Lesson 4: Resilience: Embracing failure

Focus on trial and error maths problems to think about the positive side of failure, as well as learning about the achievements of some inspirational individuals whose failures led them to great successes.

Learning objective

  • To understand the purpose of failure

National curriculum

All schools should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice.

The PSHE Association Programme of Study recommends pupils are taught:

  • H19. a varied vocabulary to use when talking about feelings; about how to express feelings in different ways;
  • H20. strategies to respond to feelings, including intense or conflicting feelings; how to manage and respond to feelings appropriately and proportionately in different situations
  • H29. about how to manage setbacks/perceived failures, including how to re-frame unhelpful thinking

Success criteria

Cross-curricular links

Before the lesson

Attention grabber

Main event

Differentiation

Pupils needing extra support: May need to work with a partner or speak to an adult about the emotional experience that comes with failure and strategies to manage these so that they are ready to try again. (See Relaxation video.)

Pupils working at greater depth: Should describe how this approach could be used in other areas of life.

Wrapping up

Assessing pupils' progress and understanding

Vocabulary

Created by:
Elaine Bousfield,  
Wellbeing specialist
Elaine worked for many years as a therapist with young people. She is the founder and chair of XenZone and its children and young people’s counselling service, kooth.com. Kooth delivers an online counselling and therapy service. It is also an online community…
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