Research on academic course failure has mostly focused on two narratives:
- That course failure results in negative outcomes for students, such as dropping out of college, loss of financial aid, and lowered self-esteem.
- That course failure teaches students valuable lessons and helps them develop help-seeking behaviors and a growth perspective on competence and ability.
Wrote Candice Wilson-Stykes, Ph.D. To reconcile these contrasting narratives, she conducted a study that explored students’ perspectives on failing a
course. Her findings, detailed in the recent SEMQ, offer practical implications for higher education policy, student-faculty/staff relationships, and institutional efforts.
Dr. Wilson-Stykes’ study, which was guided by transcendental phenomenology and qualitative secondary analysis, took place at a large, residential, regional, public institution located in the Southwest. The study involved interviews with students
and two surveys. All participants had failed a course but were in good academic standing.
Dr. Wilson-Stykes wrote that the findings both supported and diverged from the existing literature on academic course failure. For example, although ”researchers have attributed value to academic course failure because of its connection to retention,”
the “participants never mentioned retention (or related concepts of persistence and dropout).”
She also found that “the phenomenon of failing a course is enacted by agents of responsibility,” which includes both the students and institutional representatives. Study participants also reported that academic course failure had an “active
function in clarifying their visions and beliefs,” wrote Dr. Wilson-Stykes.
Dr. Wilson-Stykes shared implications–such as the importance of institutional responsibility in approaching academic course failure and that course failure is an equity concern–as well as recommendations for practitioners.
Understanding how students experience failure can help higher education to celebrate and honor students’ tenacity, their wisdom, and the challenges they face in pursuit of higher education, concluded Dr. Wilson-Stykes. Such an understanding also repositions academic course failure as not just something that those who work in higher education help students navigate, but as an experience for which practitioners bear some responsibility to address.
Other articles in the April issue include:
For more information on submitting a manuscript, contact SEMQ Managing Editor. SEMQ is seeking manuscripts for a special series on community colleges and SEM. Find more information on
writing for the journal here.