Mind your mindset. An empirical study of mindset in secondary vocational education and training

Mindset plays a pivotal role in academic achievement. In particular, a growth mindset is related to academic success. This study explored the role of mindset in Secondary Vocational Education and Training (VET). Participants were 1005 VET students attending eight different vocational programmes on three qualification levels in the rural southwest of the Netherlands. They filled out an online questionnaire that was combined with the school administration system for demographical information and school results. Results showed that 13.9% of the participants had a fixed mindset, 47.3% a growth mindset, and 38.8% a mixed mindset. Our findings indicate that VET students' mean mindset does not substantially differ from the mindset of students in other forms of education. However, the majority of VET students does not have a growth mindset and mindset and academic achievement seem to be unrelated.