When it comes to education, there are two major groups of individuals that benefit from mindfulness training: the students and the school employees. From improved attention span to decreased depression, research shows that integrating yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and other calming practices could truly become a main pillar of a quality education.
As mindfulness techniques are incorporated into schools and universities, the environment that’s developed in those organizations becomes optimal for learning and teaching. Moreover, mindfulness aligns seamlessly with state standards, pedagogical approaches, and different age groups.
Mindfulness for Students
In a massive 2012 peer-review study published in Springer, John Meiklejohn and a team of researchers examined curricula pertaining to the integration of mindfulness training into K-12 education, both indirectly by training teachers and through direct teaching of students. Not only did neurobiological findings suggest a lengthy list of benefits for educators, but there is substantial evidence that illuminate the advantages of mindfulness training for students—both elementary and high school levels— that included improvements in:
- Academic skills
- Attention
- Emotional regulation
- Self-esteem
- Social skills
- Working memory
Self-reported feedback from students also included:
- Improvements in mood
- Deceased anxiety, stress, and fatigue
Test Score Improvements
In an education system fueled and funded by “high-stakes” standardized testing, not only are educators generalized as adept or inept based on a sheet of colored in bubbles, but schools receive more or less funding depending on the outcome. While at first glance, legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act or grant programs like Race to the Top may seem like a good idea as they appear to hold schools accountable for effective teaching practices and reward those that excel, there is a systemic issue that’s created with this approach.
When schools fall behind, they lose funding, which in turn diminishes the kinds of support—be it quality educational materials, technology, and even talented teachers—that students have at their disposal. This goes against the very grain of modern scholastic practices. This funding model also begs the question: how can removing financial support for schools help students receive a better education?
While one might wonder how this relates to mindfulness in education, there is a clear need for this type of training in the classroom: as schools fall into the perils of standardized testing, school administrators and educators have to find a way to close the gap with less funding. Mindfulness training may be a crucial part of that solution.
In a 2013 study by the University of California published in Sage Journals, researchers found that even a two-week mindfulness training course can reduce inattention and improve cognitive performance on GRE reading-comprehension. Mrazek and colleagues found that the results were nearly equivalent to an average 16 percentile-point boost on the examination. In conjunction with these findings, researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) found that mindfulness meditation training for both adults and adolescents with ADHD is an effective and feasible intervention that the condition.
With the research stated above, there is potential for an argument to be made that college graduates react to mindfulness differently than elementary school age children. However, researchers from the University of British Columbia and Goldie Hawn’s MindUP Program found that after a 12-week mindfulness program (one lesson, once a week, and then a three-minute exercise everyday) participants showed a staggering 15% increase in math achievement.
In conjunction with higher math scores these students demonstrated a:
- 24% gain in peer-nominated positive social behaviors
- 20% gain in self-reported well-being and prosociality
- 24% reduction in peer-nominated aggressive behaviors
All this research suggestions that mindfulness exercises can be a healthy, efficient, and cost effect method of both boosting and maintaining positive standardized test scores. In turn, this uptick in GPA and test scores could mean increased federal funding for historically low scoring schools.
Mindfulness for Teachers and School Administrators
While there is some debate about the exact percentage of teachers who quit within the first five years of their careers due to burnout, one thing is for sure, it’s too high. To be fair, statistics were (and still are) frequently being cited that are not entirely accurate, stating that over 50% of teachers would leave their jobs over the course of five years. However, this is not the case.
A more realistic estimate of the percentage of teachers who will opt out of the profession in five years’ time probably lingers around 17%, according to both the U.S. Department of Education and the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (NCTAF). Even with this lower figure, it’s obvious that there is a problem—and an expensive one at that. In fact, the NCTAF estimates that the national cost of public school teacher turnover could be over $7.3 billion a year.
Unfortunately, the schools in the most need for highly-qualified teachers have highest turnover rates. For example, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 70% of new teachers drop out in six years. Interestingly, this rate was even higher than the 42% student dropout rate. These figures perfectly illustrate an element of the systemic issue discussed earlier regarding the “high-stakes” standardized testing at schools that continually receive meager funding.
Teachers Are Stressed and So Are the Kids
Between the low pay, high demands, and endless curriculum standards, teaching has become one of the most stressful occupations in the country. A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RFWJ) found that 46% of teachers report high levels of daily stress, a condition which is known to compromise health, sleep, quality of life, and teaching performance. But it doesn’t stop there.
RFWJ also notes that “when teachers are highly stressed, students show lower levels of both social adjustment and academic performance.” However, they also found that interventions involving programs for mentoring, workplace wellness, social emotional learning, and mindfulness are all proven to improve teacher well-being and student outcomes on both the organizational and individual level.
Start Lowering Your School’s Stress
In conjunction with her experience as a mindfulness consultant, Mindfulness Strategies director, Kim Hill, has over 40 years of experience as an educator. If you’re searching for a cost-effective, healthy, research-based approach to boosting test scores, the well-being of your students and staff, and potentially, your federal funding, consider an eight to twelve week mindfulness course with Mindfulness Strategies.
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