Mindful Alignment: Co-Creating Conditions for Flourishing in Schools Background and Purpose

• In Event: Leading, Learning, and Caring: Well-Being and the School Leader

Abstract

Background and purpose
The work of teaching and leading schools is complex and challenging. Given the increasing rates of stress and burnout identified among teachers and principals (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Pollock et al., 2015), and the impact of this stress on students (Greenberg et al., 2016; Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2016), it is clear that more work is needed in this area. Although remedying stress and avoiding burnout is an important area for further research, additional approaches and perspectives may be useful for gaining a more holistic sense of wellbeing within the contexts of schools (Acton & Glasgow, 2015; Gu & Day, 2017). Guided by research findings that highlight the benefits of paying attention to the positive human traits, capacities, structures, and processes that contribute to thriving at work and in life (Achor, 2011; Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Carmeli & Spreitzer, 2009; Fredrickson, 2008; Quinn, 2015; Worline & Dutton, 2017), the purpose of our qualitative research was to explore educators’ experiences of flourishing in their work (Authors, 2016, 2018a, 2018b). In this paper, we provide an overview of our research and offer a conceptual model of mindful awareness, designed from the findings. This model serves as a tool for noticing and amplifying individual and collective wellbeing as educators are encouraged to reflect on their work in relation to personal wellbeing, positive relationships, and strengths and purposes. Through this model we show the benefits and potentials for learning to mindfully craft the work of teaching and leading schools in ways that foster conditions for flourishing for self and others.
Methods
We carried out case studies in five schools (elementary and secondary) across two districts in British Columbia, Canada. We engaged with 43 participants (teachers and school principals) in focus group conversations designed to examine what it means to them to flourish in their work. Data were gathered through these open-ended, appreciative, focus-group conversations and researcher observations in the participants’ schools. Collected data were analyzed using an iterative process of coding, categorizing, and abstracting data.
Results
Several findings emerged from the analysis of the data. Flourishing was experienced most often when: a) educators experienced positive relationships, characterized as working with colleagues who know and care for one another toward a with a shared goal of improving the lives of their students; and b) educators found ways to craft their work such that they engaged, more often, from a strengths-based and playful stance; and c) across the many stories of flourishing the role of the principal was highlighted as a key factor in these educators’ experiences of flourishing.
Significance
This research offers insights on wellbeing in schools from a strengths-based, appreciative, and positive perspective; an alternate and complementary perspective to research on stress reduction and burnout. This research contributes to growing new knowledge and practices for wellbeing in schools and encourages the cultivation of individual and group attention to mindful awareness of what matters most in ways that elicit and encourage purposeful crafting of workplace conditions for wellbeing.

Authors

• Sabre Lynn Cherkowski, University of British Columbia

• Keith Douglas Walker, University of Saskatchewan