Making Room for Mistakes

Something that caught my attention in our Week 4 Learning Key presentation in Learning and Development was the discussion of failure: failure as a first step, “the great teacher,” and a fundamental part of developing resilience in learning (“Week 4 Learning Key Presentation”). I agree with these ideas, but they also made me think about how difficult it can be to accept failure when you have come to see success as part of who you are. 

Growing up, I worked hard, enjoyed school, and often found that concepts came easily to me. Somewhere between middle school and high school, however, my relationship with learning began to change. Being seen as “smart” felt less like encouragement and more like an expectation I had to maintain. Familial and cultural expectations surrounding academic achievement added to that pressure. I wanted to do well, but I also wanted to keep being the person others believed I was. Eventually, the possibility of failure became almost paralyzing. Trying something difficult meant risking an outcome that might challenge how others saw me, and how I saw myself. 

In doing some research I came across Richard G. Beery’s (1975) article, Special Feature: Fear of Failure in the Student Experience, which offers a useful connection to this experience. His discussion includes anxious procrastination, inadequate preparation, and apparent indifference among the ways fear of failure can appear in students’ behaviour. This makes me question how readily we interpret avoidance as a lack of motivation. A student who appears unwilling to try may be struggling with what an unsuccessful attempt could mean to them.

For me, this distinction matters. I cared about doing well, yet that concern sometimes made it harder to begin. Avoidance gave me an explanation for a disappointing outcome that felt less threatening than questioning my ability. Looking back, I can see how protecting my identity as a capable student sometimes interfered with actually learning.

This experience also does not necessarily end with adolescence. Beery (1975) describes fear of failure among undergraduate and graduate students across ability levels. His discussion reminds me that academic capability does not automatically make someone comfortable with uncertainty or setbacks. I can imagine these same fears following students beyond school, affecting whether they pursue an opportunity, ask a question, or attempt something unfamiliar.

Our class discussions about developmental stages and self-efficacy helped me think more deeply about this cycle. I wanted to protect my belief in my abilities, but avoiding challenges meant missing opportunities to build that belief through experience. 

As future teachers, we need to look beyond whether a student completes the work or earns a strong grade and consider how they experience learning and what they believe a mistake says about them. These considerations should shape how we create our classroom environments. We can model uncertainty, acknowledge our own mistakes, and show students how to ask for help and try again. 

Teachers cannot remove every familial, cultural, or social pressure students carry. However, we can influence how students experience difficulty in our classrooms.

MiliS@OTU

References:

Beery, R. G. (1975). Special feature: Fear of failure in the student experience. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 54(4), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2164-4918.1975.tb04220.x

Week 4 learning key presentation [Class presentation]. (n.d.). Learning and Development, Ontario Tech University.