Research conducted into the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions has considered at length their application in treating a range of clinical disorders. More recently, work has identified such interventions as being potentially applicable within school settings as a method of supporting pupils’ social and emotional development. This study reports the results of a mixed methods investigation designed to explore how pupils from two secondary schools perceive the impact of studying ‘mindfulness’ as part of an eight-week school-based curriculum and the barriers to its successful implementation. A range of qualitative and quantitative methods (online questionnaire, focus groups and in-depth interviews) were employed to capture the depth and breadth of pupils’ experiences. The data revealed distinct variability in pupils’ perceptions, highlighting how various psychological, social and functional factors impacted their experience of the curriculum itself and the practices taught within it. The reported impacts of such factors are broadly consistent with those highlighted in previous research and the theoretical literature regarding mindfulness. Pupils also described a number of issues preventing their engagement in mindfulness practice outside the classroom (e.g. a perceived lack of ability, forgetfulness and self-consciousness) and factors perceived to limit their impact (e.g. difficulty of technique, problems concentrating and the presence of environmental distractions). The results of this study reinforce the need for detailed exploratory investigations of school-based mindfulness interventions to account for the complexity of pupils’ experiences. Such information is considered to be of interest to a range of educational professionals and could help them to assess the potential value of mindfulness-based initiatives for secondary aged pupils. Limitations of the study and recommendations for further research are discussed herein.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:567405 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Kempson, Robert Joseph |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/39467/ |
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