Mindfulness in Schools Project
For the flourishing of young minds
A New Year’s Revelation for teachers by Liz Lord In the second of our series of blogs looking at the essential qualities of school mindfulness teachers, Liz Lord questions the constant and never ending ‘to do’ lists and offers an alternative… I worked for almost 20 years as a teacher, SLT member, SENDCO, CAMHS link […]
By Liz Lord In this first of a series of blogs looking at the essential qualities of school mindfulness teachers, Liz Lord tracks the explosion in popularity of the children’s book, The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, and explores the lessons we can learn from their experiences. I first learned of the […]
Welcome to MiSP’s series of 20 Top Tips for 2020. We have gathered together the 20 questions we are asked most often and, using a decade’s worth of experience in delivering mindfulness in schools, plus the experiences of our mindfulness community of more than 5,000 trained teachers, we provide the answers! #10: How can I […]
by Liz Lord and Willem Kuyken There has never been a more receptive time for schools to look at the best, evidenced-based ways to support the wellbeing of pupils and staff. As heads, senior leadership teams (SLTs) and school staff look for ways to support their school communities in these challenging times, is there a […]
Some ideas and support for .b, Paws b and .breathe teachers As schools begin to re-open in this strange, post-lockdown period, we are aware that those who have trained with us to teach MiSP curricula will have a good deal to navigate as they move back into the classroom. What follows is hopefully helpful guidance […]
Our focus this week is on teacher wellbeing, so we asked the charity Education Support to provide some extra insights and advice… Teachers’ mental health and wellbeing is under pressure as never before, with many school staff feeling more stressed and anxious than usual. It’s a completely natural reaction to the higher levels of distress […]
Over the past century our understanding of how children learn has developed considerably, and whilst research continues and experts debate the mechanisms there is one unifying factor: the interactions that children have with others (‘relationships’) are key. From Sigmund Freud’s focus on childhood experiences, to John Bowlby’s attachment theory, to Albert Bandura’s proposition that learning […]
MYRIAD involves a range of studies, including a seven-year randomised control trial and research project funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is investigating whether and how mindfulness training (MiSP’s .b) can be used to prevent depression and build resilience during early adolescence, to establish whether mindfulness can be an effective and cost-effective approach to promoting […]
Teaching is a challenging profession and work-related stress is a serious problem in schools. Whilst there is a large body of research on the mental and physical health benefits of mindfulness for adults generally, this 2015 study specifically investigates the impact of mindfulness on teachers in schools. Non-Randomised Feasibility Trial Assessing The Efficacy Of A […]
Research into the impacts of mindfulness programmes in schools has tended to focus on older children of secondary school age. There are, happily, a growing number of research projects investigating the impacts on younger, pre-adolescent, children of primary school age. We launched our curriculum for 7-11 year olds, Paws b, in 2013 and in 2015 […]