Failure Is Necessary but Never an Option

As we begin our new school year and continue with our conversations around best practice and 21^st century pedagogy, I feel compelled to come forward and say straight out that failure should never be an option within the systems of our schools.

Yes, I’m fully aware that this appears to go against the current voice permeating every facet of educational social media. My desire to make this claim is my reaction to the recent push from educational twitterverse stating that we need to start letting our students fail in order for them to learn. It’s actually all rather tongue in cheek, because as we all know, nothing resonates with more truth than children needing to fall down before then can stand up. I believe the issue I'm feeling compelled to explain is brought on by the uneasy feeling that goes with "allowing our children to fail". The reality is, we all want our children to succeed and achieve to their fullest potential and we know that in order to do this, they must learn from their mistakes. The crossroads, or distinction I’m trying to draw out is, if falling down is the first step to standing up, then let’s be sure we have the support structures in place to ensure that the fall isn’t so great that it causes irreparable harm. In this context, failure is a natural precursor and necessity to learning, but should never be an option systemically within our schools.

The oxymoron that failure is a necessity but never an option must be clearly defined so that no student is left without a safety net.  I believe that the blurring of the issue began when we started navigating the Assessment For Learning paradigm. The unpacking of AFL led some people to infer that “no zeros” equates to not allowing students to fail.  The undercurrent and resounding backlash from this misunderstanding has been a continued push to state the obvious that we must allow students to fail before they can move forward.  Of course students must experience their failures before they can move forward.  From infancy to adulthood, this is how we all learn.   Anyone who has ever touched a hot stove, or fallen off a bike can tell this tale.

For teachers in ours schools, it's important that they feel secure in their practice knowing that their students are allowed to grapple with and experience failure so they can learn from their mistakes, overcome and succeed.  This definition and understanding of failure as an absolute necessity in the learning process is crucial to student success.  The flip side of this discussion however, where failure is never an option, is ensuring that systematically, all the mechanisms are in place to not allow students to ever slip through the cracks. This is at the heart of what it means so say that failure is and never will be an option in our schools.  Blankenstein (2004, Failure is not an option) succinctly articulates the six principles that must come into play so that no student falls unattended.  Schools that systematically support student success, have a clearly communicated mission, vision and value statement, have a thoroughly developed process of intervention to support all students, collaborate in staff teams around teaching and learning, use data to guide decisions, seek and gain active engagement from families and the community and practice sustainable shared leadership. This systemic network of care is the foundation on which schools support student success.

For me, as a parent, the fear of letting go and accepting that my children have to fail at times causes anxiety and a visceral knot in my stomach. When this happens, I find solace by accepting they must experience falling down in order to learn and also in knowing that I will be close by to comfort and encourage them when they get up.  Every parent has at one time or another felt the power of the mother bear’s protective instinct. As parents, we overcome this anxiety and fear by making sure our children don’t fall too far beyond our grasp.  We build safety structures into our lives to keep track of our children so they can learn their lessons and at the same time don’t suffer significant harm. This is what we do in schools. We structure learning knowing that children have to learn from their failures and mistakes, and at the same time we build mechanisms of support that protect, and care for them. We recognize that failure is necessary in the learning process, but will never be an option within the systems of our schools. 

R. Hayes