Fostering and sustaining teacher resilience through integration of Eastern and Western mindfulness

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures have brought significant disruptions to education throughout the world. This pandemic has affected the mental state of teachers from having to adapt to provide online classes. Teacher resilience refers to the capacity of teachers to survive and thrive in extremely adverse circumstances and sustain their educational purposes. This study attempts to empirically examine the effect of mindfulness on teacher resilience through integrating characteristics of Eastern and Western mindfulness. A concurrent triangulation mixed methodology was applied in this study. In the quantitative part, the cross-sectional questionnaires were completed by 330 teachers who were working in five universities in Thailand and had faced the crisis of COVID-19. The Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS) was employed to quantify mindfulness in Eastern perspective, and the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS14) was employed to quantify mindfulness in Western perspective. The Employee Resilience (EmpRes) was used to measure teacher resilience. The estimated structural equation model (SEM) provides strong and convincing support that Western mindfulness positively affects teacher resilience. Novelty seeking and novelty producing which are core factors of Western mindfulness mediate the relationship between mindfulness in Eastern perspective and teacher resilience. Where the survey data were collected, we conducted focus group interviews with five university teachers and executives who had experienced the crisis to understand this relationship in qualitative methodology simultaneously. The findings give additional support to the argument of how mindfulness plays an important role in enhancing teacher resilience. Discussion and practical implications are also included.

Keywords:

• resilience
• mindfulness
• teacher resilience
• crisis
• education

1. Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has extremely disrupted education systems across many countries around the world. School and university closures due to COVID-19 have brought significant disruptions to education throughout the world. The crisis changed the obvious course of schools and universities and prohibited classroom sessions. Teachers and administrations were unprepared for this situation, they were forced to build emergency remote learning systems immediately. Many studies have found that during lockdown, teachers have suffered stress, anxiety, and depression from having to adapt to provide online classes (Besser et al., 2020). This crisis has had a significant impact on the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression (Hidalgo-Andrade et al., 2021). Teachers’ stress may have consequences for the health of teachers and could lead to increased instances of sick leave, absenteeism, and poor work performance. It is important to be concerned about the emotional health of teachers because teacher–student relationships are also stressors for the student (De la Fuente et al., 2020; Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al., 2021). This pandemic has had a negative impact on the well-being and quality of life of teachers and students. It also impacted the quality of education systems throughout the world.

Teaching is an emotionally demanding profession with the potential to provide high levels of satisfaction. Teachers are expected to create an emotional response in someone else, display positive emotions, and suppress their true feelings. Stress, anxiety, and depression in teachers are higher than in many other occupational groups (Day et al., 2011). Resilience is one of the most important factors that sustain teachers in the profession. In general, resilience refers to individuals’ ability to bounce back quickly and effectively in the face of adversity (Luthans et al., 2010; Masten & Reed, 2002). The study of teacher resilience has become increasingly popular and has been conducted in many countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Europe, and South Africa (Mansfield et al., 2016). Chu and Liu (2022) recently presented the level of resilience in group of English as a foreign language teacher in China. Teacher resilience is much more than the ability to survive and thrive after unexpected events. Resilient teachers have been described as those who can sustain the educational purposes and manage the unexpected circumstances that are inherent in being a teacher (Gu & Day, 2013). Much research has identified the importance of teacher resilience and recommended that it plays a vital role in teaching and education (Ainsworth & Oldfield, 2019; Gu, 2018; Hiver, 2018; Liu & Chu, 2022; Mansfield et al., 2018). The most important unanswered question is how teacher resilience can be developed and sustained. Higgins (1994) suggested that resilience is a static state; it can be encouraged and cultivated. However, it is not clear and is not described how this capacity can be built and sustained in teachers and education systems.

