Conference Agenda

The workshop will challenge fixed ideas of the ‘gold standard’ within ethnographic and create a space for the attendees to ask whether “failure” in in research is terminal or whether it can be reframed as a generative and instructive site of learning and discovery. Learning is a process in which mistakes are essential steps towards deeper understanding and growth (Dewey, 1938). In this process, as Dewey famously stated, "failure is instructive" (Dewey 1894, 50). Biesta (2010) builds on this idea by emphasizing the importance of accepting uncertainty and unpredictability in education in general. He argues that the 'weakness' of education - its inability to guarantee certain outcomes - is precisely what makes it ethically robust and attuned to the freedom and autonomy of learners. Failure, in this context, is an opportunity to engage with challenges that expand the capacity to respond to life's complexities. Taking time to reflect on failure can build critical thinking, adaptability, and professional judgment—skills that are especially relevant for educators and other practitioners navigating complex professional contexts.

Research literature has documented how “boundary-enforcing practices” (Guyotte, Coogler & Flint, 2023, p. 117) constrain risk-taking in scholarly work. Specifically, rigid “gold standards” of research (Barone & Eisner, 2012) have often hindered the epistemological engagement with failure, overlooking its potential as a generative space for exploration. Under conditions of excellence and accountability, failure is commonly framed as an individual deficit to be managed. Such framings not only obscure the generative potential of failure, but also entangle it with practices of shaming that regulate what can be known, said, and done. Shame can be both motivating and constraining (Walker, 2017) and highlight what situated knowledge these experiences might produce.

Within educational research and professional education, similar dynamics emerge around how failure is framed, managed, and emotionally negotiated. In contexts such as teacher education, educational leadership, or research-based professional learning, ‘failure-friendly’ cultures can foster reflective practice, ethical judgement, and adaptive expertise under conditions of uncertainty (Biesta, 2010). Here, affective responses such as shame do not merely regulate performance but can become sites of critical reflection on norms, responsibilities, and professional identities. Climate shame may serve as one illustrative example of how affect can provoke moral and epistemic reflection (Aaltola, 2021); however, comparable mechanisms operate across educational research and professional learning fields characterized by complexity, accountability, and indeterminacy.