Mindfulness Training for Teachers Changes the Behavior of Their Preschool Students

Abstract

We measured the effects of preschool teachers attending an 8-week mindfulness course on the behavior of the students in their classroom. Results showed that decreases in the students’ challenging behaviors and increases in their compliance with teacher requests began during mindfulness training for the teachers and continued to change following the training. While the students did not show a change in positive social interactions with peers, they did show a decrease in negative social interactions and an increase in isolate play. Our results indicate that mindfulness training for teachers was effective in changing teacher-student interactions in desirable ways.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Portions of the data included in this article were presented at the 39th Annual Conference and Workshops, British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), University of Surrey, Guilford, UK, July 2011.