Mindfulness relates to the ability to cope with unexpected circumstances and new situations (Brown et al., 2007). It relates to the analysis of how people respond to the challenge of unpredictable situations and act mindfully to achieve success in managing unexpected events (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007). In recent years, mindfulness research has received considerable attention and grown increasingly in clinical fields, psychology, industrial psychology, organizational sciences, management, and education, which approach the concept of mindfulness from both a theoretical and practical point of view. Many scholars demonstrate the importance of mindfulness in recovery to increase psychological resilience. Lindsay and Creswell (2017) argued that mindfulness is related to lower psychological distress during stressful life events. Hanna and Pidgeon (2018) introduced a mindfulness program which may assist in developing resilience and reduce burnout and compassion fatigue in human service professionals. Joyce et al. (2018) suggested that there is a greater level of resilience among employees after practicing a mindfulness-based resilience program. In education research, Zubair et al. (2018) showed that mindfulness was positively associated with resilience and subjective well-being among university students. Mindfulness had strong direct and indirect effects on quality of life via resilience in a group of vocational high school students (Cheung et al., 2020). Harris and Bostain (2021) have found a significant relationship between mindfulness techniques and resilience among high school teachers. Most studies emphasized on Eastern mindfulness and employed quantitative method that focuses only on seeking precise measurements and analysis of target concepts to answer inquiry through statistics and numbers. However, the process of mindfulness which leads to teacher resilience remained a “black box.” It is important to identify the attributes of mindfulness which support teacher resilience.

This study aims to explore the role of mindfulness in enhancing teacher resilience and explain how teacher resilience can be developed and sustained through mindfulness. This study attempts to bridge this gap with regard to the formation of the characteristics of mindfulness in fostering and sustaining teacher resilience. In addition to focusing on the process of fostering and sustaining teacher resilience through mindfulness, the contributions of this study are fourfold: First, we explore the relationship between mindfulness and teacher resilience by integrating the Eastern and Western perspectives of mindfulness. Second, we examine the impact of characteristics of mindfulness in the Eastern perspective on the characteristics in the Western perspective. Third, we test the role of Western mindfulness as a mediator between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience. Lastly, this study also focuses on getting a better understanding through experience, truthful reporting, and quotations of actual conversations to contribute to the growing literature on teacher resilience and mindfulness. A concurrent triangulation mixed methodology was applied in this study to validate the findings. Therefore, this study will add insight and valuable information about mindfulness which will enhance and sustain teacher resilience. This will lead to improving education systems in the future.

2. Literature review

2.1. Resilience

Definitions and levels of resilience are different in a variety of ways and have not been universally established. The definitions of resilience are used in the widely differing fields of ecology, sociology, engineering, psychology, organizational sciences, and education. Resilience is the process of an individual adapting and bouncing back in the face of adversity and stress such as health, relationship, and financial problems. It is behaviors and actions that can be learned and developed (American Psychological Association, 2018). This term has been used to describe the ability of members in an organization to bounce back and succeed after unexpected events (Shin et al., 2012). Redman and Kinzig (2003) defined resilience as the ability of individuals to be flexible and recover after stress. Resilience refers to a developable positive psychological capacity to bounce back from negative situations or even positive change (Luthans et al., 2005; Youssef et al., 2007). Mostly, resilience has been acknowledged as the ability to bounce back and perhaps thrive in the face of adversity.

2.2. Teacher resilience

Teacher resilience is the capacity to bounce back or recover from highly traumatic experiences and the capacity to maintain equilibrium and a sense of commitment and agency in which teachers teach (Gu & Day, 2013). Resilient teachers are those who can develop in difficult situations, are skilled in behavior management, cope with difficult students, focus on the positive, and achieve commitment to their profession and organization (Howard & Johnson, 2004; Mansfield et al., 2016). Teacher resilience has a vital role in the world’s teaching and education systems. Gu (2014) suggests that the construct of teacher resilience influences teacher retention. Many studies suggest that teacher resilience has a significant positive correlation with teacher effectiveness, job satisfaction, motivation, and self-efficacy (Beltman et al., 2011). Teacher resilience leads to personal and professional accomplishments, a stronger commitment to students, and value-driven decision-making (Brunetti, 2006; Drew & Sosnowski, 2019). The resilience of teachers can change with the influences of personal, relational, and organizational factors (Gu & Day, 2013). It may be concluded that besides resilience in general, teacher resilience goes beyond surviving and refers to continuing to develop professionally and maximizing one’s capacity to provide high-quality teaching.

