Could Failure Work as a Productive Force in Journalism Education? Ways of Thinking and Practising

Abstract

Although Manu Kapur’s Productive Failure is a widely acknowledged pedagogical method in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), its application in education for journalists remains largely underexplored. A bachelor’s-level course focused on entrepreneurial journalism and innovations in Finland illustrates the implications of this initiative and demonstrates how a failure-oriented syllabus can be put into practice without compromising academic rigor, depth, and critique. Focusing on self-experienced learning, a qualitative content analysis of students’ learning reports demonstrates how failure-oriented pedagogy helped students overcome the persistent theory–practice divide in journalism education by strengthening interrelated competences such as epistemic curiosity and intellectual humility.