Mindfulness In Schools Research Articles

Improving school mindfulness: analysing the impact of principals’ effective communication and teachers’ trust on schools’ organisational mindfulness in Kuwait

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the influence of school principals’ effective communication and teachers’ trust in principals on schools’ organisational mindfulness from the perspective of public school teachers in Kuwait. Design/methodology/approach The study used a cross-sectional research design. A quantitative survey questionnaire was electronically sent to public school teachers in Kuwait. The final sample size consisted of 641 teachers. Findings The teachers exhibited a moderate level of school principal effective communication and organisational mindfulness, in addition to higher levels of school principal trust. Multiple regression analysis results revealed that schools’ organisational mindfulness was significantly related to the teacher’s trust in school principals’ and their effective communication. Research limitations/implications This study used quantitative data from a survey of public school teachers in Kuwait in a given period. Practical implications The findings indicate that the school principal’s communication and teachers’ trust in the principal are critical for creating a mindful and high-quality school culture. Thus, policymakers should empower principals to prioritise mindfulness in creating a positive and supportive school environment. Originality/value The study contributes to the understanding of the influence of leadership aspects on organisational mindfulness in schools. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the impact of school principals’ practices on the quality of school organisations in Kuwait’s centralised educational system. This will pave the way for further research in the field.

The reincarnation of the Asian Buddhist peril: White Christian nationalism and contestations of mindfulness in K-12 public schools

This article explores legal contestations to school based mindfulness programs in the context of an increasingly overt White Christian nationalist agenda in the United States. By illuminating the force and logic of White Christian nationalism in education, I demonstrate that though Christian organizations’ legal opposition to mindfulness is framed around defending First Amendment Establishment Clause protections in schools, their ultimate objective is to safeguard Christian hegemony and structurally reinforce a racial-religious belief of the US as a White Christian nation. Interrogating the discursive invocation of Buddhism as a “danger” helps to reveal this intention, and its exclusionary function. In this light, I trace how the claims of Buddhist treachery recall and reaffirm 19th century White Christian nationalist imaginations of Asian immigrants as embodying dangerously foreign religions and inassimilable behaviors in order to facilitate their legal exclusion from the nation. Understanding this historical context sheds light on the ways these Christian legal contentions of mindfulness attempt to maintain a historical racial-religious subjugation of Asians as a “Yellow Peril” and inculcate anti-Asian phobias of national invasion. Thus, I also argue that the current legal disputes over mindfulness are not new assertions of White Christian nationalism. Rather, they illuminate the ongoing legacy of White Christian nationalism, and represent attempts to maintain the structure’s hegemonic positioning in the 21st century. In highlighting these arguments, this article demonstrates that we cannot understand the debate around mindfulness in schools (and secular mindfulness programs themselves) without understanding the White Christian nationalist history of Asian racial-religious exclusion in the US.

A protocol for a critical realist systematic synthesis of interventions to promote pupils' wellbeing by improving the school climate in low- and middle-income countries.

The review described in this protocol will be the first critical realist review of the literature reporting on the impact of interventions to promote pupils' wellbeing by improving the school climate in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The review is being carried out to inform the programme theory for a critical realist evaluation of a whole school mindfulness intervention in Ethiopia and Rwanda to improve pupils' mental wellbeing. Our initial programme theory hypothesises that pupils' (and teachers') responses to the mindfulness intervention as well as changing the behaviour and attitudes of individual pupils and teachers, will change the 'school climate' in ways that have a positive impact on mental wellbeing. This literature review will facilitate the identification of mechanisms for change working at the level of the whole school climate, something which is only infrequently discussed in evaluations of mindfulness interventions. A critical realist review methodology will be used to provide a causal interdisciplinary understanding of how school climate can promote the wellbeing of pupils. This will be done through a systematic literature review and extrapolating context, agency, intervention, mechanisms, and outcome configurations and synthesising these to provide a conceptual understanding of the impact of interventions to improve school climate. The review findings will inform a critical realist evaluation of a mindfulness intervention in schools that we will be carrying out. The findings from the review will enable us to focus more precisely and transparently on what policymakers and other stakeholders need to know about how school climate changes due to introducing mindfulness to the curriculum and how this impacts pupils' wellbeing [and for which pupils]. We will publish the findings from the review in academic and professional publications, policy briefs, workshops, conferences, and social media. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023417735.

