![]() ![]() ![]() Judging from Ontario Ministry of Education and school board conferences held in 2016-18, the provincial school system was totally enamoured with an approach that promised salvation and relief from stress, anxiety, depression, bullying, and today’s frenetic school life. Growing concerns among leading researchers in the United States, the U.K., and the Netherlands about the widespread adoption of positive psychology, the implementation of the Goldie Hawn Foundation’s MINDUP program, and the mindfulness and happiness movement. Few Ontario educators, it seemed, were troubled by the initiative and parents were, as usual with curriculum initiatives, presented with a fait accompli. That may explain why the whole provincial strategy sailed through the normal process of review and was immediately embraced by educators, particularly in elementary schools. Promoting “Student Well Being” sounds like the educational equivalent of motherhood, so it has, to date, attracted little close scrutiny. While labelled an “engagement paper,” the educators and the public were invited to “provide your insights and considerations on how best to promote and support student well-being throughout Ontario’s education system.” Jean Clinton, a McMaster University clinical psychiatrist, and Dr Stuart Shanker, a York University psychologist who doubles as the CEO of the MEHRIT Centre, a Peterborough-based organization holding a patent on the term “Self-Reg” and marketing “self-regulation’ in schools. “Student Well Being” has acquired something of an exalted status in Ontario schools ever since the appearance of a fascinating November 2016 policy paper,’ entitled “Well Being in Our Schools, Strength in Our Society.’ The whole concept of Student Well Being was rationalized using a popular narrative promoted by its leading Ontario advocates, Dr. The recent change in government presents a rare opportunity to critically examine the whole initiative, its assumptions, research base, and actual impact upon schoolchildren. Under the former Liberal Government of Kathleen Wynne, the heavily promoted “ Student Well Being Strategy’ attempted to integrate ‘mindfulness’ through what is known as the MINDUP curriculum. ![]() Two provinces, Ontarioand British Columbia, are hotbeds for promoting “ student well being” through broad application of ‘ mindfulness training’ and its step-child ‘self-regulation ‘ beginning in the earliest grades. Please find results, publications, and reports from previous years below.Mindfulness has enjoyed a tremendous boom in the past decade and has recently begun to spring up in Canadian school systems. Karen Bax, the MindUP for Young Children project is entering the final year of implementation research funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The MindUP program helps educators learn how to stay attuned and responsive in their relationships with their children. The Trauma-Informed Framework informs educators on why they should meet their children’s needs, even if challenged with external stressors and adversity. There is also a component where the parents and children work together to help reinforce transferring the skills to their everyday lives. The MindUP lessons are also adapted into parent sessions and implemented with Merrymount families in concurrent weekly sessions for parents and young children. Lesson topics include: How Our Brains Work, Mindful Listening, Perspective Taking, Choosing Optimism, and Expressing Gratitude. These lessons integrate attentional, self-regulatory, and social-emotional strategies for children. The project builds on MindUP, which is a universal, school-based education program that incorporates neuroscience, mindful awareness, and positive psychology in 15 teacher-led lessons. ![]()
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