Exploring a Mindfulness Meditation Program on the Mental Health of Upper Primary Children: A Pilot Study

Mindfully Teaching in the Classroom: a Literature Review

“…Etty-Leal likewise, favours a descriptive approach over a prescriptive approach when training teachers to teach mindfulness (Joyce, Etty-Leal, Zazryn, Hamilton, & Hassed, 2010). Etty-Leal encourages teachers to listen to their own intuition and wisdom when cultivating mindfulness in the classroom.…”

“…Etty-Leal encourages teachers to listen to their own intuition and wisdom when cultivating mindfulness in the classroom. The teacher is considered to be one of the best proponents of the practice and by personalising the program and making it relatable, it is thought that students will feel motivated and inspired to actively participate and incorporate mindfulness in their daily lives (Joyce et al, 2010). Etty-Leal teaches mindfulness to both students and teachers with limited mindfulness understanding and does not believe that a lack of background in this area should exclude teachers from learning and developing the practice together with their students (personal communication, September 25, 2012).…”

Teaching Mindfulness to Year Sevens as Part of Health and Personal Development

“…Previous research has found that many teachers do not know how to deal with students that do not take the mindfulness lessons seriously (Joyce, Etty-Leal, Zazryn, & Hamilton, 2010). In a class of thirty or more children it may be difficult for a teacher to know if something has opened up for a child that is a painful emotional experience or the teacher may not be trained to deal with it (Hart, 2004).…”

The Child’s Voice in Determining Program Acceptability for a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention

“…Some qualitative studies that investigate the depth behind mindfulness interventions and their acceptability to participants alongside quantitative information are emerging. A study of note is that of an Australian school based mindfulness meditation program for children in upper-primary (Joyce et al 2010). Quantitative results demonstrated a reduction in symptom severity related to psychological distress and qualitative data was also collected from the teachers involved in the research.…”

“…Mindfulness encompasses a variety of techniques with the central premise on bringing attention to the present moment without judgement (Bishop et al 2004). There have been more studies in recent times which have investigated the use of mindfulness based interventions for children and many have been conducted in a school-based setting (Joyce et al 2010;Kuyken et al 2013). School-based mental health promotion aims to support children's understanding of health matters and also serves to educate the wider community as well (NHMRC 1996).…”