Abstract
This project partners researchers with culturally diverse, under-resourced youth in Newham and Pimlico to co-create a Growth Mindset Intervention (GMI) combining virtual reality and live performance. Building on collaboration with Newham Council’s Youth Empowerment Service and pre-trial development (see https://cordap.uel.ac.uk/organization/ethnoacting-in-vr-diy-soft-skills-development), it fosters confidence and resilience, including for vulnerable children in care and participants in Pimlico Foundation’s school-based mentoring programme. Participants step into VR environments to voice the words of role models—from Nelson Mandela to TikTok influencers and local residents—selected by the youth themselves. Evidence shows GMIs help young people reframe failure as growth (Jiang et al., 2024). Funding enables optimisation of youth engagement through a co-created, digital, immersive, and embodied GMI, accompanied by rigorous evaluation to provide a culturally relevant wellbeing tool.
Drawing on the recommendations of the most recent systematic review of Growth Mindset Interventions (GIM), our project will answer the following questions to contribute to the existing gap (Jiang 2024: 268):
Impact on young people
1. Growth mindset: Does repeated participation in Ethnoacting in VR increase participants’ growth-mindset scores (e.g., ability to view intelligence and talent as developable)?
2. Resilience and confidence: How does the intervention affect self-reported resilience, confidence in public speaking, and willingness to embrace challenge or failure?
3. Mental-health indicators: Are there measurable changes in wellbeing (e.g., reduced anxiety about failure) after the programme?
Intervention design
4. How do VR immersion and ethnoacting work together to influence motivation and perspective-taking?
5. Which elements (role-model testimony, cultural relevance, interactive VR features) are most critical to engagement and impact?
6. How can the experiential, VR and creative elements complement the typical approach of classroom delivery (which usually involves reading, writing and discussion)?
Cultural relevance and equity
6. Does co-design with racially and culturally diverse youth increase a sense of belonging and identification with role models?
7. How does the intervention support equity in educational and career aspirations for young people from under-resourced communities?
Implementation and scalability
8. What practical factors (facilitation style, session length, technical requirements) affect fidelity, accessibility, and sustainability in youth-service settings?
9. Can the programme be adapted for other UK regions or different age groups while maintaining effectiveness?
10. Can the programme be adapted for delivery within one-to-one mentoring schemes for vulnerable or at-risk youth?
These questions allow both quantitative (pre/post surveys, validated scales) and qualitative (focus groups, observational notes) evaluation, creating a robust evidence base for wider adoption.
Clinical psychology shows that a growth mindset improves youth outcomes beyond academics, reducing psychological distress and strengthening self-regulation (Burnette et al., 2020; 2023). Growth Mindset Interventions (GMIs) can also narrow poverty-related achievement gaps (Claro et al., 2016). It is therefore crucial to examine how GMIs support social and emotional wellbeing in under-resourced, culturally diverse settings.
Newham, one of the UK’s youngest, most diverse, and migrant-populated boroughs, illustrates this need. Over 40% of its residents identify as Asian and 18% as Black, figures far above the national averages, while many neighbourhoods experience high levels of deprivation. Pimlico, in the City of Westminster, combines areas of significant wealth with pockets of deprivation, where schools often require additional support for vulnerable youth. Culturally relevant and racially diverse interventions align closely with the Nuffield Foundation’s educational mission to improve life chances and address structural disadvantage, while also enhancing welfare and protecting young people from involvement in crime.
This project will co-develop a GMI with young people at Newham Council’s Youth Empowerment Service, combining virtual reality and performance for the first time. Co-creation empowers participants and fills research gaps by:
1. focusing on challenged populations,
2. integrating youth feedback through mixed methods, and
3. advancing experiential approaches (Jiang 2024).
This work enhances Newham’s growth mindset curriculum (2023: 27) with embodied, digital, and participatory elements; supports Newham Council’s youth health and wellbeing strategy (2024); reinforces Pimlico Foundation’s youth empowerment initiatives in collaboration with Westminster Council, local schools, and the police (https://pimlicofoundation.co.uk); aligns with the National Youth Strategy’s call to strengthen local services (DCMS, 2024); and follows the National Youth Agency’s Curriculum Framework (2024), offering scalable practices for racially diverse communities across the UK.