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A growing number of publications have been exploring the possible effects of mindfulness-based interventions on teachers’ well-being and their professional lives. Notwithstanding promising results in this domain, this paper identifies some difficulties involved in introducing teachers to mindfulness and proposes that there may be a need to develop alternative routes by which to expose more teachers to experiences of mindfulness. We report on a mixed method study of a 5-week teacher learning program implemented in an Israeli middle school with 30 teachers, 28 of which were females, with an age range of 29–55. The program was designed to invite teachers into initial experiences with mindfulness without formally engaging in mindfulness practice but rather based on studying education-relevant brain theory through a contemplative pedagogical approach. Outcomes were analyzed quantitatively by comparing collaborative concept maps created by the participants before and after undergoing the program, and qualitatively by analyzing themes extracted from the participants’ discourse. Findings show that the program (a) mobilized teachers from fixed to growth mindsets in regard to their role as educators as reflected in a significant increase in teachers’ beliefs that basic brain abilities are malleable (as extracted from the concept maps, p = 0.004), (b) offered them initial experiences of mindfulness, and (c) possibly opened them to consider more direct approaches to mindfulness practice that are offered in mindfulness-based interventions.
A growing number of publications have been exploring the possible effects of mindfulness-based interventions on teachers’ well-being and their professional lives. Notwithstanding promising results in this domain, this paper identifies some difficulties involved in introducing teachers to mindfulness and proposes that there may be a need to develop alternative routes by which to expose more teachers to experiences of mindfulness. We report on a mixed method study of a 5-week teacher learning program implemented in an Israeli middle school with 30 teachers, 28 of which were females, with an age range of 29–55. The program was designed to invite teachers into initial experiences with mindfulness without formally engaging in mindfulness practice but rather based on studying education-relevant brain theory through a contemplative pedagogical approach. Outcomes were analyzed quantitatively by comparing collaborative concept maps created by the participants before and after undergoing the program, and qualitatively by analyzing themes extracted from the participants’ discourse. Findings show that the program (a) mobilized teachers from fixed to growth mindsets in regard to their role as educators as reflected in a significant increase in teachers’ beliefs that basic brain abilities are malleable (as extracted from the concept maps, p = 0.004), (b) offered them initial experiences of mindfulness, and (c) possibly opened them to consider more direct approaches to mindfulness practice that are offered in mindfulness-based interventions.
Mindfulness is increasingly applied in schools, yet little is known about long-term whole-school approaches, in which mindfulness becomes integrated in the school’s curriculum. Among the possible benefits of such an approach is its influence on children’s coping strategies and their responses to everyday challenges. To examine this possibility, the study collected data from 646 students, 9–12 years old, from three Israeli public schools using mindfulness. One school had been implementing the whole school approach for 13 years, a second school for one year, and a third had no mindfulness implementation and thus served as a comparison. Data collection was based on a questionnaire asking students to openly describe how they coped in five challenging daily-life situations. The data were analyzed using qualitative thematic coding; then, the initial categories were coded into a quantitative mindfulness-based coping scoring system. The findings revealed a significant difference between schools with respect to students’ disposition to use mindfulness-based coping strategies (P < .001, R2 = .13). The regression model indicated that girls had a higher tendency to apply mindfulness-based strategies than boys, and 10-year-old children showed a greater disposition to apply mindfulness-based strategies than 9, 11 and 12-year-olds (P < .0001, R2 = .2). The study adds to the growing body of evidence pointing to the contribution of long term whole-school mindfulness-based programs to elementary school children.