Mindfulness in the Education System - Effects of Two Different Mindfulness-Based Trainings in Pre- and Elementary School

The goal of this thesis was to gain further insights into the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in early German educational settings. Two different MBIs were conducted: The first project with preschoolers and the second project with elementary school children. This thesis aims to investigate specific effects of mindfulness training on different concepts such as cognitive or emotional-social domains, which are relevant to developmental progress, social skills, and mental health. In the first study with preschoolers, we investigated the effects of an eight-week mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum (KC), a specially developed program for 3-6 years old preschoolers, on Executive Functions (EFs) and socio-emotional competencies (Portele et al., 2023). From three German kindergartens, 69 preschoolers participated. 38 children (age: M = 5;3 (year; months), SD = 0;8) were included in the mindfulness training group and 31 (age: M = 5;3, SD = 0;7) in the wait-list control group. Before and after the eight weeks of mindfulness lessons, EFs were measured with the Go-No Go and Flanker tasks. Socio-emotional functions were examined with an assessment of emotional competencies (EMK 3-6). The results showed a significant improvement in emotional and social abilities for the mindfulness group over the control group when the pretest results were integrated into the analysis. However, the mindfulness group showed no better performance concerning EFs (inhibition) than the control group. This study indicates improved emotional competencies through a mindfulness program including heartfulness-based exercises, like exercises of gratitude and sharing with others, in preschoolers. Further studies could evaluate if different forms of mindfulness training in preschool settings can enhance different aspects of preschoolers’ development. Based on our results, we speculated that the specific content of the intervention, such as heartfulness-based mindfulness, determines which domains of human experience and behavior are impacted by the intervention. Accordingly, we investigated in our second study conducted with elementary school students, if a six-week mindfulness-based tool, the Mindfulness Education Workbook, which integrates the five topics emotion regulation, inhibition, physical self-concept, resources, and connectedness to nature, has a specific effect on the outcomes (Portele & Jansen, 2023). Furthermore, we explored whether a different number of hours of mindfulness teaching effects distinct outcomes. Ninety-one children from a public elementary (M age = 9.74 years, SD = 0.76) participated and were divided into three groups according to their respective school classes. The intervention group was divided into two groups: (a) mindfulness-plus and (b) mindfulness. The mindfulness-plus group repeated one exercise daily in addition to the biweekly training, which was completed by both intervention groups. A passive control group received the standard school day instruction. The five concepts of emotion regulation, inhibition, physical self-concept, resources, and connectedness to nature were measured before and after the mindfulness intervention. The variables of the FEEL-KJ for the adaptive strategies in total as well as for their comprising emotions anger, fear, and sadness, separately, revealed a significant effect (p < .05) for the measurement of emotion regulation in favor of the two mindfulness groups compared with the control group. Solely for the subscale mood elevation, the mindfulness-plus group showed significantly higher scores than the control group. Both, mindfulness-plus and mindfulness group varied from the control group on the measure of emotion regulation strategies, however not on the other four domains that were assessed (self-reports of resources, physical self-concept, and connectedness to nature as well as a mental task assessing inhibition). There was no evidence that the additional practice in the mindfulness-plus group significantly added to the intervention’s effectiveness. The Mindfulness Education Workbook is a promising tool for elementary schools. Follow-up studies may be able to give further insights into the various effects of offering mindfulness training in schools. In particular, further research with objective markers may also be able to investigate the effects of individual aspects, which are subsumed under the umbrella term mindfulness in more detail. The following can be summarized as the overarching findings of these two studies despite differences in programs and age groups: In the socio-emotional domains, most significant changes were seen in the groups that received a MBI compared with the control groups. Raising compassionate, empathetic, and thoughtful generations of young children is as important as academic development. Socio-emotional development can be seen as the crux of our society. The results of these scientific studies could reinforce to education policymakers the importance of socio-emotional development and thus lead to increased integration into the kindergarten and school curriculum