2.3. Mindfulness

Mindfulness originates from the Pali word “sati,” which refers to awareness, attention, and remembering in the form of consciousness and indicates the presence of mind (Bodhi, 2000). In recent years, mindfulness research has received considerable attention and growth in many fields such as clinical, psychology, industrial psychology, organizational sciences, and education. These fields approach the concept of mindfulness from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. Recently, Sheinman and Russo-Netzer (2021) presented that mindfulness was introduced in schools for enhancing well-being, mental health, social and emotional skills resilience, and academic performance. There are several different aspects of mindfulness, from early Eastern religions to its modern, secular presence in Western science.

2.3.1. Eastern mindfulness

In Buddhism, the Eastern concept of mindfulness is the act of seeing things as truly in the present moment (Gunaratana, 2011). Mindfulness is a concept derived from religious practices and is explained in psychology by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who defines mindfulness as “awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” (Kabat‐Zinn, 2003, p. 145). Brown and Ryan (2003) specified mindfulness as conscious attention and awareness of the present situation. Hyland et al. (2015) described mindfulness as the cultivation of attention and awareness in the present moment.

2.3.2. Western mindfulness

There is another different concept of Western mindfulness by Ellen Langer, who describes mindfulness as an active information processing mode (Langer, 1989). Langer’s mindfulness concept differs from the meditative approach in the Eastern religion concept. Western mindfulness is defined as an active mindset identified by novel distinction-drawing. Mindfulness is a state of being in the present and wakefulness, which can lead to better sensitivity to one’s environment, more openness to new information, the creation of new categories for perception, and enhanced awareness of perspective in problem-solving (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000). Four interrelated elements characterize the Western concept: novelty seeking, engagement, novelty producing, and flexibility. Novelty seeking refers to the tendency to be open to one’s environment and contributes to interacting with and adjusting to the environment. Engagement is the attitude toward an active interaction with the environment. Novelty producing involves creating new categories. Flexibility refers to the ability to view multiple perspectives of experience and adapt behavior in a changing environment (Haigh et al., 2011).

In conclusion, the concept of mindfulness is different in the East and West. Eastern thought emphasizes the internal processes of mind and body, consciousness (attention and awareness) in the present moment by non-judgmental observation. The West focuses on the awareness of external events, creativity, goal orientation, and problem solving (Pirson et al., 2015). However, Weick and Putnam (2006) argued that Eastern wisdom and Western knowledge support each other.

2.4. Teacher mindfulness

Teaching is a profession characterized by high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Teachers’ stress contributes to burnout and emotional exhaustion (Chang, 2009; Day et al., 2011). Mindfulness practices can help teachers become more aware of experience and manage their emotions. Roeser et al. (2013) argued that teachers who undergo mindfulness training have greater mindfulness, focused attention, greater working memory capacity, and lower levels of stress and burnout. Mindfulness practices in groups of teachers help reduce stress, depression, anxiety, psychological symptoms, burnout, and emotional exhaustion and increase their well-being, self-compassion, and teaching efficacy (Beshai et al., 2016; Flook et al., 2013; Kemeny et al., 2012). Braun et al. (2019) suggested that the mindfulness skills of middle school teachers were related to their well-being and quality of interaction with students during the school day. Hirshberg et al. (2020) employed an experimental design and found that mindfulness training can lead to improvements in classroom teaching practices. It is obvious that practicing mindfulness for teachers not only reduces teachers’ stress, anxiety, and depression but also improves their performance in the classroom. Moreover, mindfulness helps both teachers and students in the classroom. It has been found that mindfulness increases the level of classroom satisfaction and classroom cohesion among a group of students and teachers (Meyer & Eklund, 2020). Mindfulness has been one of the techniques used by teachers and students in university to prevent and treat stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout (Gallego et al., 2014).

2.5 The relationship of teacher mindfulness and resilience

Mindfulness and resilience are connected and positively associated. Resilience and mindfulness are similar characteristics in that both can be learned (Epstein, 1999). Resilience and mindfulness increase one’s ability to manage complex challenges and enhance psychological well-being (Pidgeon & Keye, 2014). Previous studies have used qualitative methods to link mindfulness and teacher resilience in the field of education. Schussler et al. (2018) employed a qualitative case study to investigate a group of teachers and found that mindfulness developed resilience, reduced stress, and helped teachers respond more compassionately to their students. Mindfulness practices help teachers develop personal resources and cope more constructively, and these practices provide everyday resilience (Skinner & Beers, 2016). Mindfulness is a consistent positive predictor of resilience and motivation in learning (Ghanizadeh et al., 2019). It is obvious that mindfulness impacts resilience; however, it is not clear how resilience can be developed and sustained by mindfulness. This study helps us to understand how teachers recover and develop after a crisis through integrating Eastern and Western perspective of mindfulness.

