A Case Study: Exploring Mindfulness Practices in Pennsylvania Elementary School Settings

Social emotional well-being has a direct effect on school performance. Students who engage in prosocial peer interactions and feel a connectedness to school are more likely to experience growth in their social emotional competence and academic performance. Often, students who live in high stress environments come to school with inadequate skills in this area, affecting their ability to self-regulate, attend, and interact with others. However, these skills can be directly taught to students and improved through regular instruction and practice. Mindfulness practices serve as a gateway skill for developing social emotional well-being and are becoming more commonly used in the school setting. Using the perspectives of elementary teachers in Pennsylvania who have attended professional development and thus implemented mindfulness practices into their classrooms, an instrumental case study was conducted. The study explored how teachers describe the effects of mindfulness practices on their students' social emotional well-being, classroom climate, and overall academic performance. Nine elementary teachers in public schools in Pennsylvania participated in the study, which included a semi-structured interview and completion of a participant journal. All teachers had participated in at least eight hours of district-provided professional development series and had implemented mindfulness practices into their classrooms at least three times per week. The interviews were analyzed to gain insight into the participants' perspectives of their professional development, their personal and professional experiences with mindfulness practices, and the perceived effects of mindfulness practices on the students in their classrooms. Four thematic findings emerged: (a) opportunities for professional development, (b) personal mindfulness practices of teachers, (c) social emotional learning and mindfulness practices in the classroom, and (d) the effects of mindfulness practices on students in the classroom setting. From the findings, four results were drawn regarding the implications of implementing mindfulness in school settings. First, teachers expressed the need and desire for ongoing, supported professional development. Secondly, the teacher serves as a model in the classroom, establishing an environment in which desired, prosocial behaviors and social emotional competence are modeled for students. Thirdly, the data analysis showed that the implementation of mindfulness practices can serve as a means to develop social emotional competence in students. Finally, the analysis of participant responses indicated that mindfulness practices had a positive effect on student learning and classroom interactions. The study concluded and recommended implementing mindfulness practices into school settings with potential benefits for administrators and teachers as well as students. This recommendation begins with recognizing the importance of social emotional learning for students and supporting both pre-service and practicing teachers in the development of their own social emotional well-being. Given the impact of social emotional learning on all facets of education, administrators and educational leaders should advocate for support and funding for programs that would support social emotional development in school settings. Recommendations for future research include expanding the study to additional sites or extended years of implementation, an in-depth examination of professional development opportunities and structure, consideration of the educational leader's role in encouraging social emotional learning and self-care for educators, analysis of mindfulness programs implemented with fidelity, and the addition of student and family perceptions of mindfulness practices into the current research base. Keywords: social emotional learning, mindfulness practices, prosocial classroom, emotional intelligence, professional developmentEd.D., Educational Leadership and Management -- Drexel University, 201