Have you ever had the ‘exam dream’? That horrible dream where you arrive at an exam and you realise that you haven’t done any revision for it, or you completely forgot there was going to be a test at all, and you know you are going to fail. Or the equivalent dream where you have to give a talk and you don’t know anything about the topic and there are hundreds of people waiting to criticise your every word? I have and it is awful. The exam dream is one most commonly experienced anxiety dreams, with many people experiencing it long after they have left education.

Thankfully for most people it is just a dream and the feeling soon fades as they go back into their normal existence. But what if that is the feeling you have in real life when confronted with a challenge? That no matter what you do you are about to fail the task ahead of you, that you won’t be good enough? That other people will find out that you are aren’t good enough, and that you are a fraud or you shouldn’t be there at all? This feeling in real life is often referred to as Impostor Syndrome, and we should be talking about it much more in higher education.

Impostor syndrome was first described as a phenomenon occurring in high achieving women [1], but is now recognized as something that most people experience at some point in their lives. There are multiple aspects to impostor syndrome which include:

The feeling that other people have an inflated perception of your abilities

A fear that you are going to be found out and your true abilities exposed

A tendency to attribute success to external factors rather than ability

If you are wondering if you suffer from impostor syndrome then this questionnaire might useful. This video is a nice explanation of the phenomenon from Maryam Pasha, who is a very impressive and accomplished person – someone you wouldn’t associate with these feelings of inadequacy at all:

So, is impostor syndrome an issue for undergraduates, and if so what does it look like? Through my teaching career I have seen many students facing this crisis in confidence, and becoming convinced that they just aren’t good enough when all the evidence suggests otherwise. These are just a few of the ways that I have heard these feelings of anxiety being expressed:

“I’m sure they made a mistake on admitting me on this course – everyone else is so much better than me” – or maybe the others are just portraying a more confident exterior, which doesn’t reflect ability at all? As academic teachers we all recognise the student who tries to cover their insecurities by dominating a class, but our students don’t always have this experience to draw on. Confidence in others can be intimidating when we are unsure of ourselves, and feeling undermined can easily lead to a decrease in student engagement.

“I got so lucky on that exam – I only passed because the right questions came up” – or maybe you had studied really hard so you were actually well prepared and could have dealt with any question. Attributing success to luck means that work and study is devalued in the mind of the student (and their perhaps less successful peers!), and also prevents the student enjoying their success.

“I’ll never get accepted on that internship/course/scholarship – there’s no point applying” – or maybe by not applying you are avoiding being judged and ‘found out’? If you meet the advertised entrance requirements then you have as much right as anyone else to apply, and your chances may be a lot higher than you think. And even if you don’t make it on to that programme, the personal reflection that occurs when you put in an application will be useful in the long run. Too many students deny themselves opportunities through fear of failure, and in doing so potentially damage their future prospects.

Being aware of impostor syndrome is also important when dealing with under-represented groups in higher education. This may be the student admitted through a widening participation programme who is convinced they are the ‘token student’ who got in to help a department meet their targets rather than on merit. Or it could be the female student sitting in a male dominated lecture hall feeling invisible and intellectually inferior as the others confidently contribute to class discussions. Or the black student looking around a lab seeing a sea of white faces and wondering if they are really in the right place. Understanding that these students may be more vulnerable to doubting their own abilities helps us provide reassurance and support.

As academic teachers we readily recognise these scenarios and mindsets in our students. Yet how often do we openly discuss these fears and acknowledge that these feelings are genuine? On several occasions I have had 1:1 conversations with students I have noticed are lacking in confidence, but I have almost certainly missed others who really needed the support. When pressed for time and resource it is easy to dismiss the anxieties of students who are doing well, but without helping them to develop strategies for dealing with these worries we may be limiting their future success. Perhaps impostor syndrome is something we should openly discuss during orientation week so that everyone knows what it is (in my experience many students have never heard of it before), and that there are strategies available to deal with it.

And lets not forget that academic teachers also suffer from impostor syndrome! Education is hard, research is hard, teaching is hard, and sometimes we all feel that we can never be good enough at it. Confession – I’ve just started a new lectureship post, and am worried that the reputation I have for good teaching from my previous institution will evaporate in a new setting where I don’t know what I’m doing. I actually started writing this blog post in an attempt to distract me from feeling overwhelmed by all the new things I am being asked to do! In talking to others I’ve come to realise these feelings are quite common, but they are also real. Acknowledging these fears and confronting them head on is the way I have learned to deal with feelings of inadequacy. Our students are at the beginning of this learning process, and we could all do a lot more to support them in confronting the impostor syndrome nightmare by being open, honest and constructive about the issue.

[1] Clance, P.R. & Imes, S. (1978). The impostor phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 15, 241–247.