Growth Mindset
Anyone in the world of education who is familiar with Carol Dweck’s growth mindset theory would readily agree that they consider themselves to be advocates for the growth mindset, and active campaigners against the fixed mindset. To do otherwise would be foolish; it would readily be admitting that you don’t believe you or your students have room for improvement in their academic or personal lives. Quite widely agreed, it can be very valuable to the individual to develop the characteristics of the growth mindset early on.

Recognition Theory
The theory of Recognition has been widely used in academic circles as a platform for discussing the issues that are attributed with “misrecognition” or the “struggle for recognition”. In these two realms, a person or group of peoples must struggle for their identities to become firm and apparent to themselves, and to others (the recognizers). The issues that arise with mal adapted self-recognition or self-identification can include a lack of self-esteem / self-efficacy, lack of self-respect, lack of identity, and lack of contentment. I believe that the concept of creating a positive self-image / self-efficacy / self-respect is crucial to the developing teenager in the high school setting. I believe that setting an emphasis on “Achievement” (Stanford) throughout my practicum on the young apprentice’s progress will have a positive effect on their self-recognition. These apprentices are sure to learn (achieve) as they progress through the program, and throughout these learning experiences I will attempt to prompt them to form long lasting ties between their perceptions of their achievement competencies and their self-recognition. I believe that this will be well placed effort on increasing a teenagers / group of teenagers sense of self-esteem / efficacy / respect / identity / recognition concepts.

Apprentice-Mentor model
The theory behind apprenticeships in general calls to me as it such a proven method of increasing an individual’s competencies and self-image in any given field. However, I have seen poorly formed images of self-efficacy / esteem cause an apprentice to drop out of their chosen trades due to the negative growth aspects that are associated with these poorly formed self-recognition concepts. For example; an apprentice may not stick up for themselves and ask to be placed on a task that provides a greater learning experience for them, seemingly content with working in a production line mentality. The apprentice could be afraid that they will fail when placed at the new task, or not respect themselves enough to stand up for themselves. Either of these two options are enough to keep an apprentice locked in their current position and unable to climb the ladder to mastery of their trade.

A push towards equality
The apprenticeship – mentor model is certainly catered towards a certain demographic, allowing for rapid advancement to competitive, confident, exuberant, vocal and extroverted individuals (white males generally fitting this description with ease when compared to another other demographic groups).  What I hope to do with this area of research is make widely known the mindset that is going to be most beneficial in the apprenticeship environment, thus hopefully removing some privilege and excess power from the currently dominating group of white male tradesmen (who already display the apprentice mindset through enculturation), and creating a more equal playing field in the world of trades.