Blog by Faiy Rushton, Education and Training Development Manager
Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) is excited to announce the launch of ‘The Pathways’ model, a framework designed to help individuals, schools and educational settings explore the benefits of mindfulness and clearly see the extent of MiSP’s potential support.
‘The Pathways’ model is aimed at teachers and school staff, parents, youth workers, and others working with or caring for children. It offers a structured yet flexible training and support route. The Pathways journey starts with learning mindfulness for personal wellbeing and then progressing through the steps to become a qualified teacher of mindfulness for children and young people. It will enable you to introduce mindfulness in an age-appropriate way through MiSP’s various curricula and, ultimately for those interested, become a School Mindfulness Lead and even a MiSP Beacon School or Trust.
The framework can also help create or support a bespoke organisation-wide approach to mindfulness, tailored to meet the needs of each individual setting.
What are the steps?
Step 1 – Explore mindfulness
From today, you can start your Pathways journey or simply register your interest in the following ways:
- Request a free Starter Resources pack, which contains all the information and resources you need to learn more about mindfulness and how to introduce it to your school or setting.
- Request a free pre-recorded Information Webinar or book a bespoke Information Webinar for your setting. Both will explain what mindfulness is and isn’t, explore the research into potential benefits, the steps to bringing mindfulness to your school or setting and an opportunity to find out if .begin, our 8-week introductory mindfulness course, is right for you.
- Book onto a .breathe course and learn to introduce our mindfulness-based wellbeing programme to support transition (to ages 9-14 years).
- Find a local .b Foundations teacher to deliver a Taster for your setting.
Steps 2-5
Launching one step at a time over the next few months:
- Step 2 – Introduce mindfulness to staff (through staff individually or collectively completing a recognised 8-week course) or straight away to students (via booking an external MiSP-trained teacher to deliver the student curricula)
- Step 3 – Develop a model for mindfulness taught in-house to students, and build a community to share coordination of mindfulness initiatives
- Step 4 – Embed mindfulness learning and approaches throughout the setting where appropriate
- Step 5 – Sustain and Share, further ensuring your mindfulness approaches are as sustainable as possible and can also be shared with and inspire others through becoming a MiSP ‘Beacon School/Setting/Trust.
Why approach mindfulness in this way?
Since 2009, MiSP has had the privilege of working with a wide variety of schools, other educational settings, Local Educational Authorities and Multi-Academy-Trusts, helping them to support the wellbeing and mental health of both young people and adults who work within them, as well as the broader community of families, governing bodies, other service providers and volunteers who support those schools.
We have collated examples of successful implementation of mindfulness-based initiatives and key learning from where things have not quite gone to plan. The Pathways approach has evolved out of this rich learning.
The benefits of ‘The Pathways’ model include a clear but flexible structure, expert support, tried and tested resources, and a collaborative model that encourages participation from staff and students.
Ultimately, our goal is to empower schools and communities to bring mindfulness to the heart of educational life, supporting individual and community wellbeing.
We welcome feedback and the Pathways framework has been designed to evolve in response to our community’s needs.
If you have any questions or further ideas for development, please contact enquiries@mindfulnessinschools.org.