Abstract
The existent trend of implementing mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) into public education came along with an increasing scientific record regarding the definitional construct of mindfulness, effects of various mindfulness-based interventions and their basic mechanisms. In terms of the rising definitional discourse in the interdisciplinary field of mindfulness, the “threefold model of mindful wisdom” (TMMW) was proposed. In the present paper’s quest of rethinking mindfulness in education, the relevance of the TMMW for didactics in modern Western educational systems (with special interest on the region of Germany) is examined, affirmed in several points and—with the aid of the “Theory of Mental Interference” (TMI)—methodically linked to individual learners’ needs. The TMI has been developed at the University of Hamburg since 1984 by Wagner and colleagues. This is compatible with the TMMW with regard to the concept of self and basic psychological mechanisms of “mindful exercises”. Its basic approach conceives the epistemic level of cognitive processes (1) to be unbiased by affect and (2) to be different from a level of mental interference, which in case of an arising default habitually interferes with the cognitive processes. Implications for further research, for modern educational systems and for MBPs in education are discussed.
Highlights
Educational systems no longer aim only at general educational knowledge and administrative skills that enable graduates to become functioning members in a postindustrial society
In terms of the examination of the threefold model of mindful wisdom” (TMMW)’s relevance for modern educational systems, the Theory of mental interference” (TMI) can methodologically and theoretically support the demonstration of how mindfulness can help at all three levels of knowledge and competencies
This, again, goes in line with major evidence from developmental psychology according to which school-aged children and young adults traverse cognitive stages shaped by roles/rules, abstraction/logic and—if achieved within school age—autonomy
Summary
Educational systems no longer aim only at general educational knowledge and administrative skills that enable graduates to become functioning members in a postindustrial society. Modern educational systems aim at developing interdisciplinary competencies that generate solution-oriented behavior in social and environmental realms (e.g., UNESCO 2013; European Parliament and Council 2018). A look at the TMMW as a didactical framework for mindfulness provides the starting point for the following examination of its relevance for modern educational systems. In terms of the examination of the TMMW’s relevance for modern educational systems, the TMI can methodologically and theoretically support the demonstration of how mindfulness can help at all three levels of knowledge and competencies. The historical emergence of today’s conception of self and educational goals in modern educational systems shall be considered first and made accessible for the following examination of the didactical relevance and the methodological fit of the “Threefold Model of Mindful Wisdom” within modern education
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