Browsing by Author "Zlobina, Nina"

The aim of this study is research teachers’ views on the learning of pupils with immigrant backround and to explore the growth mindset pedagogy features that they use in their teaching. Forthermore, this study was interested in what themes teachers think are essential in the learning of pupils with immigrant backgrounds, because previous studies show, that pupils with immigrant backbrounds tend to perform worse in school than endigenous population. The framework of this study comes from Carol Dwecks’ (2000; 2006) findings about two different mindsets. The growth mindset emphasizes belief in the formability of basic human qualities, whereas in an fixed mindset qualities such as intelligence and talent are seen as permanent. This study was carried out as a qualitative case study and six teachers were interviewed for it, five of whitch were class teachers and one special class teacher. The data was collected through interviews in the spring of 2021, and it was analysed using inductive as well as deductive content analysis. The results of the study show that teachers' views on the learning of pupils with an immigrant background are largely positive and that teachers consider content related to learning the Finnish language, differentiating teaching, the impact of home and school resources to be important for the learning of pupils with an immigrant background. Pupil motivation was seen as central to language learning and was sought to be supported by honest and encouraging feedback. In terms of differentiation, individualization of teaching goals was perceived as important for students with an immigrant background. In this study, the characteristics of growth mindset pedagogy were found in abundance in teacher interviews. In addition to differentiation, the key themes were the importance of teaching the meaning of mistakes and challenges, and the idea that teachers should not give up on their students ’learning. In summary, based on interviews teachers use the pedagogy of the growth mindset when teacing pupils with immigrant background and perceive it to be related to the learning of those pupils.