Mindfulness in Education Resources
- Mindfulness Professional Development Workshops for Educators—practice, skills and resources for those involved with youth;
- SMARTEducation™: Stress Management and Resilience Training for Educators—an eight-week teacher renewal program, is designed specifically for (K-12) educators and professional support staff;
- Mindful parenting: Stress Managment and Relaxation Training for Parents an eight- week program that puts the experience of the parent at the heart of the mindfulness practice.
- The Mindful Edge®—Stress Reduction and Life Strategies for Teens delivered in secondary schools as part of the leadership and/or life skills curriculum;
- Speaking Engagements: Invite our trained facilitators to provide an experiential introduction to mindfulness.
Why Mindfulness? Being Well
In April, 2016, the Ministry of Education added “Student Well-Being” as a fourth renewed pillar of education: “The well-being of students needs to move to the centre of the education system’s priorities.”1 Policy-makers, staff, parents and students alike recognize that wellness (whether physical, mental, social, emotional) is not an add-on to achievement, but directly supports learning, just as lack of wellness inhibits learning. Students will only reach their full potential in school and life if they feel safe, supported and well.
A growing body of research supports mindfulness and social-emotional learning programs as beneficial for student wellness (particularly mental health) and also supporting achievement through cognitive function, self-regulation, attention, self-awareness, empathy and more.
What is Mindfulness? How Does it Develop?
Mindfulness is a non-judgemental, accepting awareness of experiencing the present moment. A state of being that supports living and being well in general, but also learning and working. Mindfulness usually begins as a practice (e.g., formal or informal aspects of mindfulness practice), and then people experience it in their normal lives as a temporary state, which ultimately (with continued exploration) becomes more or less a consistent trait of being.
“Our educators need to build the knowledge and skills associated with positive well-being. … based on the principle that our education system needs to help students build the knowledge and skills associated with positive well-being so that they can become healthy, active and engaged citizens.” Ontario’s Well-Being Strategy
Why Begin with the Educators?
Teachers interested in implementing mindful awareness practices in their classrooms are encouraged to first learn and practice mindfulness strategies for themselves.
- In social learning theory, behaviour modeling is the demonstration of a desired behaviour.
- A teacher’s presence in a classroom, together with the related capacity to build relationship, is considered more important than any instruction a teacher can offer.
- Teachers often neglect their own needs, resulting in high incidents of stress and burnout in the profession. Mindfulness-based self-care practices can help restore balance in educators’ lives, enabling them to be present for their students.
Mindfulness for Educators
A 9-Session Program—Winter 2018
SMART™ (Stress Management And Resiliency Techniques) Education is a 9-session, 20-hour evidence-based program designed to address the needs of educators, professional support staff, and those involved in the lives of children and youth.
This evidence-based course trains educators to better manage work-related and personal stress, in order to cultivate emotional balance. SMART integrates the teachings, practices and research from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, emotion theory, and compassion training to address the specific needs and challenges of educators. Each session consists of presentations, group discussion and experiential practices in mindfulness. A 4-hour silent retreat and weekly home practice is also part of the course.
SMART is a secular program, delivered by SMART UBC accredited facilitators.
Successful participants receive a Certificate of Completion from UBC Faculty of Education.
For more information, please contact mary@mindfulnesseveryday.org or call (647) 677-4707
To Register: www.mindfulnesseveryday.org/schedule.html#CoursesForEducators
If you are interested in hosting SMART at your location,
download SMART Hosting Requirements HERE
More information HERE
Mindfulness for Parents
Mindful Parenting Workshops are designed to improve health and well-being, providing essential self-care tools. Parents and Care-givers can achieve immediate ben-efits for themselves and receive support for implementing mindfulness skills in their family life.
Articles for Educators
Can Mindfulness Make us Better Teachers?
What Students Remember About Teachers?
For further information on current research, see: The Association for Mindfulness in Education http://www.mindfuleducation.org
“In the future, there will need to be many different kinds
of mindfulness teachers and guides for many different contexts.
What’s needed for educators will differ from what’s needed for health professionals and inner city youth.
Let many flowers bloom.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn, February 2014 Mindful Magazine
Usage Guidelines
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We wish you well in sharing mindfulness in education! Thank you.