Teachers and Mindful Colouring to Tackle Burnout and Increase Mindfulness, Resiliency and Wellbeing

The number of teachers leaving the profession continues to increase at a worrying rate. Factors contributing to this include burnout, heightened levels of stress, anxiety and depression. The current study tested whether the use of mindful colouring would translate to improvements in wellbeing. Teachers from the UK (n = 35) were randomly assigned to a colouring mindfulness-based intervention or waitlist group. Participants completed four scales (burnout, wellbeing, resilience and mindfulness) and participated in a 5-day intervention of daily mindfulness colouring or continued their working week as usual. Results of repeated-measures ANOVA showed statistically significant lower levels of burnout, stress, depressive symptoms and anxiety in the mindfulness colouring condition, as well as increased levels of resilience and mindfulness. Findings from the current study support the use of mindfulness colouring to significantly enhance levels of wellbeing in teachers. The study also presents an inexpensive, highly accessible and effective self-help tool for this targeted non-clinical population

BRiTE Mind: Introducing mindfulness to cultivate personal and professional resilience in teachers

Mindfulness in education has gained increasing focus over the last decade. Various programmes have been developed for students, teachers and principals, in efforts to improve well-being and resilience in the face of increasing demands and stressors. With teachers often at the forefront of these demands, mindfulness offers the potential to support personal and professional resilience, through enhanced self-awareness, supporting well-being and developing mindful relationships. This chapter describes the development of an online module introducing mindfulness to pre-service teachers, specifically integrating concepts underpinning resilience as outlined in the BRiTE programme. Key elements of mindfulness are explored including mindful attention in the present moment, awareness of emotion and cultivating mindful attitudes, such as compassion. These are applied specifically to teacher experiences to support conscious and mindful action, for personal well-being, and in the classroom