Facing the "Fear of Failure": Veterinary Students in Clinical Rotations

Abstract

Failing a student is difficult for both educator and student, but administering a failing grade is critical for protecting and ensuring adequate learning for an unsafe student. The failure to fail clinical students has been commonly reported and explored among educators in the human health professions but has not been formally addressed in veterinary education. Forty-three participants attending the Veterinary Educators Collaborative symposium were surveyed concerning their attitudes and experiences failing clinical veterinary students. Results indicated that the failure to fail phenomenon exists among veterinary educators, as the majority of veterinary educators often felt reluctant and unprepared to fail a student on clinical rotations. The most common barriers to failing students were institutional culture and unsatisfactory assessor development or evaluation tools. Veterinary educators must face this fear of failure and explore strategies to overcome existing barriers that can ultimately transform student failure into success.

Keywords: failure; failure to fail; underperforming students; unsafe students; veterinary clinical education.