Why Mindfulness is Essential to Students’ Well-being

Some schools have long considered the nurture and practice of mindfulness as part of the daily preparation for learning. Before ‘well-being’ and ‘happiness’ became terms at the heart of public policy, the practice of Yoga, meditation, and deep-breathing exercises have helped develop a calm and aware, yet purposeful mindset, within both teachers and students, from kindergarten onwards.

Mindfulness is an important foundation for well-being. Correct posture, breath control, and the development of self-awareness, calmly being in touch with and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations through a period of quiet reflection helps teachers and students create their own private space. It involves emptying the mind of clutter and opening it to new possibilities, new learning, and awareness of the needs of others rather than one’s self.

Physical Health and Positive Lifestyle Choices

Mindfulness and its impact on developing positive attitudes, and a balanced approach to living and learning, help us understand the first pillar of well-being – Physical health and positive lifestyle choices. For years, schools have cooperated with health screening for vision, hearing, dental, obesity, and mental health. Admissions officers request parents to fill out forms about their child’s medical history, vaccination records, allergies, and medication. Essentially, the process has been one of tick-box documentation, precaution, and inaction. Physical health screening has been something ‘done to’ students for and on behalf of parents or the authorities, rather than being a pillar of well-being built through partnership between home and school. This is changing.

The CBSE and the KHDA prescribe the amount of time for PE within the curriculum. The development of inter-school sports competitions, as well as involving the parent community in the fun of Sports Day, also helps embed physical culture as an integral component of well-being. Mens sana in corpore sano – ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’, is a challenge to those who may feel that academic success is more important than ‘playing games’. Thankfully, this too is changing.

Children should be encouraged step-by-step to challenge their own physical limits, to experience being a part of a team, and to understand the thrill of competition. They must experience the exhilaration of winning while managing more important lessons that come from defeat. Students who are encouraged to balance their studies with activity and creativity are more likely to achieve well-being academically and socially.

The range of physical, cultural, and creative after-school enrichment activities add an important dimension to a student’s holistic development and well-being. The integration of the STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) with coding and robotics, as well as ‘flipped’ learning, where students collaborate and research information and solutions outside class to be presented next lesson, breaks down the division between learning in and out of school. Innovative approaches to learning, which incorporate field trips – ‘learning without walls’ – with real-world challenges, improves well being as well as learning outcomes.

Social and Emotional Intelligence

Social and emotional intelligence is another pillar of well-being built on encouragement and knowledge that parents, teachers, and fellow students are travelling the same journey. Just as a toddler taking her first steps can count on being caught or comforted if she falls, it is critical to the development of self-confidence and independence that the school community can provide gentle, yet unobtrusive support when required.

The skillful handling of students and their anxious parents at drop off during a kindergartner’s first days of school can help determine whether the child will take to it like a duck to water, or remain feeling isolated and abandoned near the river bank like the Ugly Duckling. The close working relationships between Class Nanny, Learning Support Assistant, and Class Teacher develop the kind of synergy that can help reluctant students to recognise their potential and feel valued for the ‘Swans’ they may well become.

Children want to feel safe and yet confident enough to take risks they can manage for themselves. The quality of the relationships that they develop with their peers, teachers, and their own parents are conducive to well-being. Open and timely communication between home and school is critical whether there are problems or not. Parent well-being is nurtured through integrity and trust. Classroom Parent Representatives (CPRs) have an important role to play in helping filter and channel concerns to the leadership, but also in supporting and helping implement solutions.

Child Protection and Happiness

One of the significant findings of the 2017 Census was that although students in Indian curriculum schools were among the happiest, they were also more inclined to have anxieties about their own progress and attainment. This reflects the anxieties of their parents, something they readily admit to. However, this cultural angst which fuels the ‘helicopter’ parent to demand more homework, more testing and extra tuition, can hinder open and frank conversations, create additional stress for both teacher and child, and threaten the well-being of all parties. Time for some deep breathing and meditation.

Bullying is a threat to well being, whether the victims are students or teachers, and cyberbullying is a more insidious and invasive form of it. We cannot afford to be in denial about its existence and need to be vigilant in uncovering it. We have found that a student-led Anti-Bullying Council and a policy of restorative justice can be more effective in neutralizing the problem than heavy-handed and clumsy intervention by teachers and parents, which can so easily lead to escalation.

A hotline for advice from the Child Protection Centre in Dubai (tel. 800 – 988) does exist but further development and training is needed for it to be effective. The recent requirement for all employees working in contact with children to have a Good Conduct certificate is a move in the right direction, although fraught with practical problems in terms of validation. Being at the ‘sharp end’, schools often find themselves taking the lead in addressing these matters meaningfully.

Developing perseverance (‘grit’ and determination), and resilience in the face of failure and distress are important. The quality of happiness lies in the realization that it can only be measured relative to feelings of sorrow, loss, and despair. Cultivating realistic expectations is critical for developing a ‘feel good’ attitude. Joni Mitchell’s 1970 hit song, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ sums it up in the line: “you don’t know what you got, ‘til it’s gone.”

Happiness tends to be experienced in moments when something unexpectedly pleasurable happens, whereas well-being is a process, a journey of personal fulfillment during which things may not go as planned but you keep moving forward. In order to improve public services, consumers are asked to give their feedback by pressing an emoticon or ‘smiley’, showing a range of emotions from the euphoria of a rictus grin through to casual indifference, and finally, abject despair. The measurement of happiness has become a science. I would describe our school as a ‘happy school’ and yes, we do use questionnaires, and sometimes smileys with younger students to get feedback, but it is a very blunt instrument in terms of validity.

Aristotle considered the pursuit of happiness and well-being as the search for balance and the avoidance of excess. If life averages out as being ‘reasonably happy for most of the time’, it is likely to be regarded as a success. Here’s something to bear in mind: the spiritual well-being that comes from selfless acts for the benefit of others is likely going to significantly improve this average.