Mindsets Research in Physical Education: Past, Present and Future

Mindsets are concerned with individuals’ beliefs about the malleability or fixedness of human attributes. While the majority of research on this topic has concentrated on intelligence, in this chapter, we examine these beliefs as they apply to ability in school physical education (PE). Tracing the development of research over nearly three decades, we begin by outlining the early efforts to measure mindsets among young people in the PE context, and by summarising the findings that emerged between 1996 and 2016 concerning the motivational correlates of growth and fixed mindsets. We refer to this period of research as the past. We then detail more recent research activity in PE from 2016 to the present, in an effort to gauge where the field has progressed (the Present). In the final section of the chapter, we look ahead (the Future). Here, we compare what has been achieved in PE with research in broader social and educational settings, in order to offer direction for new avenues of inquiry in PE. Overall, we conclude that, despite the initial energy of researchers during the Past era, subsequent research activity has lost momentum. The field is characterised by a set of disparate and overly narrow studies that limit the substantive impact on what we understand about mindsets in PE, and how we might work with teachers effectively to enhance professional practice that improves youngsters’ motivation towards the subject. We call for renewed enthusiasm in researching mindsets in conjunction with other, well-established theories of motivation.