Students’ handling of errors and mistakes depends not only on their personal error orientation but also on the culture of dealing with errors prevalent in class. The present article develops scales for the measurement of error management and avoidance cultures in class and examines correlations between the two culture dimensions and learning motivation, learning-related cognition, and behavior. The total sample consisted of N = 1306 students in K = 61 classes (grades 7–9) in Germany. Results indicate that an error management culture is associated with high intrinsic motivation for learning, but also with learning-friendly behaviors (less cheating and less self-handicapping) and cognitions (less error strain and less perceived helplessness, along with stronger self-concepts of ability). At the same time, an error avoidance culture is less strongly related to such behaviors and cognitions; here we find associations with performance goal orientation (both approach and avoidance), as well as with perceived helplessness and self-handicapping. The results suggest that there are benefits of an error management culture versus an error avoidance culture in the classroom regarding learning-enhancing variables. Future research may explore how class composition or individual teachers and teaching methods influence error cultures in class.