Problem Statement

Wicked Problem
Educators lack the implementation of self-compassion and mindfulness techniques for themselves throughout their day.

“Your goal is to just survive” is a quote that many first-year teachers often hear within the first month of teaching. Navigating the first year of teaching is a winding road. First-year educators are excited, nervous, and hopeful. Each one is ready to make a difference in their future students’ lives. However, many educators feel underprepared when entering the doors of their first job. The diverse needs of each student, the demands from parents and administrators, and the lack of respect from the outside world all put a heavy burden on educators. Not to mention, the lack of supplies, the out-of-pocket expenses, and the insufficient training for classroom management all weigh heavy on educators, both new and veteran. 

Target Learners

Educators, both new and veteran, national and international, have noticed an increased need for Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Self-regulation, and Mindfulness, both for themselves and for their students. Self-compassion is also an important component to learning how to eliminate stress throughout their day. Having resources to combat the overwhelming factors that are consistently present in the workday would give educators small, frequent breaks to reflect, try a new calming activity, and learn more about why self-compassion and mindfulness are important elements to eliminating stress. Learning about self-compassion takes time, patience, and consistency; three components that are scarce in the world of education. However, implementing these short breaks throughout the day would help educators find the time, even if it’s on the way to the lunchroom, or during a coffee break. 

Hypothesis

Educators are taking on more than they ever have before. The stress of the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the everyday challenges of their students, and personal stressors are all factors that are overwhelming the state of educators. Teachers are leaving the profession because it is too stressful and there is little funding or support. All of teaching is focused on students and their needs. Teachers put their heart and soul into their classes and put themselves on the back-burner. “In our society we prioritize our obligations to others – we’re used to putting others’ needs before our own, and when we do this repeatedly without refilling our own energy tanks, we burn out” (Friedman, 2022). Our hypothesis is that teachers do not do enough to take care of themselves because they don’t have the resources that they need to develop self-compassion and mindfulness for themselves to return to a neutral state of mind. “Self-compassion can boost resilience, lessen symptoms of anxiety and even prevent depression in people who show initial signs” (Poplett, 2019).  Our interview with subject matter expert, Dr. Karen Bluth, a research associate professor for UNC’s Department of Psychiatry, helped solidify that there is a major gap for educators practicing self-compassion and mindfulness. The idea behind the work we would like to explore is to help educators develop their teacher toolbox of skills with information behind the history of these techniques and to give them an assortment of activities that they can incorporate quickly and efficiently throughout their day, while also practicing reflection strategies to get into the heart of what works for each individual who participates in these practices.

Learning Goals

1. Teachers will practice one-three acts of self-compassion to reduce stress during the workday. (Rating scale after completing each act.) 

2. Teachers will reflect on the effectiveness of their acts of self-compassion to increase their mindfulness. (Reflection to determine if it works for them.) 

Data Collection (Process)

For our data collection process, we had access to data collected from focus groups with international teachers during October 14 and November 14, 2021. The data showed that international teachers were having issues with building rapport, managing students, juggling around with teaching duties and getting used to the teaching culture during their first teaching year.  These focus groups were online meetings through Zoom and the questions asked during the focus groups were: 

• Can you identify a “rose” or something that has worked out well in your class? 

• Can you share a “thorn” or something that has been challenging? 

• How would you prepare a new teacher for teaching this program in the US? 

Consequently, we were interested to find out if other teachers felt the same way and were willing to participate in Mindfulness training. We created a survey in Qualtrics to ask pre-service, current, international and former volunteer teachers about what they know about mindfulness and how they felt about it. After collecting some data, we identified that most teachers were willing to take mindfulness training to implement it in the classroom rather than to learn it for themselves. We also found that most participants were aware of the existence of mindfulness and its benefits. The survey was sent through emails and chat-apps groups and the questions in the survey were the following: 

• How familiar are you with mindfulness training? 

• Did you participate in any mindfulness training when studying to be a teacher? 

• Was mindfulness training provided in your pre-service training? 

• Have you participated in any mindfulness professional development workshops as a teacher? 

• If you have received mindfulness training, how often do you use it? 

• If you have received mindfulness training, what do you think mindfulness training helps with? 

• If you have not received mindfulness training, how interested would you be in taking mindfulness training? 

• If mindfulness training were offered to you, how interested would you be in completing it? 

• If interested, would you prefer online or in-person mindfulness training? 

