Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Abstract
This article reviews a hermeneutic phenomenological study of five beginning teachers who were introduced to mindfulness during their initial teacher education programme. The participants kept fortnightly journals and engaged in three interviews with the researcher to assess the benefits of using mindfulness during the first year of teaching. The participants in this study discovered through their lived experiences of using mindfulness in their first year of teaching that their personal wellbeing was enhanced, stress was reduced, and they could focus greater attention on their lesson planning and their students. They responded rather than reacted emotionally to student needs. The results of this study suggest that introducing mindfulness in teacher education could enhance the wellbeing of student teachers and beginning teachers and enhance job retention.
Recommended Citation
Bernay, R. S. (2014). Mindfulness and the Beginning Teacher. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(7). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2014v39n7.6