Soloway 2016

Source:   BOOK CHAPTER

APA Citation:

Soloway, G. B. (2016). Preparing teacher candidates for the present: Investigating the value of mindfulness-training in teacher education. In K. Schonert-Reichl & R. Roeser (Eds.), Handbook of mindfulness in education: Integrating theory and research into practice. New York, NY: Springer.

Author bio:

Geoffrey B. Soloway – Mindwell, Bowen Island, BC, Canada

Dr. Geoff Soloway has been working in the area of Wellbeing and Mindfulness for 15 years. Geoff is Co-Founder and Chief Training Officer at MindWell U, a mindfulness consulting firm offering evidence-based in-person and online training. Geoff completed a Master’s in Education and PhD on Mindfulness at the University of Toronto, and certificate in Organizational Coaching from University of British Columbia. Source: https://amindfulsociety.org/speaker-lineup/geoffrey-soloway/

Notes:

CHAPTER 12

levels of teacher stress is not solely based on circumstances happening to teachers, distress is meditated by the complex interaction between teachers’ disposition, values, skills, and coping mechanisms (Mearns & Cain, 2003; Montgomery & Rupp, 2005). Teacher distress negatively impacts the whole system of education, especially classroom culture and student learning (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Loc 7324-7328

Teacher Education has traditionally focused on three main areas: content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and development of disposition (Cochran-Smith, 2001; Darling-Hammond et al., 2005; Fullen & Hargreaves, 1992; Grant, 2008). While all three are widely seen as integral components of Teacher Education, development of disposition remains elusive. Loc 7330-7334

Generally speaking, disposition has been defined in terms of the trends or habits of mind that repeatedly affect teachers’ actions and judgments within variable contexts (Borko, Liston, & Whitcomb, 2007; Johnson & Reiman, 2007; Katz & Rath, 1985). Disposition is a matter of how we, as teachers, adapt to a constantly changing set of opportunities and challenges; how we, as individuals, function within a dynamic system of interpersonal exchange. Loc 7336-7340

Even though disposition is theoretically regarded as a central aspect in Teacher Education, we have witnessed little integration of formalized training programs that explicitly focus on developing disposition in Teacher Education. Loc 7355-7357

In this chapter I present a summary of study completed as a doctoral dissertation that explores the added value of a dispositional development program in Teacher Education. The program implemented is called Mindfulness-Based Wellness Education (MBWE ). The primary purpose of the study was to gain insight into the experiences of teacher candidates going through an experiential course focused on developing a mindful disposition. 7357-7360

MBWE blended the popular Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program with a model of wellness promotion (Soloway, 2005; Soloway, Poulin, & Mackenzie, 2010). This 9-week program was run in the context of an elective course entitled “Stress and Burnout: Teacher and Student Applications.” MBWE uses a “wellness wheel” (Fig. 12.1) to explore mindfulness through various dimensions of one’s experience. During each week of the course, different dimension of wellness were explored. Each week, teacher candidates are invited to maintain a daily formal mindfulness practice, such as mindful sitting or yoga, and more informal practices that address bringing mindfulness to activities such as listening, speaking, socializing, or engaging with nature. Teacher candidates are also asked to choose a practice that supports the dimension of wellness they are focusing on that week, such as healthy eating or spending quality time with friends and family. 7407-7415

Teacher candidates are given a CD with mindfulness practices that are each 20 min long, a wellness workbook, and a course reader at the beginning of the course. Teacher candidates are encouraged to work up to maintaining a 20-min formal mindfulness practice three times a week and completing a shorter mindfulness practice on other days in order to maintain a regular daily practice. 7418-7421

In the first 2 years of offering the MBWE course, two studies with teacher candidates enrolled in MBWE demonstrated that active participants exhibited significantly greater increases in mindfulness, life satisfaction, and teaching self-efficacy when compared to a control group (Poulin, 2009; Poulin, Mackenzie, Soloway, & Karaoylas, 2008). 7422-7425

This study demonstrated five central themes from data: (1) Reflective Practice, (2) Teacher Identity, (3) Social and Emotional Competence and Well-being on Practicum, (4) Learning to Fail— Learning to Teach, and (5) Engagement in Teacher Education. 7456-7458

The paradigm of constructivism constitutes both a theory of knowledge and a theory of education. Constructivism describes knowledge as being actively constructed by the individual and his or her assimilation of new experiences with the past (Richardson, 2003). A constructivist approach shifts the focus of teaching from the teacher to the student. Whereas the teacher-centered approach has traditionally favored passive transmission of information within a lecture-style format, the constructivist model challenges teachers to find more innovative scenarios centered on the students’ experience of learning. A problem in Teacher Education is that constructivist learning theory is often taught using a teacher-centered approach. Mindfulness is often taught from a constructivist approach where the learner gains knowledge through their direct experience with the practice. Loc 7584-7591

Curiously, teacher educators have years of experience in the K-12 classroom yet very little training in teaching adults. One underlying assumption in Teacher Education maintains that experience teaching in the K-12 classroom is sufficient for preparing teacher candidates. This assumption can be problematic for two reasons. First, teacher educators typically have experience teaching children and adolescents whereas teacher candidates are adult learners. Second, developing adult disposition is not an area many K-12 teachers would be knowledgeable in or have experience facilitating, and yet dispositional development is a core element of Teacher Education. Developing disposition in professional preparation raises concerns because it blends the lines between personal and professional. Faculties of Education, for example, typically focus on content knowledge and professional practice, not the inner life of the student. Personal development is regarded theoretically as a critical element in Teacher Education however not as closely followed in practice. Teacher Education would benefit from specialists, i.e., mindfulness-based educators, who can co-facilitate mindfulness-based training with teacher candidates, as well as teacher educators undergoing training in mindfulness. Loc 7681-7690

This exploratory study found that mindfulness training in the context of Teacher Education provided practical learning opportunities for teacher candidates to develop the skills, knowledge, and dispositional goals of Teacher Education. The real world of teaching transcends fixed and clearly defined ways of being in the classroom because no two students are the same. Teacher education is not trying to create a mold of an expert teacher, but rather lead new teachers on a path with the skills and awareness to continue to develop as a person and as a professional. Whereas teacher education is most often based on preparing teacher candidates for the future, mindfulness training is a key new insight for preparing teachers for the present— the place where all the complexities of teaching and living unfold. 7693-7698