MA Dissertation 2009
For his Masters degree in Buddhist Studies, Richard Burnett wrote a paper considering what is lost and what is gained in the teaching of mindfulness as a secular discipline rather than a Buddhist one.
Click here to download Mindfulness in Schools: Learning Lessons from the Adults, Secular and Buddhist.
Here is a summary of contents:
Introduction
Background
What is mindfulness?
More than just ‘present moment awareness’
A different audience
A different time-frame
A different place
Balancing Calm and Insight
Calm meditation
Insight meditation
‘Partners in the job of meditation’
The importance of Calm in a schools context
Defining Objectives
Objective of secular mindfulness
Objective of Buddhist mindfulness
Shared territory
Objective of mindfulness in schools
ECM, PSHE or RE objectives?
Building a ‘Scaffolding’
The importance of scaffolding
The importance of ‘clear comprehension'
Choosing a scaffolding for schools
Specific and universal vulnerabilities
A sense of possibility
Ethics and Community
Ethics in adult mindfulness
Ethics in mindfulness in schools
An amplified role for ethics?
The instructor in adult mindfulness
The teacher in schools
The community
