In the face of declining mental health, fractured focus, absenteeism, and relentless assessment pressures, mindfulness training has been shown to provide important whole life skills in supporting health, happiness, and resilience in students and in their teachers.

The field is still young but growing rapidly, and the good news is that the Mindfulness Initiative has produced sound, evidence-based principles, programmes, and guidance to draw on - summarised in our newly amended document ‘Implementing Mindfulness in Schools, an evidence-based approach’. We hope to continue to develop this guide based on emerging research and new examples of good practice.

We were particularly pleased to see this document described as laying out “a robust framework for mindfulness-based interventions in education” and quoted in a 2024 Westminster Hall debate on mindfulness in schools, which followed the tragic death of Brianna Ghey and the campaign her mother instigated to increase mindfulness in schools.

Mindfulness for students and teachers, when implemented with care and skill has been shown to improve their overall effectiveness in meeting life’s challenges. Its outcomes can include better mental health and wellbeing, enhanced resilience, and improved social and emotional skills such as impulse control, empathy, and tolerance. In these days of relentless attempts by digital media to influence, capture, and fragment our attention it has also been shown to strengthen vital skills of focus and concentration.

We recognise the need for caution: to avoid harm, as with all psychological interventions, mindfulness needs to be introduced with care and skill, utilising accredited training, approaches that engage young people, and a considered trauma informed approach. Mindfulness is not a magic bullet and cannot act alone, it needs to be part of a whole set of actions which enhance wellbeing, an integral part of sound programmes of social and emotional education, and embedded within a whole school culture and ethos which supports values such as respect, kindness, and compassion. In our guidance we provide grounded examples of the vital and unique part mindfulness can play in creating such environments. 

However, mindfulness is still only found in a minority of schools. More research, development and dissemination are urgently needed, to ensure evidence-based mindfulness practice is implemented and rolled out safely and effectively.

If you would like to support us in our work supporting the implementation of mindfulness in schools, please consider supporting our work.

If you'd like to contact our Education Policy Lead you can do so here:

Contact Katherine Weare.

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Our resources to guide you: 

Implementing mindfulness in schools, an evidence based guide. Written by the Mindfulness Initiative Education Policy Lead and expert in the field Professor Katherine Weare, and practising classroom teacher and wellbeing expert Adrian Bethune, published by the Mindfulness Initiative. The extensive and evidence based guidance covers the whole field of theory, the evidence base, and practical implementation. It has been described by highly respected educational leader Professor Guy Claxton as "An incredibly useful piece of work. It is authoritative, clear, comprehensive and really practical. It will guide the development of mindfulness in education for years to come." Jon Kabat-Zinn gave it a “deep bow of appreciation for the incredible (elegant and balanced) work”.

Initial Reflections on the MYRIAD Study by Mindfulness Initiative Education Policy Lead and expert in the field Professor Katherine Weare, and previous Mindfulness Initiative Co-Director Ruth Ormston. MYRIAD (My Resilience in Adolescence) was a large scientific study of mindfulness in schools which produced mixed results, This paper comments on what we can learn from this study, notes the beneficial impact on the teachers who trained to deliver the teaching, and provides suggestions as to why some of the findings of the project for pupils were not as expected.

If you feel strongly about this opportunity for children and their teachers you can support our education policy work directly, using the form below to give a gift.

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