How to Counter Learned Helplessness

Educators have long advocated for reframing “failure” positively as a “learning opportunity,” but when failure becomes so normal and expected in a student’s life that it causes abject resignation, it leads to learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is a psychological condition associated with feelings of lost control, and it creates students who disengage from effort, even if the effort is within reach and will clearly lead to success.

This phenomenon develops early, so it’s critical that elementary educators have an understanding and awareness of the condition. Educators of older students also should be knowledgeable about learned helplessness, since it has a detrimental influence on academic performance and mental well-being, as demonstrated in a 2007 video of an experiment that shows college-age adults giving up on a classroom task in just 10 to 15 minutes.