{"id":48811,"date":"2019-07-26T16:10:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T23:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=48811"},"modified":"2019-07-26T16:10:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T23:10:39","slug":"learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

As the use of\u00a0mindfulness<\/a>\u00a0has increased globally, its importance in education has also been recognised. Though it is not yet on any curriculum, it is being used in schools\u00a0around the world<\/a>\u00a0to improve pupils\u2019 well-being,\u00a0mental health<\/a>,\u00a0social and emotional learning<\/a>,\u00a0concentration<\/a>\u00a0and cognition. Many schools are now enrolling their teachers on mindfulness courses too, so that they can eventually teach these skills to their pupils, without relying on external specialists.<\/p>\n

Teaching mindfulness to teachers not only gives them the skills and knowledge to progress onto further courses to be able to teach it to children, but it may also have the added benefit of improving their own well-being. And, as better teacher well-being is\u00a0associated with better pupil well-being<\/a>, there are clear wider benefits to them learning it too.<\/p>\n

In the UK, teachers usually either learn about mindfulness by taking a more traditional\u00a0Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction<\/a>\u00a0(MBSR) course, or by taking a\u00a0.b Foundations<\/a>\u00a0course. A number of research studies have already shown MBSR to be beneficial\u00a0for reducing stress and improving quality of life<\/a>. Courses like .b Foundations meanwhile have been adapted from MBSR, and developed to specifically teach mindfulness to school teachers.<\/p>\n

The styles of the two courses are quite different \u2013 .b Foundations consist of eight 90 minute sessions as opposed to eight two hour sessions, with no silent practice day. It can take more of a interactive classroom style approach, including optional slide presentations and includes reference to the neuroscience underpinning the mindfulness.<\/p>\n

Stress reduction<\/h4>\n

For\u00a0our recently published study<\/a>, which involved 44 teachers from UK primary and secondary schools, we decided to find out how teachers\u2019 mental health and well-being benefits from different mindfulness courses, and what they think about them. We did questionnaires on stress and depression levels and interviewed a sample of the teachers who had taken the courses on their experiences.<\/p>\n

We found that both courses reduced the teachers\u2019 anxiety and stress, with MBSR having the added benefit of reducing their symptoms of depression. The majority felt that the course made them calmer, more aware and less reactive, which was also believed to roll over into their teaching. As one said:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so much calmer and \u2026 more patient with the children in my class<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, some felt that mindfulness was just another approach of managing stress rather than addressing the root causes of the stress. One teacher said, \u201cwe\u2019re putting a band aid on a bullet hole. If you want people to genuinely feel happier in our society, then you genuinely have to change it, from the bottom up\u201d. So while mindfulness may be highly beneficial for some dealing with stress, higher-level policy and action to improve teaching and address stress causes is desperately needed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Airy fairy\u2019 attitudes<\/h4>\n

Another key point raised by all of the teachers concerned attitudes towards and beliefs about mindfulness. Many thought that mindfulness was widely seen as \u201chippy\u201d, \u201cfluffy\u201d and \u201cairy fairy\u201d. We heard comments such as \u201cthey all thought I\u2019d cracked\u201d in several interviews. These attitudes and beliefs as to what mindfulness is and what it entails could not only act as a barrier to teachers engaging with it, but may influence how their pupils see it too.<\/p>\n

Some teachers did tell us, however, that once they attended the course, their initial \u201ccynical\u201d attitudes changed. They also suggested focusing on the evidence and science behind the approach, and possibly changing the name of the course, so that it didn\u2019t mention mindfulness, to help breakdown some of these barriers and encourage greater attendance. This is in fact what the .b foundations teacher-focused course does.<\/p>\n

Ultimately our research has shown that it does not really matter which course teachers attend, they can personally benefit from mindfulness education. And this also has potential to improve the classroom environment and hopefully pupil well-being too. However, this research has also highlighted a number of barriers which may exist and need to be taken into consideration. The root causes of teacher stress must be addressed alongside giving teachers tools to deal with it.<\/p>\n

As schools focus more and more on improving child health and well-being, it is an absolute necessity that teacher well-being does not get neglected. Ignoring this would be counterproductive to improving child well-being.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Charlotte Todd is a Research Assistant in Child Health and Well-being, Helen Davies is an Honorary Lecturer and Sinead Brophy is a Professor in Public Health Data Science all at Swansea University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the use of\u00a0mindfulness\u00a0has increased globally, its importance in education has also been recognised. Though it is not yet on any curriculum, it is being used in schools\u00a0around the world\u00a0to improve pupils\u2019 well-being,\u00a0mental health,\u00a0social and emotional learning,\u00a0concentration\u00a0and cognition. Many schools are now enrolling their teachers on mindfulness courses too, so that they can eventually teach […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":48812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[32625],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-48811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-mindfulness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLearning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the use of\u00a0mindfulness\u00a0has increased globally, its importance in education has also been recognised. Though it is not yet on any curriculum, it is being used in schools\u00a0around the world\u00a0to improve pupils\u2019 well-being,\u00a0mental health,\u00a0social and emotional learning,\u00a0concentration\u00a0and cognition. Many schools are now enrolling their teachers on mindfulness courses too, so that they can eventually teach […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-26T23:10:39+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"357\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-26T23:10:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":756,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"mindfulness\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-26T23:10:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":357},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"As the use of\u00a0mindfulness\u00a0has increased globally, its importance in education has also been recognised. Though it is not yet on any curriculum, it is being used in schools\u00a0around the world\u00a0to improve pupils\u2019 well-being,\u00a0mental health,\u00a0social and emotional learning,\u00a0concentration\u00a0and cognition. Many schools are now enrolling their teachers on mindfulness courses too, so that they can eventually teach […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2019-07-26T23:10:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":357,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress","datePublished":"2019-07-26T23:10:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/"},"wordCount":756,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg","keywords":["mindfulness"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/","name":"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-26T23:10:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/mindfulnessexerciseXX.jpg","width":680,"height":357},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/learning-to-teach-mindfulness-to-children-can-help-teachers-reduce-their-own-stress\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learning to teach mindfulness to children can help teachers reduce their own stress"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48811"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=48811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}