3. Conceptual framework

This study attempts to bridge this gap with regard to the formation of the characteristic of mindfulness in fostering and sustaining teacher resilience. We postulate that teachers who possess a high level of mindfulness may have greater resilience. In this study, we attempt to integrate mindfulness from Eastern and Western perspectives. Eastern mindfulness emphasizes on consciousness, awareness, and attention. Brown and Ryan (2003) referred awareness as “the background radar of consciousness, continually monitoring the inner and outer environment” and attention is “a process of focusing conscious awareness, providing heightened sensitivity to a limited range of experience” (p. 822). We try to link mindfulness as consciousness (awareness, attention) in perspective of Eastern mindfulness which focuses on inner and outer environments in the present to perspective of Western mindfulness which refers to opening to new information and creating new categories (novelty seeking, novelty producing, engagement, flexibility). This process of linkage will lead to ability to not only manage and recover effectively in the face of adversity but also learn from it and adapt to thrive in the new environment. The conceptual framework of this study is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework. Eastern mindfulness, Western mindfulness, and teacher resilience.

Therefore, our research question is “Does mindfulness impact on teacher resilience? How?” We refer to characteristics of the Eastern mindfulness including awareness and attention (Brown & Ryan, 2003), and Western mindfulness including novelty seeking, novelty producing, engagement, and flexibility (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000). We hypothesized a statistically significant relationship between mindfulness in the Eastern and Western perspective and teacher resilience as follows:

H1: Eastern mindfulness has a positive impact on teacher resilience

H2: Western mindfulness has a positive impact on teacher resilience

H3: Eastern mindfulness has a positive effect on Western mindfulness

H4: Western mindfulness mediates the relationship between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience

4. Methodology

A concurrent triangulation mixed-methods design was chosen for this study to enable the exploration of how mindfulness may build and sustain teacher resilience. Data were collected in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, from April to June 2021. Quantitative methodology by the cross-sectional surveys focused on the impact of mindfulness on teacher resilience. This method aimed to obtain data from a purposely selected sample of university teachers and executives who had experienced the crisis, where focus group interviews with five university teachers and executives were conducted simultaneously to more deeply understand the relationship. Focus group discussion was employed as qualitative methodology research to gain an in-depth understanding for this study.

4.1. Quantitative methodology phase

As part of the quantitative method, cross-sectional surveys focusing on the impact of mindfulness on teacher resilience were conducted simultaneously. A total of 330 teachers and executives from five universities in Thailand completed self-administered questionnaires. The participants, who were selected based on characteristics of a population and the objective of the study, have been clarified the research topic.

4.1.1. Measures

The cross-sectional surveys had three sections: (1) the Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS), (2) the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS14), and (3) the Employee Resilience measure (EmpRes).

The Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS) Mindfulness in the Eastern perspective was measured by MAAS. Brown and Ryan (2003) designed MAAS, a 15-item scale to assess a core characteristic of mindfulness. It measures mindfulness as attention and awareness in everyday experience as a state which varies within and between persons and an attribute that may be developed by practicing.

The Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS 14) was used to measure mindfulness in Western perspective. The core components of mindfulness include novelty producing, novelty seeking, flexibility, and engagement (Pirson et al., 2015). Pirson and his colleagues developed a new model of the LMS14 by deducting the subscale of flexibility because the original four-factor model was indicative of a poor fit. LMS14 consists of 14 items and three subscales, with five items in novelty seeking, five in novelty producing, and four in engagement. Novelty seeking refers to the ability to be curious and open toward the environment. Novelty producing is the ability of a person to create new categories with creativity. Engagement is the attitude toward an active interaction with the environment. The items are measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), with some reversed coded items with higher scores presenting higher mindfulness.

