BBC Radio 4 Extra

The Value of Failure

The Value of Failure: Episode 3: Education

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Factual

Episode 3

Episode 3: Education

Education

BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Value of Failure, Education

Head teacher Heather Hanbury on why her school teaches children to fail, and fail well.

Inspirational head teacher Heather Hanbury believes her pupils need resilience and an appetite for risk as well as grades. Her school teaches children to fail, and fail well.

When struggling to invent the electric light bulb, Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed; I've simply found ten thousand ways that won't work."

In this series, five people from very different spheres of life reflect on what failure has taught them personally and explain what value those lessons have in their worlds.

The head teacher of Wimbledon High School, Heather Hanbury, aims to equip her girls with the resilience provided by regular failing, as it will serve them well in the 'real world'. Her counter-cultural mission statement teaches pupils to be good both at failing and talking about failure. Conversely, she also encourages them to cast off embarrassment and to become adept at sharing their triumphs.


Producer: Catherine Carr
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.

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Five people from different spheres of life reflect on what failure has taught them

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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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