Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2025
Abstract
Learned helplessness is a common problem in the upper grades of compulsory education. It creates frustration and has a significant negative impact on academic achievement. Teachers need to accurately identify learned helplessness behaviors before they can promote effective strategies for student autonomy, resilience, and academic success. Research has shown that appropriate strategies successfully mitigate or prevent learned helplessness, but misguided strategies will exacerbate the problem. This study aims to examine the behaviors that teachers currently associate with learned helplessness and the strategies they have found to be successful in mitigating its effects in their classrooms. After reviewing literature on learned helplessness, its origins, and mitigative strategies, a Google survey was designed and distributed to sixth through twelfth-grade teachers in two small Midwestern towns. Analysis of the responses indicated that teachers have a general idea of the behaviors but are not as accurate at providing research-backed strategies for prevention or mitigation. Some strategies were even known to exacerbate learned helplessness behaviors. Finally, research showed that teachers are attempting to implement teacher-supported autonomous pedagogy in their classrooms. However, teacher psychologically controlling pedagogy persists in over half of the classrooms surveyed. The researcher concluded that classroom management instruction on supportive pedagogy for learned helplessness for pre-service teachers and professional development for in-service teachers is important to support students. Goal setting and autonomous pedagogy will universally promote mastery orientation, resilience, and academic achievement. Further research is needed to increase the sample size and investigate the consequences of unresolved academic learned helplessness.