Growth Mindset in Veterinary Educators: An International Survey

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Veterinary Education

Background:

• Carol Dweck's mindset theory distinguishes between fixed and growth mindsets.
• Educator mindsets influence teaching, student learning, faculty development, and well-being.
• Mindset impacts faculty openness to curricular changes, crucial with global shifts to competency-based education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the mindsets of international veterinary educators.
• To assess mindsets across intelligence, clinical reasoning, compassion, and morality.

Main Methods:

• An electronic survey distributed to international veterinary educators at English-medium universities.
• Included demographic questions and validated mindset scales.
• Analyzed data using scale validation, descriptive statistics, and association analysis.

Main Results:

• 446 complete surveys were analyzed.
• The study population exhibited predominantly growth mindsets for all evaluated traits, exceeding general population averages.
• A slight positive association was found between years teaching and growth mindset; no other demographic associations were significant.

Conclusions:

• International veterinary educators demonstrate higher growth mindset prevalence compared to the general population.
• This finding has potential implications for faculty well-being, teaching practices, and curriculum development in veterinary education.
• Further research is recommended to explore the specific impacts of this high growth mindset rate within veterinary education.