The expression Rome wasn’t built in a day is meant to remind us that achieving results takes time and effort. However, we often forget this and blame a lack of ‘ability’ when we can’t solve a mathematical problem, draw a geometric shape or paint a scenic picture.

I think of Mozart, who at the age of three started playing music under the tutelage of his father, and only after studying composition and practising for over a decade, composed his greatest symphonies. The effort and perseverance required to achieve such proficiency is often overlooked, as we are rarely witness to the years of hard work that takes place behind the scenes. In the classroom, attributing success or failure to ability over the value of hard work and perseverance is therefore possibly not fair, and can have negative implications for the motivation and performance of our students.

Children’s understanding of effort and ability changes dramatically with age. Students in younger year levels will tell me that smart students work hard, but some of our older students will say that smart students do not work hard and they will suggest that working hard is an indication of not being ‘smart enough’. As our students get older and progress through school, they may attribute performance to an innate ability that is fixed, and therefore beyond an individual’s control.

Carol Dweck (2000) advocates turning the focus from a ‘fixed mindset’ to one of potential and infinite growth, in which achievement is connected to effort and persistence. This can be both encouraging and empowering for our learners. Dweck also found that directly challenging a student’s ‘fixed mindset’, in which they ascribe their mistakes to a lack of ability, can encourage them to become more persistent and improve achievement.

Encouraging our students to work hard and not give up when faced with challenges is no simple matter. Skill development is incremental and proficiency is not something that can be reached rapidly. Our students also need to understand that this process often involves initial failure and errors, but that this should be regarded as a natural part of the learning process, and an indication that the challenge is worth pursuing. It is important to encourage our students to try different strategies or to look for some error in their application of a strategy when tackling a task. I firmly believe that there is so much to be achieved by encouraging our more vulnerable learners to see that hard work is not a sign of a lack of ability, but an acknowledgement that there is more to be learnt.

Our third learning disposition – persistence – is a very important key to successful learning. Encouraging our kids to persist is about helping them to see hard work as a natural part of learning and failure – not as a lack of ability, but as a sign that there is yet more to be learned and, hopefully in the process instilling a belief in the students of O.L.D. that they can achieve anything.