MPs and Peers joined us in the Palace of Westminster in November 2024 for an event on the theme of mindfulness in education. 

Chaired by Trish Bartley, who opened the event with a brief mindfulness practice, the evening was an introduction to the MI's nascent Forum on Education, which forms part of the organisational strategy.

MI Director, Richard Edwards, set the scene: a backdrop of global conflict and climate change in which the attention economy is skewing young people's sense of the world, undermining relationships, polarising politics and amplifying systemic oppression. In this context, a growing body of evidence suggests mindfulness can help them to:

• reclaim their attention
• improve cognitive flexibility
• connect with physical experiences
• develop emotional intelligence and compassion
• hold complexity and difficulty
• build psychosocial resilience
• and connect meaningfully with others.

Attendees heard powerful testimony from Esther Ghey who explained that, when her daughter Brianna’s life was taken, her feeling in response was that,

"Young people are struggling with resilience and with empathy. We need to support them with their mental health, and mindfulness has a massive part to play in that. When you develop your practice you have a deeper understanding of how things make you feel; I think it can encourage our young people to make better choices."

Esther has raised funds to bring mindfulness into the schools in her local area, working alongside the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP). Faiy Rushton of MiSP outlined the the skills the practice can give us, explaining how teachers adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of the children they’re working with, helping it feel really relevant to their lives. 

Then came the stars of the show: the young people learning mindfulness in their schools.

Sophia, Alrike and Nicholas from Year 3 described using mindfulness to help them calm their nerves, including to help them sleep and to focus on the football pitch.

Jasmine and Leilah from Year 7 find it helps with anxiety in the context of transitioning to secondary school and supports their learning.

Reggie and Ezra are feeling exam pressure in Year 11 and notice that mindfulness practice gives them a self-esteem boost.

Ethan, who's now 18 (pictured top), shared his experience of tutoring younger children in mindfulness

We are hugely grateful their teachers, Chris Alekkou at Firs Farm Primary, Zettie Taylor at Princes Risborough School, and Richard Burnett at Tonbridge School. As we heard throughout the event, teachers are critical to successful mindfulness provision, and teaching it is unlike any other lesson.

"Where a whole school culture supports mindfulness and compassion, it's much more successful"

So explained Professor Katherine Weare, MI education policy lead and author of Implementing Mindfulness in Schools: An Evidence-Based Guide, in her presentation emphasising that implementation is just as important as outcome measures. 

It was a great privilege that the great Professor Lord Richard Layard, original inspiration for much of the work celebrated by this event, joined us and shared his insights on wellbeing in schools.

In closing the event we heard fascinating discussion between Menka Sanghvi, author of Your Best Digital Life - Using Your Mind To Tame Your Tech, and Harriet Pellereau, co-founder of Mind over Tech. Along with Esther, who is supporting campaigns to control smartphone use among schoolchildren, these experts discussed the specific benefits of mindfulness in relation to how children use technology:

• Self-regulation of the attention: noticing where our focus is and choosing, for example, to put the phone away
• Body awareness and care: protecting our sleep and staying present to physical sensations 
• Navigating information online more skilfully and compassionately: for example in dealing with fake news and echo chambers
• Resilience for the future: strengthening discernment as new tech emerges

We are grateful to all the speakers for drawing the contours between harm, evidence, mindfulness practice and hope for the future. 

Thanks also to Ruth Davey (one of our 2024 Innovations in Mindfulness award-winners) for generously lending her photography skills.

To learn more about the MI Forum on Education, the APPG on Mindfulness, or our work on Climate Youth Resilience, write to [email protected]

Photo credit: Look Again