• If interested, how much time would you spend on mindfulness training per week? 

• If given tools and resources, would you implement mindfulness practices within your classroom? 

• Using mindfulness in your classroom, would you prefer one of the following: full lessons, mini lessons, short breaks, Other? 

• Please describe what mindfulness means to you, how you would practice mindfulness, and how you might incorporate mindfulness within your current or future classroom. 

However, after conducting the survey we realized that mindfulness is a broad topic, and we did not know where to start or how to narrow it down. Thus, we decided to interview an expert, Karen Bluth, to learn from her insights and years of experience in the field of self-compassion and mindfulness. We held an online conversation through Zoom and the questions we asked her were: 

• Tell us a little bit about your expertise with Mindfulness MSC Training and its impact. 

• Based on your experience, what are the challenges that you currently face to engage teachers in general in mindfulness activities?   

• How often do Latinx or Teachers of color participate in your Mindfulness Training Course (MSC Teacher Training)? What is your experience involving teachers of color and international teachers in mindfulness activities/workshops or exercises? 

• What has been more useful in involving and delivering mindfulness: Workshops (in-person or online), training, routines...? 

• What has been male participation in Mindfulness? What can be done to involve more males? 

• If we could add something to the mindfulness field, what would it be? Or where do you recommend us to concentrate on? 

• Do you think that someone who has not used mindfulness for his/her own benefit will be able to teach others? Like, if a teacher does not use mindfulness for himself/herself, will he be able to effectively teach students? 

• What literature is recommended to work mindfulness with adults? 

• Is there a short course to get a general understanding of mindfulness that you could recommend to us? 

• We will be creating a module or product of some sort that must teach some mindfulness techniques. What are some key practices that we should teach? 

• What has been the most effective techniques to teach self-compassion? 

Major Findings (Analysis of Data)

Of the 50 results we received from our survey, 48 respondents consented to the survey. Of those 48, 11 did not fully complete the survey; therefore, we did not include them in our analysis. We will begin by summarizing the demographic data before moving onto our findings about our respondents' experiences and attitudes towards mindfulness. 

Demographics 

Of the 37 remaining respondents, 29 were female, 7 were male, and 1 was non-binary and ranged from the ages of 25-64. Additionally, we had 20 White, 10 Black or African American, 5 Hispanic or Latino, 1 Asian, and 1 American Indian or Alaska Native respondents. 29 current teachers, 1 international teacher, and 7 preservice teachers responded. Of the current teachers, 18 were White (14F:4M), 4 were Hispanic or Latino (4F), 6 were Black or African American (4F:2M), and 1 was American Indian or Alaska Native (1F). Of the 7 preservice teachers, 2 were White (1M:1NB), 4 were Black or African American (4F), and 1 was Asian (1F). There was only one international teacher who was Hispanic or Latino and Female. 

Main Findings 

The first test we conducted looked at the relationship between previous training and interest in completing training and willingness to use mindfulness in the classroom. We found that more than 50% of the respondents were willing to apply mindfulness in their classroom, even if they were not interested in completing the training (See Figure 1.1).  Further, 8 respondents indicated that they had not received any mindfulness training whatsoever. 6 out of 8 responded that they would use it in the classroom, but only 3 out of the 6 were also interested in completing mindfulness training (See Figure 1.2). Lastly, there were 11 current teachers who had participated in previous teacher mindfulness workshops. Of those 11, 8 would apply mindfulness in their classroom, and only 1 of the 8 responded that they would not be interested in also completing some mindfulness training (See Figure 1.3). Altogether, 10 out of 19 responded that they would complete mindfulness training and apply mindfulness in their classroom.  

The second test we conducted looked at the respondents’ familiarity and usage of mindfulness training and their interest in completing mindfulness training. We found that across all demographic groups, those who never use mindfulness techniques and are somewhat familiar with mindfulness are the ones most likely to be interested in completing mindfulness training (See Figure 2.1).  

Additionally, those who identified as somewhat familiar and ranged from daily to yearly usage were still interested to very interested in completing mindfulness training. Lastly, the group least likely to be interested in completing mindfulness training came from the group that was most familiar with mindfulness and used it frequently (daily to monthly) (See Figure 2.2). 

