Strengthening Teacher Presence Through Mindfulness: What Educators Say About the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) Program (original) (raw)
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Stress and Release: Case Studies of Teacher Resilience Following a Mindfulness-Based Intervention
American Journal of Education
This qualitative collective case study investigates elementary teachers' experience with stress and the mechanisms of change related to developing resilience following a mindfulness-based intervention, Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE). Results suggest that the amount of stress teachers experience is less important than how they conceptualize their stress. Teachers who developed resilience exercised mindful awareness and nonreactivity coupled with a healthy distress tolerance and sense of efficacy. Other protective factors included community support, self-care, and sustained use of practices focused on emotion regulation. Combined, these capacities enabled teachers to respond more compassionately to their students. Implications for professional development that fosters teachers' resilience are discussed.
2020
Mindfulness is not a new concept or practice, and many organizations are beginning to train their staff in such practices for various purposes such as well-being and productivity. The focus of this research study is to identify mindfulness training programs specific to teachers, the mindfulness techniques teachers are trained on, attributes that can affect motivation and wellbeing, and the impact mindfulness and practicing mindfulness techniques can have on teachers' reported levels of mindfulness, stress, resilience, job satisfaction, motivation, and their work environment. While there is an abundance of research on mindfulness, teacher well-being, and human motivation, there is little research analyzing mindfulness programs specific to teachers, how trained mindfulness techniques can impact teacher perception, nor whether mindful teachers have different reported perceptions regarding their levels of stress, resilience, job satisfaction, or motivation. Research findings from this study suggests that teachers who report as having higher levels of mindfulness report having lower levels of stress and higher levels of resilience, job satisfaction, and motivation. Furthermore, it was also found that teachers who reported as having lower levels of stress, an intended outcome of mindfulness, also reported having higher levels of resilience, job satisfaction, and motivation. Teachers who practiced mindfulness techniques frequently within one category (Positive Mantras, Reminders, and Restructuring; Converting Stress to Learning Experiences; Problem-Solving; Seeking Information and Support) also practiced the other mindfulness techniques more frequently. Of the teachers who practiced mindfulness techniques more frequently, it was found that they reported as having higher levels of resilience, job satisfaction, and motivation. For teacher perceptions of their work environment and implications it may have on teacher reported outcomes, it was found that teachers who reported working in a more mindful and resilient work environment also reported themselves as having higher resilience, job satisfaction, and motivation. The study provides school districts and school leaders with positive correlations that may assist them in providing opportunities to their staff regarding mindfulness training. Moreover, the study can provide a better understanding of how mindfulness techniques and being mindful may impact teacher stress, resilience, job satisfaction, and motivation. Finally, the study may suggest teacher well-being and motivational considerations for school leaders to determine what their teachers may need.
Mindfulness, 2016
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can reduce teachers' stress. The purpose of this mixed-method study, conducted within the context of a randomized-control trial of an MBI for teachers, was to examine four potential ways by which the MBI reduced teacher stress, including by (1) increasing their efficacy for regulating emotion on the job; (2) improving their ways of coping with stress at work; (3) increasing their efficacy for forgiving colleagues and students at work following conflict, as well as the tendency to do so; and (4) increasing teachers' tendency to feel compassion for people generally, and for challenging students in particular. Public school teachers (n=59) were ran-domized to an MBI or a waitlist control condition. They completed surveys at pre/post/follow-up and interviews at post-program designed to assess their coping with work stressors and their appraisals of their most challenging students. Survey data showed that efficacy beliefs and the tendency to forgive changed from pre/ post for teachers in the MBI, and partially mediated reductions in stress from baseline to 4-month follow-up. Interview results showed a trend for teachers in the MBI to report more adaptive strategies for coping with job stress, and a tendency to evaluate challenging students in a more positive affective light. Implications for MBIs in teacher professional development are discussed.
Why should teachers cultivate resilience through mindfulness?
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 2021
The concept of resilience and mindfulness is becoming increasingly popular in schools worldwide in response to critical issues such as escalating teacher stress and burnout. This article explores the concept of mindfulness as a supportive practice to build resilience in times of stress in relation to reducing or preventing teacher burnout. It aims to provide practical strategies for psychologists and counsellors in schools to empower teachers with coping strategies when encountering stress. What current research literature reveals about the effectiveness of resilience and mindfulness for supporting the wellbeing of preservice and inservice teachers is discussed. Overall, the research shows that practising mindfulness to build resilience is beneficial because it helps teachers focus on the present and improves attention, self-awareness and emotional regulation, which can reduce stress and enhance wellbeing. However, further empirical studies are needed to provide deeper insights of t...
This chapter reviews the extant literature on mindfulness-based interventions applied to reducing teachers' occupational stress and improving job performance, demonstrating the evolution of the field over the past 20 years from very small pilot studies to a recently conducted large cluster randomized controlled trial. The term "mindfulness" refers to a particular kind of attention characterized by intentionally focusing on the present moment with a non-judgmental attitude and is cultivated by engaging in mindful awareness practices. Research on the effects of mindfulness training with adults has shown numerous positive effects including reduced stress and increased self-awareness, empathy, and emotion regulation. The chapter reviews the research on mindfulness-based interventions more broadly, focusing on research involving non-clinical samples and work-related outcomes. The chapter provides an overview of early research on mindfulness-based interventions for teachers and an in-depth discussion and review of the associated research of two widely used mindfulness-based programs for teachers, Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques in Education (SMART) and Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE for Teachers). The chapter concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the reviewed research and recommendations for future research that will address gaps in the literature.
The protective effects of mindfulness against burnout among educators
The Psychology of Education Review, 2013
Because many educators experience stress and burnout, identifying factors that promote health and wellbeing among teachers and school staff is critical. Educators’ mindfulness is one aspect of social-emotional competence that may protect them from experiencing burnout and its negative consequences. In the current study, 64 educators completed self-report measures of mindfulness, burnout, affect, sleep-related impairment, daily physical symptoms, stress, and ambition. Results of cross-sectional analyses indicated that educators’ mindfulness had strong, consistent negative associations with three widely-studied components of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and low personal accomplishment. The link between mindfulness and burnout was partially explained by affect, sleep-related impairment, and daily physical symptoms. In addition, the protective effect of mindfulness was most pronounced among more stressed and more ambitious educators. This study adds to accumulating evidence that mindfulness promotes resilience in educators and may foster healthy educators, classrooms, and students.
Mindfulness for teachers: A pilot study to assess effects on stress, burnout and teaching efficacy
Mind, brain and education : the official journal of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, 2013
Despite the crucial role of teachers in fostering children's academic learning and social–emotional well-being, addressing teacher stress in the classroom remains a significant challenge in education. This study reports results from a randomized controlled pilot trial of a modified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (mMBSR) adapted specifically for teachers. Results suggest that the course may be a promising intervention, with participants showing significant reductions in psychological symptoms and burnout, improvements in observer-rated classroom organization and performance on a computer task of affective attentional bias, and increases in self-compassion. In contrast, control group participants showed declines in cortisol functioning over time and marginally significant increases in burnout. Furthermore, changes in mindfulness were correlated in the expected direction with changes across several outcomes (psychological symptoms, burnout, and sustained attention) in t...