The Employee resilience (EmpRes) was used to measure teacher resilience. Näswall and his colleague developed the 9-item scale which focus on developable and adaptive capacity of employees to employ resources to cope, adapt, and thrive in response to changing work situations (Näswall et al. 2015, 2019). The EmpRes was used in work contexts such as health professionals, construction, the IT industry, and financial institution (Malik & Garg, 2018; Okechukwu et al., 2021; Turner et al., 2021; Van Dijk et al., 2021). By definition, teacher resilience does not only refer to the ability to recover from an unexpected situation but also indicates the ability to achieve commitment to develop professionally and maximizing one’s capacity to provide high-quality teaching. The Employee Resilience scale (EmpRes) was selected to measure teacher resilience in this study. The EmpRes is different from other measures of individual resilience because it accounts for the perspective of the employee in a work context as an employee’s capacity to thrive in times of adversity (Hodliffe, 2014). This scale was supported and facilitated by the organization and focused on resilience in the form of employee adaptability (Hartmann et al., 2020). This scale is different from other scales because it focuses on developable capacity also, so it was selected to measure teacher resilience. The items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from never to always.

4.1.2. Validity and reliability

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to measure variables that represented each construct. The assessment of convergent validity was examined based on factor loadings, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE). It was suggested that a factor model should have communalities of over 0.60 to justify performing a factor analysis (MacCallum et al., 2001). Comrey and Lee (2013) suggested using more stringent cut-offs factor loadings going from 0.32 (poor), 0.45 (fair), 0.55 (good), 0.63 (very good), or 0.71 (excellent). The AVE was used to assess convergent validity, in which scale item should be greater than 0.5, indicating that a latent variable explained at least half of its indicator’s variance. The CR, which represents internal consistency in scale items, should be greater than 0.7. The Cronbach alpha which present internal consistency of items between 0.60 and 0.70 is acceptable (Hair et al., 2009).

The Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS): Three items were selected from high factor-loading indicators (IM8, IM9, IM10). Factor analysis of three items explains 70.68% of the variance in this study. The total reliability according to Cronbach’s alpha was 0.78. The AVE was used to assess convergent validity, which at 0.569 CR, which represents internal consistency in scale items, was 0.797.

The Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS 14): Four items were selected from high factor-loading indicators: two items of novelty seeking (NS2, NS3) and two items of novelty producing (NP2, NP3). Engagement was deducted from low factor-loading indicators (lower than 0.50). Factor analysis of four items showed they explained 72.79% of the variance. The total reliability according to Cronbach’s alpha was 0.87. The AVE was used to assess convergent validity at 0.638. The CR, which represents internal consistency in scale items, was 0.875.

The Employee resilience (EmpRes): Three items, including items 2, 3, and 4, were selected because of high factor-loading indicators. Factor analysis of the four items showed they explained 74.02% of the variance. The total reliability according to Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82. The AVE was used to assess convergent validity at 0.614. The CR was 0.826, which exceeded the recommended value of 0.7.

Assessment of the reliability of each item was done by checking the factor loadings, and it was found that the value of factor loading was higher than the cutoff value of 0.65 as (Comrey & Lee, 2013) suggested which show good relative of latent variable on the measure. The Cronbach alpha was greater than 0.70 which show measure of scales reliability. The results of the analysis revealed that the composite reliability (CR) of each scale was higher than 0.50 and the average variance extracted (AVE) was greater than 0.70 which show convergent validity and internal consistency of scale. Reliability and validity analysis of variables is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Reliability and validity analysis of variables (N = 330)

Factors	No. of items	Mean	SD	AVE	CR	Cronbach alpha	Item	Factor loading
Eastern mindfulness	3	4.846	0.861	0.569	0.797	0.780	IM8. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them.	0.854
							IM9. I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I’m doing right now to get there.	0.745
							IM10. I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I’m doing.	0.651
Western mindfulness	4	5.461	0.863	0.638	0.875	0.870	NS2. I am very curious	0.824
							NS3. I try to think of new ways of doing things.	0.817
							NP2. I make many novel contributions.	0.752
							NP3. I am very creative.	0.799
Teacher resilience	3	3.967	0.627	0.614	0.826	0.820	IR2. I successfully manage a high workload for long periods of time.	0.736
							IR3. I resolve crises competently at work.	0.859
							IR4. I reevaluate my performance and continually improve the way I do my work.	0.751

