crucial. Growth mindset work should never imply that learners are lazy or lacking willpower.
At the same time, there is value in helping learners develop sustainable perseverance. This includes teaching planning skills, time management, help-seeking, and strategies for coping with setbacks. Grit is not about never resting or pushing through serious distress. It is about returning to goals after difficulties in ways that are healthy and realistic.
Meta-analyses of mindset-related constructs, such as grit, suggest that while correlations with achievement are modest, these traits are meaningfully linked to persistence and engagement. In the VET sector, where many learners are balancing competing pressures, even modest gains in persistence can translate into real differences in completion and employment outcomes.
Trainers can support grit by normalising the idea that progress is often non-linear. Instead of expecting smooth improvement, they can talk about “plateaus”, “dips”, and “surges” in learning. When a learner experiences a setback, the conversation then becomes “How do we navigate this phase?” rather than “What is wrong with you?”
8. Finding Purpose: Connecting Learning To Real Lives
The eighth habit is helping learners find purpose. Growth mindset research points to the importance of meaningful goals in sustaining motivation, especially when tasks are difficult or progress is slow.
In VET, the purpose is often very concrete. Learners may be seeking a qualification to secure employment, change industries, support a family or contribute to their communities. However, the connection between day-to-day class activities and these larger purposes can become blurred, particularly when the curriculum feels abstract or administrative.
Trainers can strengthen purpose by repeatedly linking learning tasks to real-world outcomes. For example, explaining not only how to complete documentation, but why accurate records protect clients, colleagues and the public. Industry speakers, work placement reflections and employer feedback can all reinforce these connections.
Program designers can also build purpose into units by including projects that allow learners to tackle genuine workplace problems or community needs rather than purely hypothetical scenarios. When learners see that their growing skills can make a difference, their belief in the value of persisting through difficulty increases.
9. Valuing the Journey: Progress Tracking and Reflection
The ninth habit is valuing the journey, not only the endpoint. In competency-based training, there is a natural focus on whether a unit is marked satisfactory or not. While necessary, this binary outcome can obscure the many micro gains that occur along the way.
Growth mindset cultures emphasise progress. This might involve structured reflection at key points where learners identify what they can do now that they could not do at the start of the term. It might involve simple visual trackers that show movement from confusion to partial understanding to confident performance, with space to note strategies that helped.
Research on learner engagement in vocational settings highlights that active involvement and clear feedback can enhance motivation and participation. When learners have chances to recognise their own growth, they are more likely to stay engaged, even if some competencies are still in progress.
For many adult learners who have internalised a story of “I always fail at study”, documenting the journey can be transformative. Instead of seeing a delayed completion as “failure again”, they can recognise the knowledge, skills and resilience gained along the way.
10. Setting Growth Focused Goals: Beyond “Pass The Unit”
The tenth habit is setting growth-focused goals. Many VET learners arrive with goals framed only in terms of completion: “Get the certificate”, “Finish this apprenticeship”, “Pass this unit”. While important, these goals can feel far away and may not provide daily direction.
Growth-oriented goals focus on specific skills, strategies or behaviours that are within the learner’s control in the short term. For instance: “By the end of the month I will be able to safely complete this task without supervision”, or “This week I will ask at least one question in every practical session when I am unsure”.
Research on small, actionable goals suggests that they support motivation by making progress visible and attainable, particularly for learners who may otherwise feel overwhelmed. Trainers can incorporate goal-setting discussions into the start of each unit and revisit them regularly, not just during performance reviews.
Organisations can extend this approach to staff, encouraging trainers and assessors to set growth-focused goals for their own practice, such as experimenting with a new feedback strategy, integrating more real-world scenarios or trialling different approaches to supporting learners with language, literacy and numeracy needs. This model of lifelong learning reinforces that the growth mindset is for adults as well as students.
The Evidence Debate: Being Honest About What Mindset Work Can and Cannot Do
Any serious discussion of growth mindset in VET needs to acknowledge the ongoing evidence debate. Some high-quality studies and reviews suggest that the direct impact of standalone mindset interventions on academic achievement is small, especially in older students and tertiary settings. Other research indicates that growth-oriented teaching practices and supportive classroom climates can help sustain student interest, particularly for learners who are struggling.
What does this mean for VET? First, providers should be cautious about expecting a short online module on growth mindset to fix systemic issues such as under-resourcing, poor curriculum design, inconsistent assessment practices or lack of student support. No mindset intervention can compensate for inadequate training quality or unsafe environments.
Second, mindset work is likely to be most effective when it is integrated into everyday teaching, assessment and support, rather than treated as a one-off add-on. When trainers routinely model growth language, provide opportunities for reflection, design assessments that allow for improvement, and explicitly connect effort to progress, the mindset message becomes part of the culture rather than a separate program.
Third, it is important not to weaponise the growth mindset against learners or staff. If an organisation uses “mindset” as a way to blame individuals for struggling without offering structural support, it is misusing the concept. Ethical practice requires balancing high expectations with genuine assistance, especially for learners who face multiple barriers.
Building Growth Mindset Into VET Systems: Practical Steps For RTOs
To move beyond posters, RTOs can take several practical steps to embed authentic growth mindset principles at the organisational level. Leadership can start by articulating a clear rationale: not “we are doing growth mindset because it is trendy” but “we are committed to environments where learners and staff see themselves as capable of growth and where mistakes are treated as opportunities to improve”.
Policies and procedures around assessment, feedback, complaints and student support can be reviewed through this lens. For example, do re-assessment processes communicate that improvement is possible, or do they feel punitive and unclear? Do feedback templates encourage trainers to comment on strategies and progress, not just outcomes? Are there mechanisms for learners to reflect on their learning and set goals, or is everything driven by compliance checklists?
Professional development can equip trainers and assessors with practical tools: ways to respond to fixed mindset statements, techniques for designing challenge tasks that feel safe, language for normalising struggle and structured reflection activities that fit within tight timeframes. Importantly, this training should be grounded in Australian VET realities, including large classes, diverse learners and regulatory demands, rather than generic school-based examples.
Partnerships with industry can also support growth mindset cultures. Employers who value ongoing learning, provide constructive feedback and share their own growth stories reinforce the message that development continues far beyond the classroom. This aligns strongly with national efforts to ensure VET equips Australians with skills for lifelong employability in a rapidly changing economy.
Towards a Mature, Honest Growth Mindset Culture in VET
Growth mindset is neither a magic cure nor an empty fad. At its best, it is a set of beliefs and practices that help people respond to difficulty with curiosity rather than defeat, and to see skills as developable rather than predetermined. In the Australian VET sector, where learners are diverse, pressures are real, and the stakes for quality are high, this way of thinking can be genuinely valuable, provided it is approached with honesty and depth.
A mature growth mindset culture does not deny structural barriers or personal circumstances. It does not tell learners to “believe, and it will happen” while ignoring under-resourcing or poorly designed programs. Instead, it combines ten practical habits: building self-awareness, reframing failure, embracing challenge, valuing effort, learning from others, using growth-oriented language, nurturing sustainable grit, connecting learning to purpose, tracking the journey and setting growth-focused goals.
When these habits are embedded into daily practice, supported by sound evidence, inclusive design and strong governance, growth mindset ceases to be a buzzword and becomes a useful lens for teaching, learning and leadership. Learners see that their efforts and strategies matter. Trainers rediscover their role as architects of growth, not just deliverers of content. RTOs move closer to fulfilling the promise at the heart of vocational education and training in Australia: to help people expand their capabilities across a lifetime, not only to secure a certificate.
