Why we do what we do: 8 evidence-based principles that guide MiSP

Official guidance based on two decades of evidence recommends a whole-school approach for efforts to promote wellbeing, mental health and social and emotional learning in schools. A whole school approach refers to efforts to create a joined-up, multi-component and coherent environment and ethos, in which all parts of the school and its community work smoothly together. Staff set the tone for the whole school, and supporting the wellbeing of teachers and other adults in educational settings is at the heart of the whole school process. 

Mindfulness has a major role in creating a positive whole school environment and the promotion of wellbeing, starting with the staff. The evidence, including from our programmes, shows that it reliably promotes the personal wellbeing of teachers, reduces mental health problems such as stress and burnout and in the process improves the climate of the whole school. The evidence is clear that teaching mindfulness to school staff also impacts directly on the wellbeing and performance of children and young people.  

We are aware that whole school development, including teacher development, is a lengthy, steady and incremental process, beginning with the teachers’ development. Step 1 of our 5-step pathway introduces mindfulness into a school setting and raises awareness about its benefits. Step 2 is an 8-week programme for teachers to learn mindfulness for themselves, to experience its impacts on their own wellbeing, and to develop the understanding and skills needed to teach its often paradoxical effects. 

We offer foundation courses online and face-to-face and recommend other well-regarded courses. The positive impact of our own foundational courses was demonstrated by a published trial of our own .b Foundations course, which showed positive outcomes on teachers’ stress and wellbeing. 

Teachers we train in schools are expected to develop regular personal practice. Developing their own practice enables them to teach from a place of felt understanding and embodiment of the core attitudes of paying attention, non-judgement, open-mindedness, kindness and compassion. This solid personal experience allows teachers to ‘walk the talk’ in the classroom in ways students will experience as authentic and impactful.  This foundational work forms the basis for a solid grasp of the particular understandings and skills needed to teach mindfulness effectively, a process which research has demonstrated can otherwise be tricky for teachers.  To give this process the time needed, teachers spend a minimum of three months between completing their 8-week programme and starting the relevant Teach course.

We stress the invitational nature of this work rather than attempts to conscript teachers. As with other subject areas, having teachers trained in an area they are personally passionate about is important for effectiveness. Research suggests this is particularly relevant for mindfulness and teachers’ ability to ‘walk the talk’ as outlined above.

With this solid foundation in place, in step 3 teachers are then eligible to follow a recognised MiSP ‘Teach’ training course enabling them to deliver the relevant programme for children and young people (tailored to a specific age group). They subsequently receive ongoing support for teacher development and implementation. 

Step 4 of our pathway aims to help experienced teachers embed mindfulness in their school by training to be a ‘School Mindfulness Lead’. They can then teach a foundation 8-week course to colleagues. Step 5 ‘Sustain and Share’ trains teachers to establish a model of sustainable mindfulness that can be shared with other settings. Teachers are guided to create an organisation-wide approach to mindfulness, tailored to meet the needs of that unique school and integrated into the setting’s existing structures. They can then apply to become a MiSP Beacon setting, working more widely in the community with other schools and sharing their practice, supporting other settings in developing a sustainable mindfulness approach.

Being a single teacher, or one of only a few trained in a school could feel isolating at times. Skills can also fade if not regularly refreshed and nurtured, and the field is developing rapidly so our accredited teachers become members of our supportive community where they are offered, through the ‘Hub’, an evolving rich resource of materials, webinars, practice groups, peer to peer connection, and retreats.

We have learned a great deal from the well-established wider evidence-based field of social and emotional learning. Our programmes have been designed to be in line with principles that promote social and emotional learning, and mental health and well-being, identified by evidence reviews of school-based programmes. These principles include: explicitly teaching skills and attitudes; providing plenty of opportunities for practice; tailoring the programme to the needs of young people; using a range of age-appropriate, interactive, experiential and lively teaching methods; providing age-appropriate resources to bring mindfulness to life; intensive, focused teacher education to cultivate teachers’ self-efficacy and well-being; and provide ongoing support for teachers development. 