4.1.3. Hypotheses testing and results

The relationship of mindfulness and teacher resilience was tested using the structural equation model, as it is a powerful technique found increasingly in scientific investigation to evaluate multivariate causal relationships. The structural model of this study was tested through AMOS using the maximum-likelihood estimation method. The overall chi-square value for the model was 88.974, with 32 degrees of freedom (p < .001). The model fit helped to answer the question around the structural equation model fit of the empirical data: GFI = 0.947 (above 0.90), CFI = 0.981 (above 0.95), RMSEA = 0.074 (reasonable fit >0.05, ≤0.08), and SRMR = 0.0506 (less than 0.08), lending support to the overall fit of this model.

As presented in Figure 2, the path relationship between the Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience was positive but not significant, so this hypothesis, H1 was not supported. However, the hypothesized positive path relationship between the Western mindfulness and teacher resilience was positive and significant (p < 0.001); hence, the hypothesized relationship, H2, was supported. The Eastern mindfulness has a positive effect on the Western mindfulness at a significant level p < 0.05; hence, the hypothesis, H3, was supported.

Figure 2. Simplified AMOS results.

Note: Coefficient significant level at **p < .001, *p < .05.

The study hypothesized that the relationship, H4, between the Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience variables would be mediated by the Western mindfulness. The direct and mediated path relationship between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience were compared with Western mindfulness as the mediator. The beta coefficient of the direct effect of Eastern mindfulness on teacher resilience without mediation was 0.14, p = 0.036, whereas with mediation was 0.061, p = 0.288. According to Baron and Kenny (1986), the path relationship for direct effects on teacher resilience showed a decline in the beta coefficient and a change in the level of significance, suggesting that Western mindfulness acted as a partial mediator between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience.

Our findings indicate that awareness and attention which are core components of the Eastern mindfulness have significant direct effect on Western mindfulness. This correlation presents that awareness and attention lead to novelty seeking and novelty producing or creativity. Although this study shows that attention and awareness have no direct effect on resilience in teachers group directly, novelty seeking and creativity have a significant direct effect on teacher resilience. Moreover, these two characteristics of Western mindfulness mediate the relationship between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience.

4.2. Qualitative methodology

As part of the qualitative methodology, focus group discussion was employed in this study. The participants in this study were five university teachers and executives in Thailand. Data were collected in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, from April to June 2021. We assessed how elements of mindfulness related to teacher resilience with two questions: (1) How do you adapt to new changes when facing unexpected events such as COVID-19? and (2) How do you recover and develop yourself and your organization during and after crisis?

Data from focus group discussions was analyzed by thematic analysis, which is a method for identifying, analyzing, and reporting themes that are flexible and provides a rich and detailed description of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The relationship between mindfulness and teacher resilience presented as follows:

In this situation, we think [Eastern mindfulness – attention] about how to survive and move on [Western mindfulness-novelty seeking], we adjust curriculum, develop IT to support teaching [Western mindfulness-novelty producing] … We encourage teachers to develop skills, and they can manage and solve the difficult problem in working [teacher resilience].

4.2.1. Executive of university A

We are ready for change. We try to learn and develop (Western mindfulness-novelty seeking) … We support our teachers through training (Western mindfulness-novelty producing), they evaluate their performance and develop their work continuously [teacher resilience].

4.2.2. Executive of university B

When facing a crisis, we try to change the crisis into an opportunity [Western mindfulness-novelty producing] … Our teachers approach in a more positively and try to adapt to change [teacher resilience].

4.2.3. Executive of university C

It is necessary to distinguish what the problem is and analyze the problem quickly, calmly and mindfully [Eastern mindfulness-awareness and attention] … We try to seek new methods to do anything [Western mindfulness-novelty seeking] … When facing a crisis, we learn from the mistake and improve to do better [teacher resilience].

4.2.4. Teacher of university D

We prepare and arrange because we don’t know when COVID-19 will be finished, nobody can know [Western mindfulness – novelty seeking] … The most important thing is we commit to achieving the goal of profession and organization more than ourselves [teacher resilience].

