Fixed mindset as a challenge in teaching practice: A pre-service teacher’s experiences of received feedback

Abstract

Teaching practice is a critical component in teacher education, and better understanding of how pre-service teachers experience and interpret the feedback received in this setting is needed to understand teacher development in initial teacher education. Arguably, the mindset theory can help explain pre-service teachers’ responses to and reception of feedback. This narrative study examines one pre-service mathematics and science teacher’s experiences of received feedback from her supervisors during teaching practice and discusses the impact of her mindset on her reception of feedback. Esteri displayed a so-called fixed mindset regarding her qualities as a teacher and towards the feedback received, which greatly hindered her reception of the feedback. Interestingly, we observed characteristics of fixed mindset also in the feedback given by her supervisors. We discuss the challenges that fixed mindset poses for feedback practices, and what narrated experiences of feedback can teach us about supporting teacher development of future teachers in teaching practice.