Professional development is most powerful when it changes thinking, not just practice. One surprising tool that can help instructional coaches foster deep, lasting teacher growth is the Hypercorrection Effect. I had the privilege of listening to Professor Dylan Wiliam speak about this at the ‘Learning in the Brain’ conference in New York and was struck by its applicability to coaching. By understanding and harnessing it, I believe coaches can make feedback stick and promote reflection – through what Wiliam termed a ‘growth-mindset for teachers.’
So, what is the Hypercorrection Effect?
The Hypercorrection Effect refers to the tendency for individuals to better remember and correct errors they made with high confidence once they receive feedback. Simply put: the more confident someone was in their wrong answer, the more likely they are to learn the correct information after feedback.
The original research that the Hypercorrection Effect is based on comes from Raymond Kulhavy’s 1977 educational review, which focused on students and the correction process. He observed that students who confidently answered incorrectly on tests and were then corrected were more likely to remember the material later.
This counterintuitive finding has been demonstrated across several studies. For instance, one paper found that high-confidence errors are much more likely to be corrected and remembered than low-confidence ones. Why? It seems that the emotional surprise of being wrong triggers deeper cognitive processing, making the correction ‘stickier’.
For instructional coaches, this insight is gold. It means that moments when teachers feel most certain, and are yet mistaken, are not failures. They are prime opportunities for transformational learning.
How the Hypercorrection Effect enhances instructional coaching
Coaching often involves teachers reviewing their own lessons through video or reflective conversations with a coach. When a coach highlights a confident yet flawed decision, it activates the Hypercorrection Effect.
For example, a teacher might believe that ‘group work always guarantees engagement.’ However, through coaching dialogue, they recognise that without structured roles or clear tasks, group work can lead to off-task behaviour. Because the teacher was initially so confident, the realisation hits harder, and the corrected understanding becomes deeply embedded.
Research emphasises that reflection on errors, especially high-confidence ones, is critical for learning. If done well, instructional coaching naturally facilitates this reflective process by encouraging dialogue on decision-making.
Emotions are not enemies of learning; they are catalysts. In fact, the Hypercorrection Effect suggests that the emotional jolt of mild surprise, curiosity or even embarrassment that sometimes accompanies discovering a confident mistake boosts memory encoding.
A skilled instructional coach creates a safe yet stimulating emotional environment. By maintaining trust and psychological safety, coaches help teachers experience the productive discomfort of error without shame. It is this ‘sweet spot’ of emotional activation which ensures that feedback doesn’t just wash over teachers. Instead, it transforms their practice.
Instructional coaches often also use questioning techniques to guide teachers toward their own realisations rather than prescribing solutions. This autonomy-supportive approach dovetails perfectly with the Hypercorrection Effect. This is because when teachers discover for themselves that a high-confidence belief was flawed, the correction is far more potent. Research shows that self-generated corrections are more durable than externally provided answers. This is why in our upcoming book on coaching and decision-making, Sarah Cottinghatt, Adam Kohlberg and I have flipped the narrative on providing praise only at the start of a coaching conversation. Instead, we advocate asking the teacher precise questions which allow them to own their own success by getting them to consider the decision-making which underpinned the great things they did.
This can also work for things that didn’t go so well. When coaching prompts a teacher to say, “Ah, I see where I went wrong,” rather than “You told me I was wrong,” the learning is deeper and more enduring.
Growth Mindset for teachers
When coaches frame mistakes as natural and valuable, they help teachers develop a growth mindset. This is the belief that a teacher’s expertise can be developed through effort and learning.
Experiencing the Hypercorrection Effect in a positive context teaches teachers that mistakes are not signs of incompetence but opportunities for growth. Correcting misconceptions strengthens expertise. Over time, this fosters a professional culture where feedback and error analysis are not feared but welcomed.
Practical strategies for coaches
To harness the Hypercorrection Effect in instructional coaching, coaches might:
- Sometimes the emotional jolt of realising an error needs time to settle before true reflection occurs.
- Let teachers review their lessons and spot moments where intentions and outcomes diverged.
- Instead of telling, ask. “What were you aiming for here?” “How did that align with what happened?”
- Share their own learning moments. Highlight how expert teachers constantly refine their practice and make their own mental models more visible.
- Praise teachers not just for getting it right, but for spotting and adjusting misconceptions.
Final thoughts
Instructional coaching and the Hypercorrection Effect are natural allies. By encouraging reflective awareness of mistakes and engaging teachers in corrections, coaches can accelerate deep professional development which helps to rewire teachers’ mental models of great teaching, making them more adaptive and resilient.
