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Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness 12/2021

24-09-2021 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Mindfulness for Developing Communities of Practice for Educators in Schools

Auteurs: Yoon-Suk Hwang, Jae-Eun Noh, Nirbhay N. Singh

Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness | Uitgave 12/2021

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Abstract

Objectives

The rising interest in mindfulness-based programs in education reflects a growing need for schools to respond to the wellbeing of educators. Benefits of mindfulness-based programs have been largely measured at an individual educator level with less attention paid to group processes and their effects. The objectives of the present study were to explore the experiences and perceived effects of cultivating mindfulness on the personal and professional lives of educators.

Methods

Seventeen educators from five schools who learned and practiced mindfulness communally with their school colleagues for 8 weeks participated in an interview 4 weeks after the Reconnected mindfulness-based training. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. We used the analyses to develop a three-stage process of communal mindfulness practice and a model of the development of a community of practice.

Results

The exploration of cultivating mindfulness within a school community illustrated the experiences of individual educators in this context and highlighted the influence of the school environment on their need for and experiences of mindfulness practice, and formed a three-stage learning process of making connections in the two experientially intertwined domains of self and colleagues. The findings provided some evidence showing how mindfulness meditation that is highly individual in its nature can reduce a sense of isolation and promote a sense of connectedness among heterogenous school members and how processes of communal mindfulness practice can contribute to evolving a community of practice at schools.

Conclusions

As much as a school community needs mindfulness, as a domain of knowledge, to engage community members in learning through co-participation, practicing mindfulness requires a community that connects members and supports them to practice together.
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Metagegevens
Titel
Mindfulness for Developing Communities of Practice for Educators in Schools
Auteurs
Yoon-Suk Hwang
Jae-Eun Noh
Nirbhay N. Singh
Publicatiedatum
24-09-2021
Uitgeverij
Springer US
Gepubliceerd in
Mindfulness / Uitgave 12/2021
Print ISSN: 1868-8527
Elektronisch ISSN: 1868-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01758-7

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