Mindfulness in schools: issues of equality and diversity

Mindfulness is increasingly offered in schools around the UK, as well as internationally. Previous research has focused on the efficacy, the implementation, and the wider meaning of mindfulness in education, rather than sociological interests, such as matters of equality and social justice. This article draws on qualitative data from the ‘Mapping Mindfulness in the UK’ study, to investigate how mindfulness practitioners discuss and address issues of equality and diversity in relation to school-based mindfulness. Lynch and Baker’s key dimensions of equality are used to analyse participants’ accounts, including on adjustments to curriculum and pedagogy to accommodate diversity, practitioners’ responses to socio-emotional vulnerability, and the dynamics of choice and compulsion in the classroom. By highlighting several issues of concern in these areas, the research makes original contributions to sociological understandings of mindfulness and other similar initiatives in schools, whilst offering new insights on theories of equality in education more broadly.

System-wide school mindfulness: addressing elementary students’ social-emotional learning and wellbeing

System-wide school mindfulness: addressing elementary students’ social-emotional learning and wellbeing

Reframing perceptions: A phenomenological inquiry into students’ written reflections on learning about mindfulness

Introduction
 Mindfulness practices offer approaches to reflection that have been argued to contribute to positive outcomes for students in the health professions. Despite calls for more phenomenological investigations in the field, few studies examine the lived experience of learning about mindfulness in professional schools. Objective
 The objective of this study was to inquire into first-hand written accounts of students’ experiences of learning about mindfulness. Methods
 This study reports on occupational therapy health professions students’ phenomenological reflections written during and following a 5 week, 15 hour, mindfulness elective course offered at a Canadian University. The study adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology and is informed by theoretical frameworks of embodiment and practice theories. An indepth thematic analysis of twenty-one students' written reflections on the experience of integrating mindfulness practices into their lives was undertaken. Results
 Predominant themes identified in students’ written reflections include: reframing perceptions, ‘being’ while ‘doing’, witnessing the struggle, and compassion for self and others. Conclusions
 This research contributes richly textured accounts that advance understandings about the affordances of mindfulness education in the lives of future health care practitioners. The results also hold implications for educational design in higher education professional school contexts, considerations of mindfulness practices in future professional practitioners’ everyday and workplace occupations, and identification of promising avenues for future research. This study is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

A protocol for a critical realist synthesis of school mindfulness interventions designed to promote pupils' mental wellbeing.

The review described in this protocol will be the first critical realist review of the literature reporting on the impact of school-based mindfulness interventions on the mental wellbeing of pupils. Mindfulness interventions are increasingly being introduced into schools to promote children's (and teachers') wellbeing. Findings from impact evaluations, including systematic reviews and metanalysis, suggest that school-based mindfulness interventions promote pupils' wellbeing. However, there is a need for further evidence on the underlying causal mechanisms and contexts that explain program outcomes, to provide insight into how mindfulness programs can be successfully implemented in other contexts. A critical realist review methodology will be used to provide a causal interdisciplinary understanding of how school-based mindfulness interventions promote the mental wellbeing of pupils. This will be done through a systematic literature review and extrapolating context, agency, intervention, mechanisms, and outcome configurations. This will enable an understanding of how, in certain contexts, pupils can use the resources offered by a mindfulness intervention knowingly or unknowingly to trigger mechanisms that promote their mental wellbeing and what mechanisms in the context support, restrict or prevent change. We will then use retrodiction and retroduction to develop the most plausible interdisciplinary middle-range theory to explain the findings. The review findings will inform a critical realist evaluation of a mindfulness intervention in schools. The findings from the review will also enable us to inform policymakers and other stakeholders about what conditions need to be in place for mindfulness interventions to promote pupils' mental wellbeing. We will publish the findings from the review in academic and professional publications, policy briefs, workshops, conferences, and social media.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023410484.

The Relationship among School Mindfulness, Classroom Anxiety, and High School Student Life Satisfaction

