Western basin, eastern rooting: localisation of growth mindset among Chinese students from a culturally comparative perspective

Cultivating a growth mindset is an important strategy for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to improve the core competence of adolescents. The positive driving effect of growth mindsets lies in whether the participants’ cultural context is fully considered in the actualisation process to effectively create a growth-oriented environment. To enhance the core competence of Chinese adolescents with a growth mindset, which was proposed and developed in Western culture, it is necessary to localise the theory within Chinese culture and integrate it with China’s educational practices. In terms of connotation, “mastery through diligence”, “learning for oneself”, and “seeking from within” of traditional Chinese culture align respectively with efforts, goals, and attribution of the growth mindset. Furthermore, each connotation of a growth mindset is further sublimated by “enduring persistence”, “achieving ultimate goodness”, and “unity of knowledge and action” of Chinese educational thoughts. Given this, we propose the following approaches for cultivating Chinese adolescents’ growth mindsets: Implementing meta-cognitive strategies during the process of effort, stimulating endogenous interests in self-growth goals, and developing emotional experiences through positive attribution.