Mindsets, attitudes and learning

4. From drive to action: Students acting on their learning

A growth mindset reflects students’ beliefs about their ability to improve, but beliefs must be matched with strategies that allow students to act on them. PISA 2022 measured students’ confidence in self-directed learning and their use of proactive study behaviours. These constructs capture whether students are not only motivated but also equipped to take responsibility for their learning by setting goals, maintaining effort and seeking support when needed, which are at the core of student self-regulatory learning (Zimmerman, 2002[23]).

Such skills are especially relevant in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which underscored the importance of agency and self-regulation during school closures.

Self-directed learning

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, PISA 2022 asked students to report on how confident they are about self-directing their learning in case schools had to close again in the future. On average, mid- and top-performing students expressed greater confidence than low performers in most countries and economies (OECD, 2024[3]).

Likewise, across OECD countries, confidence in self-directed learning shows a positive association with growth mindset, on average and in 28 countries/economies (Table B.19). Yet the same performance group gradient reappears – the association is rarely positive and often negative for low performers (21 countries/economies), often positive for mid-performers (28 countries/economies), and mostly absent for top performers (Figure 8).

This suggests that while growth mindset can align with agency and proactive strategies among students in the “middle” of the proficiency scale, it does not consistently do so among those struggling at the bottom or those already secure at the top. For low performers, mindset beliefs alone may not translate into effective strategies; for top performers, such strategies may already be established regardless of mindset.

Figure 8. Growth mindset and confidence in self-directed learning, by level of performance

Change in self-directed learning self-efficacy when students disagreed or strongly disagreed that "your intelligence is something about you that you can’t change very much", by level of performance in mathematics

Notes: On average across the OECD, the percentage of students reporting a growth mindset is 49% among low performers, 61% among mid-performers, and 67% among top performers.

Only countries and economies with available data are shown.

Statistically significant differences are shown in a darker tone (see Reader’s Guide).

Countries and economies are ranked in ascending order of the difference for medium performers (between levels 2 to 4) in mathematics.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Table B.19.

Proactive study behaviour

Similarly, PISA 2022 results have shown that the use of learning strategies, especially those related to proactive behaviours, relate positively to mathematics self-efficacy, persistence and curiosity (OECD, 2024[3]).

Students with a growth mindset are also more likely to report proactive study behaviours, such as putting effort into mathematics assignments and asking questions when not understanding the materials, at least on average and in many countries/economies (Table B.19). Among mid-performers, the relationship is positive in 33 countries/economies, and rarely negative. For low performers, however, it is often non-significant or negative, with only Hong Kong (China)* and Ireland* showing a consistent positive relationship across all performance levels. For top performers, too, the relationship is consistently not statistically significant and positive in 13 systems. This reinforces the conclusion that the link between growth mindset and active engagement with learning is most pronounced for students scoring at proficiency levels 2, 3 and 4.

Taken together, these findings suggest that growth mindset aligns consistently with agency and proactive engagement, which shape students’ learning experiences. The associations are most consistent and positive among mid-performing students, while often absent or negative among low performers. From a policy perspective, these patterns point away from one-size-fits-all approaches and towards differentiated design:

For low-performing students, policies should integrate growth mindset promotion with targeted supports so that beliefs are matched with actionable opportunities to succeed.

For mid-performing students, aligning growth mindset promotion with opportunities to practise proactive learning strategies may help consolidate progress, provided tasks remain meaningful and achievable.

For high-performing students, priorities may lie in sustaining engagement and challenge rather than specifically emphasising growth mindset beliefs.

Growth mindset should be viewed not in isolation but as part of an interconnected web of dispositions that influence how students approach learning. Composite and tailored approaches give education systems a way to encourage adaptive beliefs while also providing the contextual conditions needed for them to be meaningful. System- and school-level strategies, such as diversified learning pathways, adaptive curricula, formative assessment practices, and sustained professional development, can enable education systems to meet the needs of a diverse range of students within heterogeneous classrooms (OECD, 2021[24]; OECD, 2023[25]). Policies that embed such flexibility on a large scale can help to ensure that every student, regardless of their starting point, receives instruction and feedback that fosters confidence and progress.