Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine how mindfulness-based strategies are taught within school-based settings and how they impact students’ perceptions of challenge. In the course of this research, I also found myself exploring the effects of two different attitudes toward mindfulness training: the first derives from Eastern sensibilities and traditions, while the other is more strongly rooted in Western ways of thinking. The former focuses on awareness of personal experience and function, the latter much more on situated being. Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP) was used to achieve an informed perspective from multiple viewpoints. This IMP study investigated how mindfulness practices were taught within four different classroom settings in a high school located within the a large school district in Western Canada.
Informed by phenomenological methodology, interviews were conducted with both teachers and student participants to investigate their perception of challenge. Findings revealed three overarching themes connected to challenge: time, necessity and anxiety. Structural analysis of language frequency and comparisons revealed many similarities and differences within the language of teacher and student participants. Ethnographic observations were used to interpret the functions and meanings of different daily routines within both Eastern-influenced and Western-style mindfully-based classrooms. Hermeneutic interviews conducted with teacher and student participants further disclosed some similarities, such as a culture of attention, slower pace and challenge, differences in student retention, and application of mindfulness strategies. Systemic influences are discussed in connection to individual and cultural themes. Lastly, implications for implementation of mindfulness and the connection to student perception of challenge are explored.
