With most of us returning to the classroom this month there seems to be no better time to think about what kind of learning culture we want to establish in our classroom. Now, purposefully creating our preferred learning culture requires us to first explore which beliefs guide our approaches to learning, teaching and interactions with our learners.
Have you ever deliberately taken the time to think about what beliefs guide you in establishing your classroom culture? I vividly remember the moment that sparked my interest in learning and teaching, it was at secondary school. I had walked into my French class that morning and sat down waiting to see who would be nominated to recite all the vocabulary items we had had to study.
The teacher in question had a habit of keeping us in suspense whilst he would – at a snail’s pace – slowly scroll down the attendance list, carefully announcing, ‘Today’s turn is for …’. You could hear a pin drop. Looking around I noticed that most of us seemed to have shrunk behind our desks. We all had our heads down to make ourselves as small as possible in the hope he wouldn’t nominate us as we all knew that making mistakes resulted in punishment: learning a French poem by heart!
From that day on I started to become more aware of our behaviour as student in various classes and in particular how little response my French teacher got at the end of his lessons when he’d announce, ‘Any questions? Ask them now … In French!’ No one ever did. We didn’t to risk being told we were bad students because we made a mistake.
I’d summarise the cause of our behaviour in one word: Fear. We were petrified of this teacher. I don’t think I need to tell you that most of us couldn’t wait to drop French as a subject! For those who continued it’s debatable how much French we actually learned from being in that classroom. Being petrified does not facilitate the learning process as we know by now.
Upon reflection the main issue was the classroom culture. Our learning behaviour in this class was purely driven by fear. We completed the required activities not because we enjoyed the role plays – we did it to avoid being singled out and having to perform it in front of the whole class! And why didn’t we ask any questions, even though we had loads to ask? Simply because we did not feel safe or comfortable enough.
Knowing so much more about education psychology now I think the best way to describe this kind of fear-driven learning environment is as one that was lacking any sense of psychological safety. The experience established a very strong belief in me that still underpins everything I do in learning, teaching and training: I don’t want a culture of silence in my classroom, I want to create an emotional safe learning environment for all learners. I want to create a classroom culture that is welcoming of mistakes, where students know I’m there for them so they can feel safe enough to try and go beyond using language they already know. And of course, feel they can ask any questions they have.
The concept of psychological safety originates in organisation psychology and was first coined by Amy Edmondson who defined it as ‘a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking’ (1999).
You might question how this concept relates to the classroom. Well, if learners are feeling unsafe with their teacher or peers – maybe due to the certain attitudes or comments when mistakes are made or previous learning experiences – the brain interprets the situation as a threat: we feel fear. As a result, our threat system, an emotional regulation system in our brain focused on survival, kicks in (Gilbert, 2009). This can either lead to a freeze response (If I make myself small, they will not see me so I am safe.) or an attempt to avoid the situation (Can I fight it? If not, I run for it and hide.). In other words, if we do not feel psychologically safe, fear can stop learners from actively participating or even worse, from simply trying. To create the conditions for any cognitive development, learning, to happen, first developing a psychologically safe learning environment is essential.
By establishing a classroom culture where students experience psychological safety students know they don’t need to worry about making mistakes and asking questions, which are both crucial elements of the learning journey. Learning within an environment where mistakes are regarded as learning opportunities will increase students’ willingness to try which allow us to further their learning based on students’ emerging needs. When students know making mistakes and asking question are a normal part of the learning process and there is no need for the brain to feel under threat. Win-win right? So where can we start?
Here are some practical steps you can put into action to build a culture of mistakes in your classroom:
I’d be on cloud nine (or was it seven, I’m not sure …) if this blog post convinces even just one teacher to change their beliefs about making mistakes and triggers the reframing of mistakes from being something ‘bad’ to something we should embrace as learning opportunities.
So, if you are intent on creating a culture of mistakes in your classroom, ditch those activities that hand out yellow and red cards to learners for making mistakes (because they undermine any psychological safely and trust in your classroom as you’ve just seen) and instead, try putting some of the ideas I’ve suggested into action to start building a psychological safe environment.
Do let us know how you got on in the comments below or via MET’s social media!
Edmondson, A. C. (2020). ‘The role of psychological safety in diversity and inclusion’. Psychology Today. New York: Sussex Publishers, LLC
Edmondson, A.C. (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating psychological safety for learning, innovation and growth. New York: Wiley
Edmondson, A. C. (1999). ‘Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44: 2, 350–383. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Gilbert, P. (2009). The Compassionate Mind: A new approach to life’s challenges. London: Constable and Robinson Ltd.
Hasper, A. (2021). ‘Rethinking teaching and training in times of COVID-19’. Modern English Teacher, 30: 1.
Mercer, S. & Gregersen, T. (2020). Teacher Wellbeing. Oxford: OUP Oxford.