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Learning from failure This article by ACER chief executive Professor Geoff Masters is a condensed version of an article to be published in a forthcoming edition of Professional Educator. The full version of 'Learning from 'failure'" will appear in Professional Educator 5(3) in August. Visit http://austcolled.com.au/publication/professional-educator In July 2005 a proposal was put to the annual conference of the UK Professional Association of Teachers that the concept of ‘failure’ be removed from the British education system. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly dismissed the suggestion, as did an overwhelming majority of British commentators. The proposal was variously rejected as the latest hare-brained notion of liberal/progressive educators; a misguided effort to shield students from the reality of failure in life; and yet another attempt to erode educational standards by treating any performance as acceptable and pretending that all students can succeed. Failure is something that all students experience at some level, both in school and out of school. In common with the rest of the human race, students sometimes fail to achieve what they set out to do, fail to communicate intentions, to solve problems and to complete tasks, raising the question: Why would any educator suggest that the term ‘failure’ be avoided? Perhaps part of the answer lies in the observation that an alarming proportion of young people fall by the wayside in our schools. In Australia, as in Britain, many students become increasingly disaffected and disengaged as they progress through school. These students often see themselves as ‘failures’ of the system and conclude that education is not for them. Research shows that children who start school well behind their age peers, or who fall behind early in their schooling, tend to fall further behind the longer they are in school. A student judged to be ‘failing’ in the early years will very likely still be ‘failing’ much later in their schooling, giving rise to concerns that the repeated identification of school failure may be contributing to levels of alienation and disengagement. Added to this is evidence that those most affected by failure, or the threat of failure, tend to be students who already have low self-confidence and low self-esteem. For these students, the experience of failure often results in still lower self-perceptions of themselves as learners. It is tempting to conclude from the evidence that, in schools, nothing breeds failure like failure. In a society that celebrates success and winners, the challenge for schools is not to attempt to protect students from the inevitability of mistakes, disappointments and failures, but to develop in students a healthy attitude towards these features of life. A healthy attitude to failure can be promoted by: helping students to view mistakes and failures in the context of their ongoing learning helping students to understand the role of failure in progress helping students to understand the need for absolute standards in society In schools, healthy attitudes to failure depend on classroom cultures that tolerate and expect mistakes and that support and encourage students to take risks. If students are not supported to make mistakes and to fail, then they are not supported to learn and to grow. In contrast to a learning culture is a ‘performance culture’ in which the locus of control for learning lies outside the learner. In a performance culture, learning is about competing with other students or about satisfying somebody else’s pass/fail criterion. What is now required is a more sophisticated understanding of ‘successful’ learning than either of these two extremes: one that takes into account both the absolute standard of achievement expected of students by a particular stage in their schooling and the realities of an individual’s long-term learning trajectory. A child who is achieving just above the reading standard expected for their age but who made little or no progress over the previous twelve months may be a greater cause for concern than a student who is still performing below the standard for their age, but who made excellent progress over the past year. The solution to ‘failure’ in education is not to attempt to shield students from the experiences of challenge and failure, or to try to expunge the word from our education lexicon. Rather, the challenge is to develop in students a healthy attitude to failure: ideally, to see failure as part of life, essential to growth, a temporary setback, and a learning opportunity. Above all, children in our schools need to be encouraged to see failure as an event not a state: to develop a deep belief that, although all humans experience failure, no human is a failure. « Back to eNews
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This article by ACER chief executive Professor Geoff Masters is a condensed version of an article to be published in a forthcoming edition of Professional Educator. The full version of 'Learning from 'failure'" will appear in Professional Educator 5(3) in August. Visit http://austcolled.com.au/publication/professional-educator

In July 2005 a proposal was put to the annual conference of the UK Professional Association of Teachers that the concept of ‘failure’ be removed from the British education system. Education Secretary Ruth Kelly dismissed the suggestion, as did an overwhelming majority of British commentators. The proposal was variously rejected as the latest hare-brained notion of liberal/progressive educators; a misguided effort to shield students from the reality of failure in life; and yet another attempt to erode educational standards by treating any performance as acceptable and pretending that all students can succeed.

Failure is something that all students experience at some level, both in school and out of school. In common with the rest of the human race, students sometimes fail to achieve what they set out to do, fail to communicate intentions, to solve problems and to complete tasks, raising the question: Why would any educator suggest that the term ‘failure’ be avoided?

Perhaps part of the answer lies in the observation that an alarming proportion of young people fall by the wayside in our schools. In Australia, as in Britain, many students become increasingly disaffected and disengaged as they progress through school. These students often see themselves as ‘failures’ of the system and conclude that education is not for them.

Research shows that children who start school well behind their age peers, or who fall behind early in their schooling, tend to fall further behind the longer they are in school. A student judged to be ‘failing’ in the early years will very likely still be ‘failing’ much later in their schooling, giving rise to concerns that the repeated identification of school failure may be contributing to levels of alienation and disengagement.

Added to this is evidence that those most affected by failure, or the threat of failure, tend to be students who already have low self-confidence and low self-esteem. For these students, the experience of failure often results in still lower self-perceptions of themselves as learners. It is tempting to conclude from the evidence that, in schools, nothing breeds failure like failure.

In a society that celebrates success and winners, the challenge for schools is not to attempt to protect students from the inevitability of mistakes, disappointments and failures, but to develop in students a healthy attitude towards these features of life.

A healthy attitude to failure can be promoted by:

helping students to view mistakes and failures in the context of their ongoing learning
helping students to understand the role of failure in progress
helping students to understand the need for absolute standards in society

In schools, healthy attitudes to failure depend on classroom cultures that tolerate and expect mistakes and that support and encourage students to take risks. If students are not supported to make mistakes and to fail, then they are not supported to learn and to grow.

In contrast to a learning culture is a ‘performance culture’ in which the locus of control for learning lies outside the learner. In a performance culture, learning is about competing with other students or about satisfying somebody else’s pass/fail criterion.

What is now required is a more sophisticated understanding of ‘successful’ learning than either of these two extremes: one that takes into account both the absolute standard of achievement expected of students by a particular stage in their schooling and the realities of an individual’s long-term learning trajectory. A child who is achieving just above the reading standard expected for their age but who made little or no progress over the previous twelve months may be a greater cause for concern than a student who is still performing below the standard for their age, but who made excellent progress over the past year.

The solution to ‘failure’ in education is not to attempt to shield students from the experiences of challenge and failure, or to try to expunge the word from our education lexicon. Rather, the challenge is to develop in students a healthy attitude to failure: ideally, to see failure as part of life, essential to growth, a temporary setback, and a learning opportunity. Above all, children in our schools need to be encouraged to see failure as an event not a state: to develop a deep belief that, although all humans experience failure, no human is a failure.

Learning from failure