107 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Elementary School Teachers: A Qualitative study Effects on teachers professionally The second theme was divided into six subthemes: more awareness during teaching, more positive and understanding attitude towards pupils, increased emotion regulation, more adaptive behaviour towards pupils and finally offering mindfulness-based interventions to pupils. Regarding to more awareness during teaching, teachers indicated that they more often consciously paid attention to pupils. For example, they noticed tension and restlessness in pupils more quickly. In addition, it emerged that teachers noticed that they more often had a positive and understanding attitude towards pupils. In general, this was described as a more patient and compassionate attitude towards pupils. Giving more space to pupils’ emotions was also mentioned several times by teachers. It was also regularly mentioned that, for example, consciously focusing on the body or breathing during moments of stress, had a positive influence on teachers’ emotion regulation. For example, they lingered less with negative emotions. More adaptive behaviour of teachers towards pupils was often mentioned and appeared to be diverse. For example, some teachers chose to start or end (part of the) day more consciously. For example, they chose to start very calmly and to end the school day by letting the pupils mention the positive things of the day. In addition, it emerged that teachers dared to be more vulnerable, for example by expressing their own feelings towards pupils more easily. With regard to pedagogy and didactics, a number of teachers indicated that they were better able to adapt their teaching to the needs of their pupils and invest more in promoting the autonomy of pupils. What was most striking, however, was the fact that the vast majority of teachers themselves offered mindfulness-based exercises to pupils and regarded this as positive. For example, breathing exercises or exercises related to body consciousness, but also exercises focusing on senses. Effects on pupils as observed by the teachers The effects on pupils was divided into five subthemes: increased concentration, more self-insight, more expressing and naming of feelings/emotions, more prosocial behaviour towards classmates and improved classroom climate. With regard to increased concentration teachers indicated that there was more ‘calmness’ in both the children themselves and in the classroom. A number of teachers also noticed that the commitment and effectiveness of pupils increased and that they were able to focus longer or were more involved in the lesson. It was striking that it was indicated that pupils themselves asked for the mindfulness exercises because they noticed that they became more calm and concentrated. When it comes to more expressing and naming of emotions, teachers noticed that pupils became more self-confident, more proud of themselves and less reliant on comparisons with their peers. They also indicated that pupils dared to be more vulnerable and felt more heard. With regard to pupils’ self-insight, a number of teachers noticed that pupils gained more insight into the thoughts and judgments about others and themselves and subsequently started to talk about them more easily. Teachers also noticed more prosocial behaviour towards classmates. Pupils complimented and helped each other more often and they showed more empathy and compassion. A number of 6
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