Africa-Press – Botswana. Mindset Change Youth Engagement Leader Mr Kaene Disepo has challenged educators to adopt the concept of ‘growth mindset’ in their professional workspace.
Addressing Kweneng Region Educators in Kopong on Saturday, Mr Disepo from the Office of the President said people with growth mindset were more likely to be motivated to improve themselves and their skills.
“They are also more resilient in the face of setbacks and more likely to embrace challenges,” he said. The workshop was organised by the area MP and also the assistant minister of education and skills development Ms Nnaniki Makwinja.
He said growth mindset was a way to go as opposed to ‘fixed mindset’. “Such people think that they are who they are, and they cannot change that. This can lead to a feeling of stagnation and lack of motivation,” he said.
As such, Mr Disepo, also the 2015 top achiever, noted that one way to improve the student-teacher relationship and the overall school ecosystem was to encourage a growth mindset in the classroom.
However, he said an enabling structure was necessary to effect mindset change, especially in the education sector.
He, therefore, challenged teachers to engage community leaders as well as local authorities and school management for everyone to take ownership and be accountable for the education of children in their communities.
“For instance, in trying to get people to change, focus should not only be placed on young people. Let us not focus on young people to change but also on older people,” he said.
He again challenged the educators to look for opportunities that lie in the education sector that could help them improve adding that they could model a growth mindset themselves by admitting mistakes and sharing their learning process with a student.
Another way to improve the school ecosystem, he said was to promote collaboration and teamwork. He said schools could partner with private entities and work together on projects. This, he said could help them develop problem-solving skills.
Ms Makwinja said the workshop was meant for the participants to appreciate where the mindset change concept fits in their day-to-day jobs and how it fits in the vision of this country.
She said the Global Competitive Report rated Botswana as the poorest country in work ethic hence programmes such as Performance Based Regulation (PBR) were developed as a direct reaction to these ratings.
She said if workers continued to remain in the ‘fixed mindset’ the country would not progress.
Kweneng Regional Director – Education Mr Steve Bothasitse said mindset change starts at an individual level. As a result, he challenged all to change the way they have been doing things despite existing challenges.
He also encouraged educators to move away from a ‘prevailing mindset’, the one that was common among a group of people and often reflected in the way people think, feel and behave.
For her part, Mindset Change Coach in Lentsweletau/Mmopane Ms Pono Moses challenged educators to introspect and move away from a fixed to a growth mindset.
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