Even the best, most accomplished teachers make (sometimes big) mistakes. But as the experts and authority figures in their classrooms, teachers face myriad pressures to have all the answers and, in some cases, to work miracles. This book brings together first-hand stories from classrooms across the globe of hard-won lessons stemming from teachers’ mistakes and failures both small and colossal to show how becoming expert actually necessitates failure. It’s through their mistakes that the most successful people arrive at greatness.


Failure Before Success brings together accounts from everyone from a world-renowned Finnish education scholar and global policy advisor to distinguished professors of education to veteran teachers with decades of experience working in the complex field of teaching. While there are silver bullet books for teachers on the market, none match the comfort Failure Before Success offers by telling the stories of how some of the most accomplished in the field got it wrong and turned their mistakes into their greatest lessons on teaching excellence.