When Excellence Hurts: Perfectionism in Education

We celebrate excellence in schools. We reward high grades, praise flawless lessons, and hold up achievements as symbols of success. But what happens when the pursuit of excellence becomes a compulsion? When perfection, not progress, becomes the goal?

In education, perfectionism often hides in plain sight. It masquerades as diligence, ambition, or high standards. Yet behind it, for both students and teachers, can lie anxiety, burnout, and a fear of not being good enough.

Perfectionism: A Double-Edged Sword

Perfectionism isn’t simply the desire to do well. At its core, it is a fear-based mindset, one that links self-worth to flawless performance. It often presents as:

• Overworking to avoid criticism

• Avoiding risks for fear of failure

• Obsessing over details that delay progress

• Feeling never satisfied, even with success

For students, this may show up as panic before exams, an inability to celebrate a grade below an A*, or reluctance to submit work they don't deem “perfect.” For teachers, it may look like spending hours refining resources, feeling crushed after a single piece of negative feedback, or chronically comparing themselves to peers.

Where Does It Come From?

Perfectionism is rarely innate. It is often reinforced, quietly and unintentionally, by the systems, language, and cultures in systems we work within. Take schools for example:

• The exam factory model that equates success with grades

• Meritocratic ideals that reward individual outcomes over collective growth

• Professional expectations that suggest a good teacher should be endlessly resilient, endlessly giving

• Cultural or familial messages that link achievement with love, safety, or approval

These influences create environments where striving is never enough. Where excellence is a moving target. Where the cost of failure, real or imagined, feels existential.

The Hidden Cost of High Achievement

There is a growing body of research linking perfectionism to mental health difficulties including anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and burnout (Flett & Hewitt, 2022). In schools, the consequences can be stark:

• For students: perfectionism can erode intrinsic motivation, stifle creativity, and lead to avoidance, procrastination, or disengagement when success feels out of reach.

• For teachers: it can fuel imposter syndrome, emotional exhaustion, and an unsustainable workload culture that punishes vulnerability and glorifies martyrdom.

What begins as a desire to do well can become a need to be flawless, and that is a profoundly unsafe foundation for learning or teaching.

Creating Healthier Cultures of Excellence

To address this, we must uncouple excellence from perfection. We must build school cultures that honour effort, growth, and humanity over performance alone. Here’s how:

Name the Culture

Start by making perfectionism visible. Talk about it. Unpick how it shows up in your school. Use language that normalises struggle and frames failure as part of the process, not a deviation from it.

Model Vulnerability

Leaders and teachers must model imperfection. Share stories of lessons that didn’t go to plan, professional setbacks, or times you changed your mind. This creates psychological safety and shows that learning doesn’t end with adulthood.

Celebrate Process, Not Just Outcomes

Reframe praise around effort, reflection, and growth. Instead of “You’re so clever,” try “You’ve worked really hard to make sense of this.” Instead of “What a perfect display,” try “It’s great to see how your ideas have evolved.”

Rethink Feedback and Assessment

Avoid systems that reinforce binary thinking (pass/fail, top/bottom sets, perfect/imperfect). Build in formative feedback, low-stakes testing, and student reflection. Focus on learning as a journey, not a judgement.

Support the Adults

Perfectionism in staff is often unspoken but pervasive. Provide CPD on imposter syndrome, burnout, and wellbeing. Encourage collaboration, boundary-setting, and mentorship. A thriving teacher is a powerful model for students navigating similar struggles.

Redefining What Excellence Means

True excellence isn’t about being flawless; it’s about being courageous enough to try, resilient enough to learn, and wise enough to grow. It allows space for mistakes, embraces curiosity, and values the messy, human work of becoming. When we define excellence as perfection, we harm those striving toward it. When we define excellence as growth, we liberate them.

Flett, Gordon & Hewitt, Paul. (2022). Perfectionism in childhood and adolescence: A developmental approach. 10.1037/0000289-000.