Many teachers habitually use praise – not so much for feedback, but as an attempt to improve children’s self-esteem. For some, the assumption is that praise is always a good thing. The hope is that praise leads to high self-esteem and a feeling of specialness, which in turn results in greater prospects for success and happiness. Does the evidence support this? Surprisingly, links between high self-esteem and academic performance are questionable at best and seem to lower academic achievement at worst. How can this be?

In Self-Compassion, Kristin Neff says “self-esteem is a side-effect of success, the consequence of healthy behavior rather than the cause. Success leads to self-esteem, not the other way around, and artificially boosting it doesn’t work.” This is supported by Carol Dweck: “It’s a mistake to believe that you can simply hand children self-esteem by telling them how smart and talented they are. We cannot boost children’s self-esteem by protecting them from failure.” Artificial attempts to boost self-esteem can result in self-absorption, an overreliance on praise and reward, grade inflation, and a need to see ourselves as better than others. High self-esteem does not reduce anxiety. It tends to be comparative, excluding 50% of people from being above average. It is common for parents to tell their children how “special” they are. Unique is one thing, but some children interpret “special” as being better than others. The word can be problematic.

One study found that students who did the least amount of homework and received the poorest grades got by far the most praise. Another study found that school athletes who received the most praise from their coaches in time became least confident in their athletic skills. The results of these studies might seem counter-intuitive, but the reasons explaining it are logical. Students can tell when a teacher doesn’t believe in their potential, and praise is often the first sign. It might be natural for an adult to wish to (artificially) attempt to boost a student’s confidence but praising children for mediocrity has consequences.

Firstly, it might convey low expectation: “you’re not very smart, so congratulations on reaching this mediocre level. This is good for someone like you.” Superfluous praise can be interpreted by a student as indicative of low expectation; that little more is expected of them. Similarly, students may interpret teacher sympathy or pity in response to failure, as indicative of lack of ability or the character to bounce back. Whilst the high expectation of a teacher is one of the best predictors of student achievement, the low expectation of a teacher stymies student progress. Along with praise, other examples of low teacher expectation include giving too much help, and utterances like “just do the best you can”. Although well-intentioned, when saying this to a child the most likely outcome is poorer performance.

Secondly, excess praise can mislead low effort/low achievers to believe they are as competent as higher achievers, resulting in an impression of little need to improve their performance. Praise can lull students into accepting lower standards and mislead them into thinking they are doing better than they are. Praising students regardless of their performance might also encourage a belief that effort doesn’t matter. Some students are suspect of praise, interpreting over-the-top compliments as patronizing and an insult to their capability.

The only way to escape the personal corruption of praise is to go on working. – Einstein

I don’t like compliments; they distract me. – Jimi Hendrix

Well-intentioned though it might be, unearned and over-praise from adults does not produce the desired long-term outcomes.

The problem with some school-based methods to boost self-esteem is they don’t distinguish between healthy and unhealthy self-esteem. Teachers use indiscriminate praise, focussing on the child’s level of self- esteem, not on why or how it gets there. Thus, many children come to believe they deserve compliments no matter what they do. – Kirstin Neff

Even the very idea of high self-esteem as valuable is suspect. Kay Hymowitz, in a Wall Street Journal article writes:

And what do 15,000 studies show? High self-esteem doesn’t improve grades, reduce anti-social behaviour, deter alcohol drinking or do much of anything good for kids. In fact, telling kids how smart they are can be counterproductive. Many children who are convinced that they are little geniuses tend not to put much effort into their work. Others are troubled by the anxiety of adults who feel it necessary to praise them constantly.

Former Oxford Fellow Iain McGilchrist writes: “high self-esteem is positively correlated with a tendency to be unrealistic, to take offence too easily, and to become violent and demanding if one’s needs are not met”.

High self-esteem and healthy self-esteem are not the same thing. Healthy self-esteem is developed in two ways. 1. Overcoming a difficulty by yourself. This results in an increase in self-efficacy and generates pride in one’s accomplishment/personal growth. 2. Altruistic behaviour. That is, making the personal decision to perform selfless acts that bring advantages to others rather than oneself.

The alternative to praise is for teachers to give real feedback to students regarding their competence and incompetence. This must be preceded with student self-evaluation opportunities, and questions that encourage persistence and examination of learning strategies: “Tell me two good things about your playing right now. How did you prepare for this? What could you do differently next time? Let’s learn from this so we can improve.” And so on. Feedback must be specific, clear, consistent, accurate, and given often. A general error in music-teacher feedback is to give vague feedback on the competence sector: “that was good; well done!” – but what was good about it? Feedback begins with the competence, and carefully transitions to the incompetence. Rather than abrupt conjunctions such as “but” or “however”, modals such as “perhaps” might consider” and “possibly” are more inviting, and less threatening, for growth. “Would this work? Could we interpret this another way?”

Critical feedback sends the message that one is capable of better performance. “I’m giving you this feedback because I believe in you”. Praise is essentially information-less feedback. Whilst the link between praise-generated self-esteem and achievement is weak, the link between autonomous competence, or self-efficacy, is powerful.