We carefully craft our teaching programmes to meet the needs of young people, to be fun and enjoyable, to offer resources packed with creative and engaging activities, to be inclusive and to address learning diversity. Our materials have been used successfully in a wide range of educational contexts and taught to children and young people with varying capabilities, experiences, expectations and backgrounds. They were written by teachers for teachers, reflecting pedagogical best practices and years of extensive experience of ‘what works’ in the classroom so that the class is engaged and able to learn. 

We aim to ensure that pupils feel positive about their experience of learning mindfulness and enjoy the lessons. We are realistic that few will carry on with a substantial personal practice, but we know from research on our programmes and from our feedback that, when taught well, mindfulness makes a fundamental difference to how most young people think, feel and respond. We know that many of the pupils use the techniques they have learned, especially when meeting challenges. We intend that those who need more substantial help from mindfulness therapy in later life will feel positive about it.

Studies, including on our programmes, have consistently demonstrated the relationship between the amount of practice outside the classroom and positive outcomes for pupils. Across all our programmes we have developed a range of creative ways to encourage pupils to practice outside of lessons while ensuring this is clearly voluntary and does not become onerous. We continue to find ways to encourage mindfulness skills and approaches beyond the classroom, based on the natural settings in which pupils operate and in ways a wide range of pupils find relevant and engaging. We also acknowledge part of our training for teachers in schools is to enable a fuller understanding of what mindfulness actually is, enabling more people across the life course to access it, having been introduced to knowledge and skills whilst at school.

We have always been clear that pupils with mental health vulnerabilities need special consideration. Our guidance to teachers has always emphasised the need for sensitivity to mental health needs and the overriding need to keep pupils safe. The evidence increasingly supports that we need to recognise that mindfulness is not the universal panacea, that it can occasionally do harm if care is not taken, and that mindfulness meditation is not indicated for all pupils. We put considerable effort into ensuring our teachers are guided to understand safeguarding and trauma-sensitive mindfulness and we recommend ongoing trauma-sensitive training to the teachers we train.

We continue to advise that teachers we train know their students well (in the usual way school teachers are obliged to do) and ensure that they do not push them to over-disclose and expose their ‘soft underbelly’ to others for instance in their class. We recommend that different arrangements may need to be made for pupils for whom meditation is not indicated, and in tactful ways that do not stigmatise. We encourage the teachers we train to ensure their school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead or other pastoral stakeholders deselect any particularly vulnerable pupils from mindfulness classes or provide an appropriate alternative in parallel.

MiSP also takes the wellbeing of teachers it trains seriously devoting time and resources to this. Teachers and others joining our training courses are asked to complete an application form, part of which explores whether there are any life circumstances or particular vulnerabilities that are helpful for our trainers to be aware of, and/or whether the mindfulness training is appropriate for them at this particular time.  

The Mindfulness Initiative suggests the importance of integrating mindfulness with other subjects.

It can help mindfulness to have more leverage, relate more clearly to school’s work on promoting wellbeing, and provide a context and a sense of relevance if it is supported by and embedded in other elements of the curriculum.

The most closely aligned curriculum area is PSHE and we have developed resources and guidance to map mindfulness onto PSHE, with which it shares many aims: Mapping Our Curricula for PSHE – Mindfulness in Schools Project.  Mindfulness has a vital and unique contribution to make in helping PSHE really make a difference to pupils:

Through its present moment, embodied, skills-based approach, mindfulness can help ensure that the aims of SEL are realised in practice and action, not just expressed as theories, words and future intentions. 

We also link with a wide range of national programmes that support mental health and wellbeing. 

Our programmes and approaches have evolved considerably since we began in 2009. We work with a wide variety of schools and other educational settings, helping them to support the wellbeing and mental health of both young people and adults and the broader community that supports the school. Our ‘5-step pathway’ that provides the backbone of our work has evolved out of this grounded and rich learning. 

We continue to evolve our approach and our programmes in light of the feedback we receive from our school community and as newly published evidence emerges. We continue to be open-minded and responsive to meet the changing needs of young people, teachers, schools and communities.