We shouldn’t disregard mistakes for all the clichés associated with them. Instead, we need to maintain an open and active discussion. A tolerance for error alleviates stress and builds a resilience for lifelong learning.
We are in conversation with students about mistakes from the moment they arrive at the studio – from the first need for a rubber. 18% of our students feel scared to make mistakes. If you relate, you are a vital part of this conversation too.
Do you feel safe to make mistakes? Last week, we posed this question to a sample of 500 art-K students across the UK to gauge their perspective. Our survey was inspired by US researcher Ellison Lunde. Their paper prompts teachers to survey their own students in order to understand how they respond to errors. As, by opening up a conversation about mistakes, it helps build a tolerance for them. [1] So, we did just that.
The results confirmed what we hoped: the majority of students feel safe making mistakes in their studios. That’s somewhat of a success! But our work here’s not done.
An online UK stress survey by the Mental Health Foundation revealed that:
6 out of 10 young people aged 18–24 have felt so stressed by the pressure to succeed that they felt unable to cope.
Whilst 57% of these young people stated that the cause of their stress was a fear of making mistakes. [2]
As someone who spent much of my childhood and early adulthood putting pressure on myself to achieve, these statistics really weighed on me.
As a teacher, I was curious to understand what this means for the futures of our students who show a relatively positive relationship with mistakes. I wondered whether this confidence to make mistakes between the ages of 6-18 will sustain them into adulthood, or whether a fear of mistakes grows as they do.
So, I began contextualising our survey findings in this data. It seems that mistake management is an essential tool to help us manage stress under the hefty weight of the pressure to succeed. Thus confirming what Lunde wrote, that the need for students to perceive mistakes positively is crucial. [1]
What causes a fear of mistakes?
– Perfectionism
Perfectionism creates unrealistic expectations, where anything less than perfect feels like failure. When learning a skill, terms like “mastering”, “perfecting” etc. put pressure on us to meet an impossible standard. In their study, Lunde highlights that “perfectionism is a major struggle with mistakes”.[1] This theory was confirmed by the mental health survey, which pinpoints a fear of mistakes as the root cause of stress to succeed.
Research shows that perfectionism is worse in high achievers. As young children, gifted students tend to be successful in their endeavors which leads to perfectionism and the avoidance of failures.[1] We observed that 11+ classes had significantly less confidence in creating errors. In stark contrast, only 28% of 11+ students surveyed felt confident to make a mistake.
At this age, there is a developmental shift which is often referred to in art as the crisis point.
At the age of 5, children’s drawing is schematic. This means that they understand perspective and negative space but their drawings are relatively symbolic. At around 6, their desire to draw realistically begins and it is present in tandem with their schematic drawing whilst they develop their realistic drawing skills. Around 11, children begin to grasp being able to observe and copy expressions and details. After 11+, they begin shading and looking at proportion. The finer and more delicate skill development that occurs around 11 may be the cause of pressure to draw perfectly, and cause the frustration and self-criticism when it doesn’t appear as they think it ‘should’ do. They are now noticing more, and trying to hold themselves to a much higher standard of realism.
– Shame
Whilst the topic of mistakes is prone to bad clichés, the feeling of shame can be all-consuming – as though we are experiencing it for the first time. Making mistakes can feel like a solitary, alienating experience, amplifying a sense of failure.
The results of Lunde’s research revealed that their students “repeatedly referenced five negative feelings when discussing their perceptions:
- Sadness
- Anger
- Frustration
- Embarrassment
- Worry”
Whilst, “Some students discussed negative physical reactions to mistakes such as the feeling of “an anvil”, “a knot”, or “butterflies” in the stomach.” [1]
I think that perfectly sums up how mistakes make me feel. The shame is relatable! It’s the same feeling that I recognised in the statistics revealed by the Mental Health Foundation.
What effect can perfectionism and shame have on our tolerance to make mistakes?
Here, our attention turns to our adult learners. Lunde reveals that “mistakes can become haunting memories that engrain themselves in the mind of a learner”. [1] A memory lasting long into adulthood.
According to a study by Brene Brown:
85% of people remember something shaming from school that changed how they thought of themselves as learners. 50% of those were from creative subjects.” [3]
In their first session, the adult students who are making a return to art share the reason why they fell out of love with the subject. Some got too busy, with mounting commitments limiting time for creativity. However, many share that a poor experience with a teacher or a lack of confidence in themselves artistically stopped them from pursuing it further. They fit within the 50% of adults who changed as learners.
This negative experience may not necessarily be a mistake, however, a mistake is a research proven example of a shameful experience that may put us off trying something a second time. Especially if we do not feel supported when making it.
When considering the 7,000+ children that attend art-K each term, we can comprehend our responsibility of ensuring that they don’t grow up to feel like the 50% who were badly affected by a school-age experience that shaped them as learners, as artists. We want to shape the way they think about themselves as learners in a positive way, and maintain our 82%.
“Positive Error Culture” – Why we need to keep talking about mistakes:
Maria Tulis, uses the term “error culture”. Learning spaces with a positive error culture are defined as classroom settings that “allow for open communication about different solutions and, as a result, sharing of error knowledge.”[4] Research has shown us that an emotionally safe learning environment is associated with a positive experience of mistakes. Linking this to Brene Brown, we are trying to prevent children feeling ashamed of error.
Tulis also states that “teachers’ attitudes towards (learning from) mistakes establish a positive or negative error culture in the classroom by determining the kinds of mistake-handling activities that are expected and supported”. [4]
What happens if children do not feel comfortable to share mistakes with the teacher?
Dominic DeBrincat states that there is “the increased likelihood that students might try to hide their mistakes instead of seeking clarifications”. [5] So, holding up a conversation about mistakes is vital. Especially around 11+.
“The bigger picture”
Mistakes are trust exercises. Overcoming small mistakes in the studio, and the classroom, have an impact on students’ motivation and drive to learn into adulthood.
DeBrincat sums it up perfectly, stating that teachers and guardians should:
“Steer [students] toward productive effort, not perfection… Reducing the fear of pessimistic wrongness will bolster their courage to take risks, including small ones in the classroom, or large ones beyond” [5]
Together with parents and carers, we work to raise a generation of artists who are confident, bold and self-assured enough to make a mistake.
What are the key actions we want to take away?
- Support with mistake management is vital to whether a student feels confident to continue their learning.
- Understandably, as teachers, the way that we model behaviour towards mistakes ourselves is key. If we want trust in creating an error culture, we have to believe and live it ourselves. We must treat our errors positively, modelling them as learning opportunities for our students to see and trust in the approach.
- We already know that the transition into secondary school is significant, however, our findings have made us more aware of the fact that only 28% of 11+ students surveyed felt safe to make mistakes. We endeavour to help these students overcome their crisis point. We need to keep an open dialogue to understand how this percentage can improve, how we can overcome it – together.
Written by: Molly Huxley
Edited and reviewed by: Emily Harper
Reference Resources:
[1] “Now I Feel Like I’m Supposed to Make Mistakes”: Changing Student Perc” by Ellison Lunde
[2] 60% of young people unable to cope due to pressure to succeed | Mental Health Foundation
[3] Six Ways to Help Kids Grow Their Creativity
[4] Error management behavior in classrooms: Teachers’ responses to student mistakes – ScienceDirect
[5] Yes, No, Wait, What?: The Benefits of Student Mistakes in the Classroom on JSTOR
