Julia Stead - Learning Without Fear: A Practical Toolkit for Developing Growth Mindset in the Early Years and Primary Classroom

In Learning without Fear, Julia and Ruchi tackle some of the myths relating to growth mindset and show how there is much more to this complex field than positive thinking and increased effort alone.

Beautifully illustrated, this terrific book covers the field of growth mindset in a way that is both accessible and thought-provoking providing subtle insights into the difference between failing and failure, and how to support children to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable, for example. Furthermore, it shares wonderful resources, stories and case studies to help teachers make authentic growth mindset possible for every child in their classroom.

Learning without Fear will be incredibly useful for primary school teachers. An absolute gem.

Mary Myatt, education adviser and author of The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence

Forget growth mindset mantras and posters instead read this more nuanced, comprehensive exploration of a range of strategies designed to achieve success in early years and primary settings.

Learning without Fear accessibly and practically describes the critical elements of learning without fear, and also delves into pupil self-regulation and the pitfalls of praising the child rather than the process. It is filled with anecdotes and mini stories case studies of childrens typical negative school experiences or thoughts, skilfully turned into success stories that all come to life in the books colourful, welcoming pages, which also feature plenty of research evidence and the authors personal classroom experiences.

This delightful publication then culminates in a bank of powerful and easy-to-follow lesson ideas, which together with the rest of the books content will help educators develop in their learners a growth mindset that will benefit them both in school and beyond.

Shirley Clarke, international formative assessment expert

Learning without Fear is a fantastic introduction to growth mindset in the classroom which skilfully debunks some of its common myths. Accessibly written and based on sound research, the book begins with a discussion on how to assess your own mindset and invites you to consider its impact on your practice. Julia and Ruchi then move on to offer practical ways to introduce the concept of growth mindset to children across the primary school age range, explore its importance as an ethos rather than as a bolt-on lesson, and provide strategies to embed growth mindset throughout the curriculum.

This book will be a valuable addition to the library of both experienced teachers and those new to the profession.

Angela Goodman, Head of School, Waterloo Primary School and part of the #PrimaryRocks team

By distilling a wealth of research on growth mindset and metacognition, Learning without Fear provides the classroom teacher with a go-to compendium of ideas and strategies to fully embed a culture of growth in the classroom.

This book has the potential to change every primary school classroom in the land, and should be a key text for any primary teacher training course.

Colin Grimes, teacher, Rothbury First School

A must-read for anybody working with children, Learning without Fear offers a fresh approach to looking at growth mindset and provides a whole host of excellent ideas, resources and practical examples. Can teachers make a change? With this book, yes they can!

Graham Andr, teacher, Lanesend Primary School, speaker, #PrimaryRocks organiser and eduTwitter influencer

No teacher need be concerned or fearful about developing a growth-mindset philosophy in early years and the primary classroom. Learning without Fear has it all here for them.

Nina Jackson, author, award-winning speaker and education consultant, Teach Learn Create Ltd

Julia and Ruchi have produced an instantly accessible, practical guide which explains some of the key concepts central to growth mindset and metacognition in such a way that will help everyone who works with children. The books mini stories are an excellent medium to get learners to think about different scenarios, and the references to research are useful for anyone who wants to explore the literature around growth mindset in greater depth.

Learning without Fear is a really valuable resource which will spark debate and discussion among staff teams and help teachers to reflect on the language they use and the behaviours they model in school.

Ruth Swailes, school improvement adviser and education consultant

If youre interested in optimising the conditions for learning in your classroom, this practical and well-informed guide is a great place to start.

Jonathan Lear, Deputy Head Teacher, St Catherines Catholic Primary School, speaker and author of The Monkey-Proof Box

As much as I am an adult working alone during lesson time in my island of a classroom, I am never truly in isolation. My acknowledgements run as a two-pronged river. On the first, my teacher self has had plenty of people inspire me to be fearless in my practice, and in my career ambitions. Dave Houghton my first ever head teacher who believed that new ways of doing things could work very well, who wrote notes of encouragement regularly during my NQT year, and who left me to it to learn from my own mistakes, thank you. For inspiring colleagues like Janet Worsley, Ros Carter and Estelle Castro, thanks for teaching me things that I wouldnt have learnt on my own. I must also mention the trainee teachers who I have mentored on their first steps of the teaching journey: you taught me how to encourage, mentor and enable. I loved sharing with you. And who would I be without the hundreds of children and families that I have shared my time with over the last 15 years? They are the experts and they are the ones from whom I have everything yet to learn.

The other prong of the river are the people who have enabled this book to be written. To all at Crown House Publishing, thank you for believing in the project, and for being patient while we wrote alongside our teaching commitments. Your wonderful team have been supportive and ever-knowledgeable. To the people who have allowed me space for this book to be researched and written especially Johanna Partridge, my mum thank you. To my husband, Darren, thank you for your pride and encouragement in all I do. And to the two little case studies who I endeavour to bring up with a mindset disposed towards happiness and self-belief: Alistair and James, youre who this is all about. J. S.

Teaching is an endless roller coaster of highs and lows, achievements and failures, fear-inducing moments of uncertainty and euphoric flashes of success, but I wouldnt change any of it, for within teaching I have found my fire and my passion, and the classroom has given me a space in which to thrive. It has been a privilege to share my experiences with other teachers and I am humbled that I have been able to express all that I believe about teaching in something as precious as a book. As a young girl I always aspired to write and illustrate my own text, so thank you to all at Crown House Publishing for putting your trust in us and for your unwavering patience. Thank you also to my writing partner, Julia, for pushing us to write a proposal, which we powered through in one sitting. I certainly wouldnt have been brave enough to even imagine that my ramblings would translate into print.

To all the authors of all the books that have guided and encouraged me both professionally and personally, without your words to provide friendship, comfort and guidance, I probably wouldnt have pushed myself to strive for the future I have created. To my first ever boss, Darren Smith, for igniting a spark that I hadnt yet felt and suggesting a career in teaching. Thank you for seeing something in me that I couldnt. To my tribe of dedicated colleagues at Dunmow St Marys Primary School, thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone, encouraging me to take risks in my classroom and helping me to hone the craft of teaching. Thank you to Becca and Marie for all our debriefs in the prep room, for the shared wisdom, courage, empathy and laughs; you both kept me sane during the tough times, without you both I wouldnt have taken that leap of faith into school leadership. Thank you to Julie Lilly and the entire #LearningFirst community for providing a cause and an audience for my ideas, giving me the positive feedback that I needed in order to dare greatly. Without you I never would have had the audacity to put my ideas to paper. To my oldest friend, Michelle, for all the long-distance support and lengthy conversations about writing which helped me to overcome that initial blank page. To Sarah May, for forever championing me and helping me to see that my accomplishments are valid and deserved. To all the pupils and parents I have engaged with over the years, who have each had a hand in shaping who I am as a teacher in particular to the last class I taught full-time. I watched you develop into impassioned, inquisitive and collaborative learners, and saw you reaching beyond any limitations set by those who couldnt truly see what you were made of. If this book aspires to do anything, its to help ensure that more pupils are nurtured to harness their potential so they can achieve well beyond their expectations. To all the other supporting characters I have met and the relationships we have developed along the way (you know who you are), thank you for each teaching me something about myself which has undoubtedly contributed to my compassion as a teacher.