Purpose. The study aims to improve student life throughout the school years by exploring the use of mindfulness-based instruction to reduce classroom anxiety. Many school systems in Asia do not use mindful based instruction at primary, secondary and high school education. Emphasis on academic achievement as measured in terms of grade scoring and competitive exam results is high, and leads to significant stress on students. It is believed that mindfulness coaching could help reduce overall stress levels in high school students. Methodology. The study is a correlational design in which convenience sampling was used. It aims to measure school mindfulness by Hoy (2004), classroom anxiety by Richmond (2001), and high school student life satisfaction by Heubener (1991) for a sample of 80 high school students drawn from the private school system of Pakistan. Results. The study reported moderate to weak positive correlations between the three constructs. It was found that there was a significant link between school mindfulness, student life satisfaction, and classroom anxiety. The study reported that age and gender have no significant impact on school mindfulness, student life satisfaction and classroom anxiety. Conclusions. The study indicates the development of mindfulness-based training at the school level to improve student life satisfaction. The study indicates the possibility of Western mindfulness instruction courses being implemented in the Eastern traditional school system. School mindfulness can help students to meaningfully grow in their academic careers. It further can enhance their coping and stress handling techniques as they proceed into higher education. The study will pave way for the implementation of school mindfulness programs and workshops to be delivered by mindfulness certified instructors and counselors, which is at present a rarity in traditional academic system.

Developing the social and emotional competence of adolescents through implementation of the STEPS-A curriculum

AimsThis research explores the curriculum, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)Skills in Schools: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (STEPS-A)(Mazza et al., 2016). It aims to trial STEPS A, exploring its impact on Social Emotional Learning (SEL), in addition to understanding facilitative implementation conditions for the programme.RationaleThe rationale for the study lies within the potential of the programme to be a universally accessible tool for change in nurturing the SEL of adolescents within the secondary school context.MethodsUsing a mixed method case study design, six sessions were delivered in two mainstream mixed secondary comprehensive schools to key stage three groups by trained staff facilitators. Focus groups were carried out, alongside the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) (Greco, Baer, & Smith, 2011) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – Short Form (DERSF-SF) (Kaufman et al., 2016) pre and post intervention.FindingsData informed the development of an implementation framework, alongside a consultation tool for EPs to support STEPS-A planning in schools. Impact results are promising; mixed ANOVAs revealed two significant and two non-significant time* intervention interactions. Follow up t tests demonstrated intervention group changes in mindfulness and emotional regulation skills in schools 1 and 2 respectively.ImplicationsThe study has implications for the adoption of the STEPS A curriculum to support SEL within secondary schools, whereby school staff are actively supported by EPs to use an implementation framework to maximise efficacy. The encouraging impact findings provide psychological and ethical weight to the use of the framework.LimitationsDue to a small sample size and short intervention period, the need for replication of the quantitative results with a larger sample over a longer period is acknowledged. The implementation framework requires validation across contexts.ConclusionsThe study found that the STEPS-A programme, the first curriculum-based DBT programme designed to be taught in schools by teachers, was well-received by participants. It indicates that, within the context of empirically supported implementation conditions, skills which were initially designed for teaching to clinical populations as part of a comprehensive therapy programme have value and can potentially effect change for adolescents with and without additional identified needs.

Leadership for school mindfulness: the role of school ambidexterity and leaders’ cognitive complexity

ABSTRACT Using an information-processing approach and organisational learning theory (i.e. ambidexterity), the current innovative study examines a model for the prediction of schools’ collective mindfulness and its consequences, linking principals’ cognitive complexity (CC) with school ambidexterity and mindfulness, school ambidexterity with school mindfulness, and the effect of school mindfulness and ambidexterity on a teacher’s psychological capital. The study further examines the indirect effect of principals’ CC on a teacher’s psychological capital through the effects of ambidexterity and mindfulness. Participants were 104 principals and 1002 teachers from 104 Israeli schools. Results showed that school mindfulness is affected by principals’ CC and school ambidexterity, and that school mindfulness and school ambidexterity relate directly and positively to a teacher’s psychological capital. Finally, school mindfulness and ambidexterity connected school principals’ CC to a teacher’s psychological capital. This study adds to the body of research directed at identifying leaders’ roles and work-related factors that may positively affect organisational mindfulness and a consequence of school mindfulness, i.e. a teacher’s psychological capital, and that are amenable to leadership intervention.

A Daily Breathing Practice Bolsters Girls’ Prosocial Behavior and Third and Fourth Graders’ Supportive Peer Relationships: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ObjectivesIn order to promote mindfulness in primary school, the Breathing Break Intervention was developed. This collection of short daily breath-based mindfulness practices was introduced to 15 teachers who delivered them up to 3 times a day to their students.MethodIn a randomized controlled trial, 146 third and fourth graders (49% female) either received the intervention (n = 81) or participated in the active wait list control group (n = 65). Students were asked to nominate prosocial peers and to report on supportive peer relationships in their classrooms before (pretest) and after (posttest) the 9 weeks of the Breathing Break Intervention, and in a follow-up 5 months later.ResultsMixed multilevel models indicated a group × sex × posttest interaction (t(211) = 2.64, p < 0.01) suggesting that girls in the intervention group were rated to be more prosocial by their peers at posttest than at pretest and than girls in the active control group when children’s age and parents’ education were accounted for. Supportive peer relationships in the active control group deteriorated between pretest and posttest, which occurred immediately before the second school lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas they remained the same in the intervention group (t(223) = 2.56, p < 0.05). Both effects were not maintained at follow-up, probably due to children’s irregular school attendance during the lockdown.ConclusionsIntroducing a short daily breathing practice in primary school classrooms seems to be effective in maintaining supportive peer relationships and in stimulating girls’ prosocial behavior.PreregistrationThe study was preregistered at aspredicted.org (#44925).