4.2.5. Teacher of university E

The focus group discussion showed the link between mindfulness and teacher resilience when they had to face the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. The core elements of mindfulness, in the Eastern perspective (awareness, attention) and the Western perspective (novelty seeking, novelty producing), were employed to manage the unexpected situation.

5. Discussions and implications

Today, sufficient evidence exists to support the benefits of mindfulness in many fields. There is a large difference between the Eastern and Western perspectives of mindfulness. We focus on integrating two perspectives of mindfulness which create a process of mindfulness which leads to teacher resilience. We attempt to design this study to address a gap in the existing literature with regard to the formation of the characteristics of mindfulness in fostering and sustaining teacher resilience. In this study, our analyses confirmed that integrating mindfulness in the Eastern and Western perspectives has a significant positive impact on teacher resilience.

The findings revealed the following positive effects of constructs:

1) Western mindfulness has a positive effect on teacher resilience (H₂ supported)

2) Eastern mindfulness has a positive effect on Western mindfulness. (H₃ supported)

3) Western mindfulness acted as a partial mediator between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience (H₄ supported)

However, one hypothesis (H₁) was not supported. The researcher found that Eastern mindfulness had no significant impact on teacher resilience.

Awareness and attention are the foundational elements of mindfulness in the Eastern perspective. Awareness is continually monitoring and perceiving of internal and external environment, and attention is a process of focusing awareness on a limited range of current experience. In the Western perspective, novelty seeking is the ability to be curious and open toward the environment, and novelty producing is the ability of a person to create new categories with creativity. Novelty seeking has an important role to assess novelty producing or creativity.

The current finding shows the effect of Eastern mindfulness characteristics (awareness and attention) on Western mindfulness (novelty seeking and novelty producing). Awareness and attention lead to novelty seeking and novelty producing which develop the creativity. This will lead to adaptive capacity to solve problems and adjust the emotional response of teachers and developable capacity to develop professionally and maximizing one’s capacity to provide high-quality teaching in unexpected situations and environments as presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Process of fostering and sustaining teacher resilience through mindfulness.

This study adds knowledge about the previously unknown pathway between mindfulness and teacher resilience. Although teacher resilience is not directly caused by Eastern mindfulness, Western mindfulness acts as a mediator for the relationship between Eastern mindfulness and teacher resilience. To foster and sustain resilience for teachers, educational executives should consider incorporating mindfulness practices as part of their professional development programs within the institutions. They should take mindfulness-related courses as part of their training for teachers at all levels to improve teacher resilience. Moreover, the executives should arrange the physical space and work design to support mindfulness practices. Teachers can practice mindfulness in different ways such as sitting meditation, performing a body-scan, engaging in mindful movement such as yoga, which can lead to greater awareness, attention, and focus. The application of mindfulness techniques contributes to the resilience, adaptive and developable capacity of teachers who recover in the face of problems and adversity and sustain their educational and professional purposes. Mindfulness will play a vital part in helping teachers learn how to build and sustain resilience levels, manage stress, and decrease anxiety, depression, and the risk of burnout. This will lead to improvement in the quality of classroom interactions and education for students. Executives who understand and apply this process in educational institution can improve teacher resilience for the sustainability of the institutions.

6. Limitations and future directions

This study argues that mindfulness impacts teacher resilience. However, there are some possible limitations in this study that could be addressed in future research. Firstly, this study was undertaken in Thailand, requires replication in other regions to assess the extent to which different cultural norms and values affect the findings. Secondly, this study focused on teachers and educational institutions, studying in other sample groups is recommended for future studies to give more reliable results and useful for a broader group of people. Lastly, this study employed cross-sectional mixed methodology at a single point in time, applying to a longitudinal study that involves looking at variables over an extended period of time can provide a greater wealth of information and unique insight correlation in this topic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Wiphawan Limphaibool

Phrakhru Kowitarttawatee (Udorn Saengkaew) Assistant Professor, executive, and lecturer at Lumphun Buddhist College, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Thailand. At the age of 12, he entered the monastery and received full ordination as a monk in 1995. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Buddhist Studies from Magadh University, India, in 2008. He is interested in mindfulness, meditation, and education sciences.

Wiphawan Limphaibool Ph.D. (candidate) in the Faculty of Business Administration, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. She is interested in mindfulness and resilience at the level of individual and organization.