Against the backdrop of an economically-driven educational ethos of high-stakes testing, academic achievements, accountability and performativity that seems to orient our teaching to comply with externals, an intimate and personal teaching orientation proposes that “we teach who we are” (Palmer, 1998, p. 1), and that “who I am in what I teach is the message” (Kelchtermans, 2009). This claim that can be located within the discourse of ‘teacher identity’ or ‘professional identity’ has been a focal interest for several scholars and teacher educators that have been both emphasizing its importance theoretically, and searching for meaningful ways by which to translate it into pedagogical practice (Bullough ,1997; Elbaz, 2001; Korthagen 2004; Tremmel, 1993).

If what we teach is (or flows directly form) ‘who we are’ then within their training and their on-going work teachers may benefit from directly engaging with the primary subject matter that teaching involves – the “self”. In Hamachek’s (1999) words this domain of the ‘teaching self’ is a ‘private curriculum’ and ‘‘the more that teachers know about themselves—the private curriculum within—the more their personal decisions are apt to be about how to pave the way for better teaching’’ (p. 209).

The current presentation follows this strand of teacher education, to examine the theoretical and practical potential of contemplative practices as pedagogies that work to ‘bring out’ (educare) the “teaching self”. The main question that this research examines is: How can mindfulness practice serve as a pedagogical approach for substantiating teacher’s commitment and search for meaning in the teaching profession? This orientation is nested within a burgeoning pedagogical approach in higher education involving a substantial rise in the incorporation of contemplative practice in higher education across disciplines (Barbezat & Bush, 2014; Lin, Oxford & Brantmeier, 2013). Setting aside extant research concerned with the ameliorating effects of mindfulness practice and other contemplative practices (Davidson et al, 2012), these recent publications reveal a substantial interest in the pedagogical applications of mindfulness, compassion meditation, yoga, tai chi, journaling and other practices referred to as contemplative.

This presentation describes a one-semester elective course offered at a European University in which teacher education students studied cross-cultural curriculum theories (Hattam, 2004; Lin, Oxford & Brantmeier, 2013)) and engaged in mindfulness practice conceptualized as both pedagogy and contemplative inquiry (Author, forthcoming; Zajonc, 2009) for two main purposes: 1. To engage directly with the question ‘who am I?’ and 2. To examine whether and how such introspective practice affects the way they view themselves as teachers. Mindfulness, the practice of “paying attention on purpose, in the present and non-judgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4) was followed by journaling as a class and home practice. At the end of the course students handed in a 2000 word auto-ethnographical final project based on the practice and the journal. In this project they reflected on the above two foci, and on their semester’s journey of self-inquiry and professional identity.

The presentation will include two parts. In the first part of the presentation I will describe the rationale of incorporating contemplative practice in teacher education as part of the course’s rationale based on teacher education and contemplative education theories (Author, 2013, 2014; Barbezat & Bush, 2014; Zajonc, 2009). In the second part of the presentation results from a qualitative research in which I examine the potentials and difficulties involved in contemplative practice in teacher education will be discussed. Approximately 160 projects were collected from five cohorts of students that studied the above described course so far. The analysis will focus on a select number of final projects that will demonstrate students’ coping with this novel and challenging pedagogical approach.   

Author (2013) Author (2014) Author (forthcoming) Barbezat, D. & Bush, M. (2014). Contemplative practices in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Bullough, R. V. (1997). Practicing theory and theorizing practice in teacher education. In J. Loughran, & T. Russell (Eds.), Purpose, passion and pedagogy in teacher education (pp. 13–31). London/Washington, DC: Falmer Press. Elbaz, L. F. (2001). Understanding what goes on in the heart and the mind: learning about diversity and co-existence through storytelling. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 133-146. Hamachek, D. (1999). Effective teachers: What they do, how they do it, and the importance of self-knowledge. In R. P. Lipka, & T. M. Brinthaupt (Eds.), The role of self in teacher development (pp. 189–224). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York: Hyperion. Kelchtermans, Who I am in how I teach is the message: self‐understanding, vulnerability and reflection, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 15 (2), 257-272. Korthagen, F.A.J. (2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: Towards a more holistic approach in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education 20, 77-97. Lin, J., Oxford, R., Brantmeier, S. (eds.)(2013). Re-envisioning higher education. Charlotte: IAP. Palmer, P. (1998). The Courage to Teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Shapiro S. L., Brown K. W., Astin J. (2011) Toward the Integration of Meditation into Higher Education: A Review of Research Evidence. Teachers College Record 113 (3), 493–528. Strauss, A. L. & Corbin, J.. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Sage Tremmel, R. (1993) Zen and the Art of Reflective Practice in Teacher Education, Harvard Educational Review,63(4), 434-459. Zajonc, A. (2009). Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love. Great Barrington: Lindisfarne Books.