Preparing Teachers for the Present: Exploring the Praxis of Mindful Dispositional Development in Teacher Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Practicing Holistic Education Within a Fragmented Education System

Abstract

Compared to content knowledge and instructional repertoire, the development of teacher disposition is the least understood and attended to in Teacher Education. This paper investigates mindfulness-based training as a model for developing teacher disposition. Working within the context of initial teacher education, an iterative action research study was conducted over three semesters with teacher candidates who went through the Mindfulness-Based Wellness Education (MBWE) program. Findings discuss mindfulness as an appropriate dispositional aim for teachers, and processes involved in the training that nurture habits of mind and heart. To meet the aim of developing disposition in Teacher Education, teacher educators need to have training in facilitating adult human development, as well as having specialists in mindfulness-training.

Author

• Geoffrey B. Soloway