February 17, 2026
When a child makes a mistake, what do we do?
We encourage them to try again. We celebrate effort, we reassure them that it’s okay to fall and get back up. Yet, as adults, we often forget that same lesson. Many of us grew up hearing phrases like “Wait until your father hears about this!” or “I’m very disappointed in you.” The result? We learnt early on to hide our mistakes instead of learning from them.
In the workplace, that fear doesn’t just disappear, it evolves. In nurseries, where care, compliance, and communication are everything, fear of getting it wrong can be incredibly damaging.
Failing Smart, Not Failing Silently
Psychological safety means creating a culture where people feel safe to speak up, to ask questions, to admit errors, to share ideas, and to challenge decisions respectfully. It’s not about lowering standards or avoiding accountability; it’s about failing smart.
In a psychologically safe nursery, staff learn from near misses instead of hiding them. In manufacturing, teams obsess over “near miss” reports because every avoided accident is an opportunity to improve. The same principle applies in early years settings: every honest conversation about what almost went wrong helps keep children safe and improves practice.
When staff can’t speak up, they start working around problems instead of addressing them. They cover for one another, they “just get by”, and they become exhausted from managing the stress of silence. Poor psychological safety doesn’t just harm teamwork, it breeds burnout.
The Safeguarding Risk of Silence
One of the most worrying consequences of low psychological safety in nurseries is its impact on safeguarding.
If staff don’t feel safe to raise concerns or fear they’ll be punished for speaking up they may stay quiet about things that really matter.
Think about that for a moment, someone not coming forward for fear of the consequences! Horrified? You should be.
This is the silence that can lead to teams keeping secrets from their Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), which is frightening when you consider the potential consequences.
A psychologically safe culture is one where every member of the team knows that raising a concern is the right thing to do and that they’ll be supported, not blamed, for doing so.
Why “Good News Only” Is Bad News
Without psychological safety, leaders often hear only good news. Staff become experts at telling you what they think you want to hear. On the surface, everything looks fine but beneath, problems go unreported and unresolved.
And really, what use is that to a Nursery Leader? The goal isn’t to have a perfect-looking team; it’s to have a team that’s constantly improving, learning, and supporting one another through challenges. If your team isn’t telling you bad news, it’s not because everything’s perfect it’s because they don’t feel safe to.
Building Psychological Safety in Your Nursery
Creating a psychologically safe workplace doesn’t happen overnight, but small consistent actions make a big difference.
The Payoff: Healthier Teams and Happier Workplaces
When your team feels safe to speak up, they collaborate better, learn faster, and perform at a higher level. You’ll see lower burnout, reduced absenteeism, and improved retention. Most importantly, you’ll see improved wellbeing because mental health thrives when people know they can share their worries without fear of judgment or reprisal.
No one succeeds in workplaces that run on fear. But when we lead with empathy, trust, and psychological safety, we unlock the full potential of our teams and create nurseries where both staff and children can flourish.
Final Thought
Psychological safety isn’t a soft concept it’s a hard business essential.
Because when people feel safe, they don’t hide mistakes; they fix them. And that’s how truly outstanding nurseries are built not on perfection, but on the courage to learn together.
Imogen will be talking about Psychological Safety at the Business Summit for Nursery World on 4th March in London. https://nurserybusiness-summit.com/LIVE/en/page/home
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