Chapter 8: Instructor Competencies: Growth-Mindset Orientation and Continuous Development

Today’s dynamic instructional settings place many demands on instructors as they strive to implement instructional advances described in empirical findings on teaching and learning and as they experiment with a broad range and scope of emerging tools and technologies. Within such complex settings, which are often hampered by workplace constraints, instructors are expected to gain, maintain, or improve their knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) and demonstrate competence in their field. Developmental growth is an ongoing process as instructors are expected to become increasingly adaptive to instructional practice and environments. Models of pre-service teachers’ stages of development predominantly have displayed growth as hierarchical and linear; however, Khoshnevisan and Rashtchi (2021) offers a five-stage model that illustrates the nonlinear and multilayer stages of developmental growth, and it highlights how experience, knowledge, and practice lead to increases in pre-service instructors’ competence. In considering developmental growth and instructional competence, one must note that this developmental model “asserts that there is no ending to the professional development of teachers, and it is a never-ending process” (Khoshnevisan & Rashtchi, 2021, p. 16). In any developmental growth stage that an instructor experiences, those who possess a growth-mindset orientation are the ones who will seek professional development. According to Dweck (2016), these individuals are more likely to achieve more because looking smart isn’t what drives them; instead, they put their energy into learning.