Errors as a Springboard for Learning:Towards a Theoretical Framework and Educational Implications

This E-CER builds on a growing conversation within education, business, and workplaces about the potential benefits of attending, engaging and constructively responding to mistakes and errors. The ability to do this is argued to be vital for navigating today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Errors, mistakes and failures are integral parts of learning, and reflection on them can lead to creative and novel solutions and deeper learning. However, productively learning from errors is often not spontaneous. Instead, it needs to be supported by learning environments in which “being wrong” is not only tolerated but encouraged, and mistakes are recognised as learning opportunities.