Recent debates within mindfulness in education in the United Kingdom highlight tensions between instrumental and integral approaches. Large-scale evidence from the University of Oxford’s MYRIAD project has questioned the effectiveness of school-based mindfulness in preventing adolescent mental health problems, while revealing positive impacts on teachers’ wellbeing and school climate. This...
This article explores a case study of a mindfulness teacher, Beth, and her experiences of teaching mindfulness to 11- to 16-year-olds in several English schools. It shows why Beth was drawn to teaching mindfulness, which was both to alleviate the stress amongst her pupils and improve her own mental health. It illustrates how and why she became a confident, successful mindfulness teacher: she...
ABSTRACT This article seeks to amplify debates concerning the application of mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) to schools and other places of learning by deepening a number of conceptual, methodological and implementational issues. It argues that the pursuit of the by-products of mindfulness, enhanced focus and well-being serve a neoliberal agenda for education. This is lemon-juice to...