Mindfulness in schools: A requirement for New Era education (Part I)
We live in a changing society, marked by immediacy and rush, in which
everything we perceive and understand as our reality is previously processed by
a series of learned prejudices and acquired beliefs. Getting to have a
perception of reality that is more in line with our essence requires FULL ATTENTION, a voluntary connection with our consciousness. Minfulness is a very
useful meditative practice to facilitate this contact with ourselves and allows
us to live daily in a more conscious and
responsible way (López-Hernáez, 2016).
Practicing mindfulness on an ongoing basis can influences
the physical and emotional environment of the person positively (Stahl,
Goldstein, Kabat-Zinn and Santorelli, 2010). This is one of the reasons that
have contributed to this ancient practice coming to the West to stay. Despite
the fact that mindfulness is better known in the environment of adult life,
different studies have shown the positive impact that this meditative technique
can have on children. According to recent studies, children who practice
mindfulness experience an improvement in their personal development and
academic performance (López-Hernáez, 2016), beneficial aspects for coping with
a changing society and demanding academic performance. The high excellence
demanded in school and labour contexts requires an advanced capacity for
concentration and attention that should be trained (Semple, Droutman, &
Reid, 2017).
Mindfulness and emotional skills
That today's children and youth need to develop their emotional skills to
respond to the needs of the 21st century society is an unquestionable reality
(Pellegrino and Hilton, 2013). Most of the authors who deal with the study of
emotional skills agree that emotional self-awareness is the first stage to be
able to reach emotional management (Campayo and Cabedo, 2020). In this sense,
the practice of mindfulness emerges as an extremely useful tool, since it
allows us to develop emotional self-awareness through turning our attention
towards our internal processes. In addition, studies also show evidence that
the development of mindfulness in children in the educational field contributes
to the improvement of creativity levels, the decrease in anxiety levels or the
increase of the attention span. Its practice also fosters less aggressive
behaviors and improves self-efficacy (Parra, Montañés, Montañés &
Bartolomé, 2012). These aspects have a positive impact on children's
participation in class, respect for their peers, and absenteeism (Schwartz,
2014).
Mindfulness in the educational context
The approach to education today is based on the basis of
the traditional model. This model focuses on student productivity, and gives
priority to the acquisition of the content of each discipline over social and
personal values, that is, those aspects related to the human dimension of the
person (Mañas, Franco, Gil and Gil, 2014) . However, this system can no longer
be sustained in a society that calls for developed and conscious human beings
to contribute to the fulfillment of the sustainable development goals (SDG)
that the UN set for the 2030 Agenda.
As I have commented previously, mindfulness
contributes to improving a person's self-awareness, the first step in the
development of emotional skills so necessary for human development. This could
be one of the reasons why many schools around the world are integrating the
practice of mindfulness as part of their educational programs. But what is
necessary for these educational initiatives to be effective?
Requirements for a successful mindfulness practice in the educational environment
In the first place, it is essential that all the adult members that make up the educational community - parents and teachers mainly - work as a team in the same direction, towards the same goal. It is necessary that these educational agents have developed their own self-awareness and have been appropriately trained in mindfulness before teaching children the knowledge and attitudes of this practice. In the words of Mañas, Franco, Gil and Gil (2014):
Sólo un educador consciente puede educar de forma consciente. Un educador consciente estará atento, tranquilo, relajado, en paz consigo mismo y con los demás. A través de su mera presencia encarnará cualidades y actitudes como la paciencia, la confianza, el respecto y la amabilidad. Será un modelo para sus alumnos y los motivará, guiará y ayudará a que desarrollen éstas y otras cualidades, actitudes y competencias. Estará en disposición de ayudar a sus alumnos a que generen su propio autoconomiento y habilidades de mindfulness (p. 194).
[Only a conscious educator can educate
consciously. A conscientious educator will be attentive, calm, relaxed, at
peace with himself and with others. Through your mere presence you will embody
qualities and attitudes such as patience, trust, respect and kindness. You will
be a role model for your students and will motivate, guide and help them
develop these and other qualities, attitudes and skills. You will be in a
position to help your students to develop their own self-awareness and
mindfulness skills] (p. 194).
Mindfulness is more than an isolated practice.
Mindfulness involves a set of attitudes that children learn by whatching people
who are a benchmark for them - again parents and teachers. This implies that
mindfulness attitudes should be integrated in the way of facing life. We could
say that it is a lifestyle based on living day to day in a conscious way.
Thus, the essential objective regarding the
introduction of mindfulness in schools would be that children develop
mindfulness attitudes in order to extrapolate them to any situation and
integrate it into their daily lives. In addition to this meditative practice in
schools, it would be convenient to work on mindfulness at home from an early
age with the aim that children identify mindfulness as something natural and
that they are able to integrate it in a simple way in their way of relating to
themselves and with the environment that surrounds them (Tébar and Delgado,
2015).
Continuing with the authors, so that the practice
of mindfulness can be carried out successfully in the classroom, it is
advisable that the activities be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of each
child and the specific group with which they are going to work . Some of the
aspects that are proposed to adapt the activities to the needs of the students
are:
1) Children's interests and ages
2) Appropriate time, which will depend on the children's ability to maintain attention
3) Have different types of activities available to be able to use them
according to the circumstances. Although the classification of the different
activities can be varied depending on the way in which attention is going to be
worked, all of them can be classified into two large groups: (a) dynamics -
those that require movement for their implementation - and (b) static - those
that don't require it.
As discussed above, the practice and integration
of mindfulness in the lives of children is a fact that is being carried out, in
part, due to the initiative of some schools to include this meditative practice
as part of their educational projects. The purpose of this initiative would be
to promote a more conscious and emotionally balanced society.
In a second part of this article, I will explain
the characteristics of some of the mindfulness programs that have been
implemented in the educational context in different countries until today and I
will indicate some of the resources that have been used in them.
REFERENCES
Campayo y Cabedo (2020). Intrapersonal Skills and Music Performance in Elementary Piano Students in Spanish Conservatories: Three Case Studies. International Journal of Music Education, 38(1), 93-112.
López-Hernáez, L. (2016). Técnicas Mindfulness en Centros Educativos. Desarrollo Académico y Personal de sus Participantes. Revista Española de Orientación y Psicopedagogía, 27(1), 134-146.
Mañas, I., Franco, C., Gil, M. D., & Gil, C. (2014). Educación consciente: Mindfulness (Atención Plena) en el ámbito educativo. Educadores conscientes formando a seres humanos conscientes. Alianza de civilizaciones, políticas migratorias y educación, 193-229.
Parra, M., Montañés, J., Montañés, M. y Bartolomé, R. (2012). Conociendo mindfulness.
Ensayos, Revista de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete, 27, 24-46.
Pellegrino, J.W., & Hilton, M.L. (Eds.). (2013). Education for life and work: developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. National Academies Press.
Semple, R. J., Droutman, V., & Reid, B. A. (2017). Mindfulness goes to school: Things learned (so far) from research and real‐world experiences. Psychology in the Schools, 54(1), 29-52.
Schwartz, K. (2014). Low-income schools see big benefits in teaching mindfulness. KQED Mind/Shift.
Stahl, B., Goldstein, E., Kabat‐Zinn, J., y Santorelli, S. (2010). Mindfulness para reducir el estrés. Barcelona: Karios.
Tébar Bueno, S., & Delgado, M. P. (2015). Practicando Mindfulness con el alumnado de tercer curso de educación infantil. Ensayos: Revista de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete, 30(2).