From the Assistant Principal - Teaching, Learning and Wellbeing

The Impact of the Fear of Failure on Learning and Learning Growth for Students.

This week I share with you some thoughts from Dave Kinkead from criticalthinking.org.au. He writes:

“Fear of failure can seem like it's becoming an epidemic in the classroom these days. High stakes testing, an ever increasing pressure to perform and get top marks, or an instagram-generation growing up in an environment where only the perfect is made visible are just some of the many possible things contributing to this phenomena.

But whatever the cause, the effect is typically the same. Fear of failure prevents students from taking action, from experimenting, exploring concepts, and having a go.”

What if we flipped the script and instead of focusing on mistakes, we focus on “the learnings”? Mistakes are easily corrected and are small in comparison to “the learnings” that we can receive from the feedback our peers and teachers provide. Teachers are acutely aware that positive and encouraging comments will assist students grow in their learning, but seeing this feedback as an opportunity to learn, greatly improves a student’s progress in their grades and marks.

The positive relationships between students and their teachers are what make students feel comfortable in their learning environment and the right kind of conversations can encourage students to move out of their comfort zones. This is the hardest space for a learner, especially one who is overwhelmed by the newness of the experience, the difficulty of the content and the critical thinking involved. When the fear of failure overtakes a student's mindset at this stage, they are more likely to withdraw from the learning experience and in some cases do not attempt the task at all.

The challenge to all learners (including the teacher) is to find a happy medium. Teachers will seek to provide students with several opportunities to find a way out of the ‘learning pit’ and build curiosity within their students through feedback. The Inquiry Learning process used in our classrooms, relies on feedback to help students discover that there are many ways to arrive at an answer.

Mastering the skill of being  a lifelong learner requires both student and teacher to see feedback as an opportunity to reflect and set new goals that will support our  journey to success. Embracing the fear of failure and pushing through the uncomfortable thoughts that hold us back from success are habits that build resilience. These habits will replace our fixed mindset with one focused on “taking action, experimenting and having a go.”

Ms Josilin Kalifa

Assistant Principal 

Teaching, Learning and Wellbeing