REPORT: Shift Canada urges Canadian students to fail

Shift Failure lessons for grades 5-12 help students embrace and learn from failure

TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2025 /CNW/ – As Canadian students prepare to return to school, Shift Canada, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to changing the way Canadians view entrepreneurial risk, has today released its 2025 Impact Report on its Shift Failure education program.

“Our free plug-and-play program for grades 5-12, Shift Failure, has already proven to be popular among Canadian teachers and students in every province and territory. Now, our call to action is to Canadian educators. We have a goal of seeing Shift Failure in 10,000 schools by 2027,” said Shift Canada CEO AJ Tibando.

“Our goal? Instead of focusing only on success, we want to challenge Canadian parents and teachers to help students fail.”

A survey contained in the 2025 Impact Report shows:

• A full 81 per cent of the 150,000-plus students who participated understood that failure is often a catalyst for success in disciplines like English Language Arts, Social Sciences, and STEM, and can identify real-world examples of innovation emerging from setbacks.
• That 77 per cent of students felt better equipped to design, test, and improve project-based learning tasks that embrace iteration, feedback, and the lessons learned from failure.
• That 80 per cent of students said the program made them more comfortable taking creative risks and pursuing innovative ideas in both academic and personal contexts.

A vast majority of teachers in 5,100 classrooms who’ve delivered the program also reacted positively. “For some students, it was the first time they saw failure as normal. That understanding changed how they approached everything—from group work to tests. I noticed improved peer relationships too — students began supporting one another through challenges, not competing. The program nurtures both academic and emotional growth. My classroom has never felt safer for risk-taking,” Ontario teacher Jo-Ann told the report in one of several teacher and student testimonials.

Added Shift Canada Founding Board Chair Richard Abboud, Founder and CEO of Forum Asset Management: “What unites us is a passion to see Canada realize its potential as an innovative, thriving country at the top of its game, leading the way for its peers, now and for generations to come. Shift Failure is one of our key platforms in that passion.”

About Shift Canada

Shift Canada is a national not-for-profit organization advocating for a shift in the culture of risk. We are a group of business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors who share a deep concern for the future of Canada’s economic prosperity and way of life. Our collective years of expertise and experience spans the fields of business, economics, law, education, equity management and philanthropy. What unites us is a passion to see Canada realize its potential as an innovative, thriving country at the top of its game and leading the way for its peers, now and for generations to come.

SOURCE Shift Canada