Psychological Safety in Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Webinar Recording

Vocational Education and Training (VET) educators need to create a learning environment where participants feel genuinely safe to engage, ask questions, practice and learn. This is known as psychological safety, a concept identified by experts as a critical factor for high-performing teams. It’s also non-negotiable for RTOs aiming for high-quality outcomes.

Chemène Sinson (chemenesinson.com) was our October special guest presenter for our free monthly Professional Development webinar and she took us through an introduction to this important topic.

The session has good linkages with the Standards for RTOs, particularly Division 3: Diversity and inclusion, Standard 2.5 “An NVR registered training organisation demonstrates it fosters a safe and inclusive learning environment for VET students.” It also ties in nicely with Division 4: Wellbeing.

Check out the recording below.

Webinar Recording

Session Handout

Below is a copy of the session handout provided by Chemène at the end.

HANDOUT

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Defining Psychological Safety Beyond Just Being ‘Nice’

The foundational definition is adopted from Harvard’s Dr. Amy Edmondson. It describes psychological safety as a person’s perception that they can speak up, a belief that they have permission to be candid, without fear of punishment or humiliation.

For students, this belief is important because it’s what allows them to:

• Openly admit when they need help or clarification.
• Ask the “obvious” question that may be blocking them or their peers.
• Acknowledge when they’ve made a mistake in practice.

Psychological safety is not:

• Just about avoiding discomfort. While kindness is important, safety is a structural condition, not just a matter of manners.
• About lowering standards. In fact, it’s the opposite. It is a means to help people reach high standards and peak performance by clearing the blockages that come from fear of judgement.
• The final goal. It’s a necessary condition for achieving learning outcomes, competence, and excellence.

Why It Matters

The case for psychological safety extends far beyond the Standards for RTOs which require “safe and accessible learning.” Two key reasons make it essential for educators:

Peak Performance is Rooted in Safety

Extensive research, most notably Google’s Project Aristotle, found that psychological safety was the number one predictor (by a significant margin) of team effectiveness. People perform their best (i.e. learn, innovate, and master skills) when their cognitive resources aren’t tied up managing an internal state of anxiety or fear.

The Brain’s Natural ‘Unsafe’ Default

Our biology works against us. The amygdala, a part of the brain rooted in survival, is wired to trigger the “fight, flight, or freeze” response when faced with uncertainty or unpredictability. In a modern learning or workplace setting, a vague email, an unclear instruction, or a new group dynamic can instantly cause the brain to default to a negative assumption, preparing us for the worst.

Educators must actively counteract this default state to transition a learner’s brain from a reactive survival mode into a productive, receptive learning environment.

Strategies for Implementation

Dr. Amy Edmondson offers a 3-stage approach. Following are some ideas from Chemène on how educators and leaders might immediately action the first 2 stages:

1. Frame the Work

This stage involves setting the intellectual and emotional context for learning, starting with the educator’s own mindset.

Start with Self-Framing

Adopt a leadership style built on empathy, curiosity, and humility. The most powerful action is to role-model safe behaviour. Acknowledge to participants that “perfect is hard and overrated.” Give yourself permission to make mistakes or miss things. This signals to others that the same is acceptable for them.

Set Clear, Realistic Expectations

• Set clear ground rules for behaviour and mutual respect from the outset.
• Set realistic expectations for the required effort. For example, honestly acknowledging that a course like the TAE will be demanding and require many hours helps students plan and reduces the risk of them giving up due to unexpected difficulty.
• Reassure students that it’s normal that using new skills won’t feel easy immediately after the session (the “math class” phenomenon).

Extend Permission to Learners

Use explicit language to grant permission for common fears:

• Give permission to make mistakes.
• The odd “mental holiday” is okay and normal human behaviour (daydream or get distracted).
• Welcome “creative spelling” or typos in online communications to encourage fast, authentic engagement over self-censored perfection.

2. Invite Engagement

Once the stage is set, the educator must actively invite participation while managing the perceived risk for the learner.

Vary Questioning Strategies

Move beyond the risky default of direct, closed questions (“Paul, do you have any questions?”). Use a continuum of approaches based on the group’s established comfort level. For example, “What questions do you have at this point?” or “What needs clarifying?”

Create a Safe Practice Environment

Ensure learners have a chance to try things out and make mistakes when the stakes are low. The goal is to separate practice from performance. Chemène gives the example of a quiet practice room for a musician, not an immediate concert hall. Safety allows for mistakes and experimentation, but it is not the same as “comfortable.”

Be Mindful of Language

Use positive language and curious wording to shift the tone:

• Say “How might we…” instead of “What should we do…”
• Say “Here’s an example…” instead of “Obviously, this is a simple example…”
• Use inclusive terms like “they” (if unsure of pronouns) and “carer” (instead of “your mum or dad”).
• Replace stigmatising terms like “literacy” with phrases like “digital skills” when appropriate to reduce perceived judgment.

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