Transforming education: A review of the benefits of integrating mindfulness and meditation techniques in schools

This review article explores the growing interest in incorporating mindfulness and meditation practices into school settings, examines their potential benefits and effectiveness for students' well-being and academic performance. The article provides an overview of various mindfulness and meditation techniques, their theoretical underpinnings, and psychological mechanisms. With the method of literature review, four phases of designing, conducting, analysing, and structuring as well as writing the outcomes of review were held systematically. The present study found that discussion about the advantages of these practices were visible for students, including improved cognitive functioning, reduced stress and anxiety, enhanced emotional well-being, and better social skills and relationships. The review also addresses the implementation of mindfulness and meditation in schools that focuses on curriculum integration, teacher training, and challenges to implementation. Lastly, it highlights future research directions and recommendations to further understand and optimize these practices for students of different age groups and cultural contexts.

Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going with Mindfulness in Schools?

This is a commentary on a paper by Roeser et al. entitled “Beyond all splits: Envisioning the next generation of science on mindfulness and compassion in schools for students”. The commentary endorses the main thrust of paper, the need to re-envisage mindfulness and move from the dominant model, a clinically based “mindfulness in education” approach, in which mindfulness is seen as a discrete “intervention”, an approach which has been criticised as mechanistic, atomistic, and restrictive and encourages a view of mindfulness as helping people to cope with a stressful status quo. The commentary further endorses the view that we need to create and research models of “mindfulness as education”, as a transformative “process” models which focus on the relational and developmental aspects of education, within a whole-school, ecological approach, encouraging schools to become more compassionate places, which cultivate a positive sense of agency in learners to empower them to change the social context. As well as endorsing the main thrust of the paper, this commentary includes the following further comments. Research and practice on teacher development needs to be at the heart of this process. Getting the balance right between rigour and innovation in research will be an ongoing process. It would be helpful to look outside Anglo-centric box for examples of this relational shift. We should wait to see how the somewhat unexpected results of the MYRIAD project feed into longer term reviews before changing advice around universal approaches and who should teach mindfulness in schools.

Mindfulness Initiatives for Students, Teachers, and Parents: a Review of Literature and Implications for Practice During COVID-19 and Beyond.

The use of mindfulness in schools has greatly expanded over the past 10years. Research has demonstrated positive psychological effects of mindfulness for students as well as teachers (Emerson et al., Mindfulness 8:1136-1149, 2017; Semple et al., Psychology in the Schools 54:29-52, 2017). Similarly, studies focusing on mindfulness interventions for parents of children with disabilities and/or psychosocial difficulties have also yielded a variety of positive outcomes, including reduced parenting stress, increases in quality of life, and improved parent-child interactions (Bögels et al., 2016; Rayan and Ahmad, Research in Developmental Disabilities 55:185-196, 2016). Although there has been a proliferation of mindfulness research, and mindfulness has become a buzzword in popular culture, it has not been systematically examined or applied as an approach to improving psychosocial functioning in children, school personnel, and families during COVID-19 and in online settings. This article provides a preliminary framework for this examination by reviewing relevant research and providing practical strategies and resources for school psychologists.

