Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in th...

Research

Associated organisational unit

Electronic data

  • failure_revised_version

    Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Emotion, Space and Society. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Emotion, Space and Society, 37, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719

    Accepted author manuscript, 1.32 MB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university: reflections from an action research project

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university: reflections from an action research project. / Whittle, Rebecca; Brewster, Liz; Medd, William et al.
In: Emotion, Space and Society, Vol. 37, 100719, 01.11.2020.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Whittle, R, Brewster, L, Medd, W, Young, R, Simmons, H & Graham, E 2020, 'The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university: reflections from an action research project', Emotion, Space and Society, vol. 37, 100719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719

APA

Whittle, R., Brewster, L., Medd, W., Young, R., Simmons, H., & Graham, E. (2020). The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university: reflections from an action research project. Emotion, Space and Society, 37, Article 100719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719

Vancouver

Whittle R, Brewster L, Medd W, Young R, Simmons H, Graham E. The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university: reflections from an action research project. Emotion, Space and Society. 2020 Nov 1;37:100719. Epub 2020 Sept 1. doi: 10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719

Author

Whittle, Rebecca ; Brewster, Liz ; Medd, William et al. / The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university : reflections from an action research project. In: Emotion, Space and Society. 2020 ; Vol. 37.

Bibtex

@article{a93dbdf59e7045af922eea84595c96c4,
title = "The {\textquoteleft}present-tense{\textquoteright} experience of failure in the university: reflections from an action research project",
abstract = "This article reflects on insights from an action research project where we worked with students whose university experience was inhibited by the fear of failure. In contrast to the popular concept of {\textquoteleft}learning from failure{\textquoteright}, which involves intellectualizing the experience and distancing ourselves from it, our findings demonstrate the importance of a {\textquoteleft}present tense{\textquoteright} focus on emotions and affects in order to understand the experience of failure for students. Doing so brings us face-to-face with the often painful experience of failure in the present moment which, we argue, is an important and valid part of the university experience. We conclude by reflecting on the kinds of spaces and skills that may be needed to work with this new understanding of failure and show that developing these is a crucial part of resisting neoliberalism and creating a more {\textquoteleft}care-full{\textquoteright} (Mountz et al., 2015) academy.",
author = "Rebecca Whittle and Liz Brewster and William Medd and Rob Young and Hilary Simmons and Edith Graham",
year = "2020",
month = nov,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719",
language = "English",
volume = "37",
journal = "Emotion, Space and Society",
issn = "1755-4586",
publisher = "Elsevier",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The ‘present-tense’ experience of failure in the university

T2 - reflections from an action research project

AU - Whittle, Rebecca

AU - Brewster, Liz

AU - Medd, William

AU - Young, Rob

AU - Simmons, Hilary

AU - Graham, Edith

PY - 2020/11/1

Y1 - 2020/11/1

N2 - This article reflects on insights from an action research project where we worked with students whose university experience was inhibited by the fear of failure. In contrast to the popular concept of ‘learning from failure’, which involves intellectualizing the experience and distancing ourselves from it, our findings demonstrate the importance of a ‘present tense’ focus on emotions and affects in order to understand the experience of failure for students. Doing so brings us face-to-face with the often painful experience of failure in the present moment which, we argue, is an important and valid part of the university experience. We conclude by reflecting on the kinds of spaces and skills that may be needed to work with this new understanding of failure and show that developing these is a crucial part of resisting neoliberalism and creating a more ‘care-full’ (Mountz et al., 2015) academy.

AB - This article reflects on insights from an action research project where we worked with students whose university experience was inhibited by the fear of failure. In contrast to the popular concept of ‘learning from failure’, which involves intellectualizing the experience and distancing ourselves from it, our findings demonstrate the importance of a ‘present tense’ focus on emotions and affects in order to understand the experience of failure for students. Doing so brings us face-to-face with the often painful experience of failure in the present moment which, we argue, is an important and valid part of the university experience. We conclude by reflecting on the kinds of spaces and skills that may be needed to work with this new understanding of failure and show that developing these is a crucial part of resisting neoliberalism and creating a more ‘care-full’ (Mountz et al., 2015) academy.

U2 - 10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719

DO - 10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100719

M3 - Journal article

VL - 37

JO - Emotion, Space and Society

JF - Emotion, Space and Society

SN - 1755-4586

M1 - 100719

ER -