When broken down by gender, male respondents were most likely to very interested regardless of familiarity and usage; female respondents were most likely to very interested in completing training regardless of usage when they were somewhat familiar with mindfulness and were not interested or not sure when they were more frequent users and more familiar with mindfulness. The non-binary respondent was somewhat familiar, a weekly user, and still very interested.  

Third, we found that 24 of the 37 respondents would be interested in completing training regardless of gender or race/ethnicity (See Figure 3.1). Current White, female teachers were the biggest group to be interested in completing mindfulness training (9) with the next biggest group being current Black or African American, female teachers (6) (See Figure 3.2). The group least interested were also current White, female teachers (4). The current and international, female Hispanic and Latino respondents were the second largest non-interest group responding with not sure (3) (See Figure 3.3).  

Lastly, we found that 27 of the participants preferred mini lessons (10-15 minutes), short breaks (5 minutes), or some combination of the two (See figure 4.1). 

Qualitative Findings

These are some of the comments that motivated us to make a link between teachers situation and needs and what could help them cope. 

"I have issues building relationships with my students. I feel lonely because I am  not part of the activities they do at the school." Female, 1st year teaching in the USA as part of an exchange program. 

"New teachers might not be aware of the qualities they have and how skillful they are for the job they have been assigned." Female, 2nd year teaching in the USA as part of an exchange program. 

"Teachers have felt behind during their first year or that someone would tell them off because they were behind. He would like teachers to know that they are good where they are. Teachers should go at their own pace and time, and they should feel good that way." Male, 3rd year teaching in the USA as part of an exchange program. 

"You (teacher) are helping your students when you help yourself". "Self-compassion through mindfulness when practice right and as a priority it provides a better way of interacting with the world." Karen Bluth, self-compassion and mindfulness expert.  

For more information on qualitative data please visit these links: Teachers Focus Groups and Expert Interview. 

Discussion 

To summarize, most teachers have never had any training in mindfulness, but most are interested in completing training regardless of gender and ethnicity. This was reaffirming that there is interest in mindfulness training for teachers. 

Most respondents had had some exposure or training in mindfulness, but most of those respondents don’t use mindfulness regularly (daily to monthly). Additionally, those who were unfamiliar with mindfulness also did not use it regularly. This is interesting for various reasons. There could be many factors that could prevent teachers from using mindfulness, such as lack of time, lack of perceived utility, and general lack of knowledge. To further support this, we found that the activities the respondents preferred the most were shorter mini-lessons or breaks (under 15 minutes), and they would not spend more than an hour a week on mindfulness training. Combined with the knowledge we gained from our conversation with Dr. Karen Bluth, we are looking to design our app around shorter activities that teachers can do for themselves during their shorter breaks—a coffee break, for example. 

Lastly, we would like to discuss that even though many teachers vary in interest in completing mindfulness training, they all would apply it to the classroom given the resources. After discussing this with Dr. Karen Bluth, we found that this is not a positive thing. It is a bit contradictory; many teachers are not familiar, have no prior training, and never apply mindfulness, so they are not well prepared to apply this to a classroom setting, even if they are willing to. Instead, they must first practice mindfulness and become familiar with it—which can take years—before they are able to effectively apply it to the classroom. We recognize that teachers don’t have years to learn mindfulness, and that fact alone can prevent teachers from starting; therefore, we think that our app might be an approachable, easy, and convenient way for teachers to become introduced to mindfulness and add it to their pre-constructed habits. In this way, they might be able to build to mastery without having to sink hours in workshops. All of it can be done seamlessly through their phones during their breaks, or so we hope. 

Some of the limitations of our findings include the lack of representation from the main group we wanted to study, which was international teachers. Even though we had 1 international teacher and many Hispanic/Latino respondents, we did not get enough respondents to definitively conclude that international/Hispanic/Latino teachers are interested in mindfulness training and that they would find value in this training for themselves and their students. Additionally, we received a large amount of current White, female teacher respondents, so a lot of our findings can be conclusive of only this population. Noticeably, male and minority respondents are lacking; we cannot definitely conclude that the single Asian, female preservice respondent represents all Asian respondents, for example. 

Sources 

Friedman, S. (2022, January 8). Self-compassion for introverts. Beyond Introversion. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.beyondintroversion.com/post/self-compassion-for-introverts 

Poplett, E. (2019, July 30). How to be kinder to yourself, according to a Carolina researcher: UNC-chapel hill. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.unc.edu/discover/putting-self-compassion-into-practice/ 

Appendix