Encouraging Advances in the Science on Mindfulness and Compassion in Schools: Current Research, Lingering Questions, and Future Directions

Encouraging Advances in the Science on Mindfulness and Compassion in Schools: Current Research, Lingering Questions, and Future Directions

On Top of Everything: a study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial testing a teacher training programme to teach mindfulness among students in Danish upper secondary schools and schools of health and social care

BackgroundMental health is decreasing among young people in Denmark. Our primary aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher training programme to teach mindfulness as part of regular classroom teaching in Danish upper secondary schools and schools of health and social care on students’ self-reported mental well-being 6 months from baseline. Secondary aims are (1) to evaluate the effectiveness in a vulnerable subgroup as well as in the total population of students 3 and 6 months from baseline using other outcome measures on mental health and (2) to investigate the facilitators and barriers among teachers to implement mindfulness in schools.MethodsThis pragmatic cluster-randomised two-arm superiority trial includes 30 upper secondary schools, 13 schools of health and social care, 76 teachers, and approximately 1100 students aged 16 to 24 years. Our intervention is multi-level and consists of (a) a teacher training programme and (b) a mindfulness programme delivered to students. Students in control schools receive education as usual. Our primary study population is the total population of students. The primary outcome is changes in the short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS). We also evaluate the effectiveness in a vulnerable subgroup (the 15% with the lowest SWEMWBS score), as well as in the total population of students 3 and 6 months from baseline using other outcome measures on mental health. Data will be analysed using repeated measurement models taking clusters into account. Facilitators and barriers among teachers to implement mindfulness in schools will be investigated through qualitative focus group interviews.DiscussionThe trial will estimate the effectiveness of a population-based strategy on mental health in Danish young people enrolled in education.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04610333. Registered on October 10 2020.

Mindfulness in Schools for Social Emotional Wellbeing of Students

Mindfulness in Schools for Social Emotional Wellbeing of Students

Beyond All Splits: Envisioning the Next Generation of Science on Mindfulness and Compassion in Schools for Students

ObjectivesThis paper describes the emergence of the scientific study of mindfulness in schools; summarizes findings of experimental research on the impacts of school-based mindfulness programs (SBMPs) on student outcomes in prekindergarten, primary, and secondary school settings (ages 4–18 years); discusses scientific limitations and wider critiques of this work; and offers suggestions for future research.MethodsPublic data are used to describe the emergence of science on SBMPs, the foci of this research, and the academic disciplines contributing to it. A narrative summary of scientific findings regarding the impacts of SBMPs on students, and critiques of this work, is also presented.ResultsResearch is increasing and is primarily psychological and prevention-oriented. Evidence shows SBMPs can enhance students’ self-regulation abilities, but SBMPs’ impacts on other student outcomes at different ages are equivocal. The current research has significant limitations, and these, alongside wider critiques of the work, suggest important directions for research.ConclusionsIn the next generation of science, we suggest (a) improving the experimental research; (b) expanding developmental research; and (c) re-envisioning assumptions, theories, and methods in research to go “beyond all splits” towards a non-dualistic and relationally, culturally, contextually, ethically, and developmentally grounded science on mindfulness and compassion for students in schools.

A Consideration of Transpersonal Research Methods for Studying Yoga and Mindfulness in Schools

Over the past decade, interest in yoga and mindfulness in schools has grown tremendously, with preliminary research suggesting that these interventions may have a variety of positive effects on youth. However, some quantitative studies of school-based yoga and mindfulness have reported null and/or counterintuitive effects, such as increases in perceived stress, negative affect and psychological symptoms. In addition, some mixed-methods studies that combined quantitative and qualitative approaches have found inconsistent results, with the quantitative outcomes failing to show statistical significance, while students report benefits of yoga and mindfulness in qualitative interviews/focus groups. These inconsistent findings suggest that the field of school-based yoga and mindfulness may benefit from a consideration of additional research approaches, such as transpersonal research methods, to study the potential effects of these interventions. Transpersonal research methods were developed within the field of transpersonal psychology as an alternative approach to studying the nature of inner experiences, particularly transpersonal and spiritual experiences. The current paper re-envisions a previously published study of a school-based yoga intervention through the lens of transpersonal research methods, with the intention of providing researchers with examples and inspiration to enrich their studies of school-based yoga and mindfulness. By combining transpersonal research methods with traditional quantitative and qualitative approaches, scientists have the potential to provide a richer and more complex evaluation of yoga and mindfulness in schools.

The “what,” “why,” and “when” of using mindfulness in schools: Best practices and guidance for educators and policymakers

ABSTRACT Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have recently proliferated among schools. Although MBIs show much promise in alleviating mental distress, their increase in school settings may outpace the evidence base for such implementation. In the present literature review, we define the different types of MBIs implemented in school settings: mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for children, and mindfulness-based social-emotional learning programs. We next identify the outcomes most commonly addressed by MBIs in school settings, such as mental health, social-emotional, and academic outcomes. We conclude with a discussion of MBI implementation in schools and recommendations for educators and policymakers on best practices to maximize MBI effectiveness.