Fearless Schools: Building Trust, Resilience, and Psychological Safety

by Douglas Reeves

Teacher Shortages Even with jobs in short supply, expect teachers to leave the profession and fewer people to enter the pipeline of teacher preparation.

Competition from Private Online Education Providers Expect a new generation of charter schools and private schools to offer communities bargain-basement pricing for schools,

leaders must identify the known unknowns and conduct a vigorous information-gathering campaign.

leaders must not only allow for the emergence of conflicting ideas but also actively encourage it.

there were disagreements, but those disagreements took place out of earshot of the leader, denying the leader and the organization the opportunity to learn from those debates.

There are three types of decisions in most educational systems: discretionary, collaborative, or centralized.

Discretionary decisions occur without approval;

Centralized decisions are made by a higher authority and must be carried out

27% of decisions were the result of top-down authority and the remainder was divided between collaborative decisions and those made on a discretionary

leaders must be clear about which decisions are associated with which levels—discretionary, collaborative, and centralized.

If it is a matter of safety and values, centralized decision-making is required.

For a system committed to equity, for example, inequitable decisions are not permitted, no matter how strong the opinions of the individual teacher nor how clear the consensus is by a collaborative team.

values are not discretionary; if they were, they would not be values but only personal preferences.

Collaborative teams in the context of schools require teacher consensus on what students are expected to learn and how that learning will be assessed.

leaders must consider three types of decisions: discretionary, collaborative, and centralized.

While centralized decisions cannot be employed for every decision, it is vital to provide clarity to all stakeholders about which decisions are centralized, which are collaborative, and which are discretionary.

Interestingly, part of leading change is also being clear and reassuring about what does not change. Leaders who change nothing are cowards. Leaders who change everything are fools.

The key to fearless learning is a classroom environment characterized by inquiry, discovery, trial and error—many, many errors—and at last, the sublime sense of accomplishment that comes from a breakthrough.

Fearful learning is knowing that the failure to answer a question from the teacher will lead to giggles, catcalls, and a disappointed look from the teacher.

Fearless learning is knowing that the path of discovery requires jumping in the lake of uncertainty and searching for understanding, confident that friends and t...

Fearful learning is characterized by all-or-nothing thinking—either you are a genius or a fool, a good student or one who d...

Fearless learning is not characterized by confidence in always providing the right answer; rather, its hallmark is in always knowing that the joy of school lies not merely in recitation of memorized facts, bu...

Fearful learning is knowing that insects have six legs and being prepared to provide that a...

Fearless learning is wondering aloud why some bugs have six legs and others, like ...

And the key to fearless learning is when the teacher says, “I don’t know—le...

Fearless learning requires an environment of trust and confidence as well as models of what fearless learning looks like in peop...

Einstein made plenty of mistakes on the road to relativity,

They depend on their classroom for honesty, candor, and safety.

“Better to remain silent,” they reason, “than to have my administrators and peers think I am incompetent.”

These leaders know that we will not have fearless classrooms without fearless collaborative team meetings. In sum, a great PLC is a fearless PLC.

Building trust in peers requires effort and intentionality by the teacher and by student leaders.

Some teachers wisely use daily classroom meetings so that students can check in with one another and, most essentially, learn their names and personal interests.

Trust in peers also requires careful structuring of group work and discussions so that all students have an important role to play and do not de...

The premium in these discussions is not on knowing the right answers, but on asking questions and bringing to the group both ...

When students believe in themselves and maintain a hopeful outlook on their ability to influence their future, they not only do better academically but are also less susceptible to stress, anxiety, and depression

The key to trusting oneself is not the illusion of perfection and always having the right answer; rather, it is the confidence that making mistakes is the path to success

Fearless students are not perfect and do not purs...

If babies didn’t use trial and error as a regular part of their toddler mindset, they would never learn to walk or talk.

The cheers were for real steps, and the love and encouragement were associated with real falls.

If we want to help students trust themselves, they must trust the adults in their lives at school as much as they trusted when they were learning to walk.

We learned that a fearless learning environment is based on trust in teachers, peers, and oneself.