Overview

The module offers the opportunity for those teaching mindfulness-based courses as part of their work to gain a Masters (MA) grounded in their teaching practice. Students who attain a mark of at least 50% in their teaching practice (Assignment 1) as assessed by the Mindfulness-Based Interventions – Teaching Assessment Criteria, will also gain a CPD Certificate of Competence in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Courses. This award also recognises that they have met the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice’s highly regarded and stringent standards of training to teach mindfulness-based courses. For the student this experience will combine a focus on both personal and professional development with an opportunity to gain recognition at Masters level for mindfulness-based teaching competence. Students will be encouraged to integrate the following areas: awareness of personal process, experience of teaching practice, the theories and rationales underlying mindfulness-based courses. They will be expected to present a critical review of the research literature surrounding Mindfulness-Based teaching and of the particular population they work with within their professional context. The module will offer a structure for assessing the student teacher while they work within their own professional context, and with the client group they customarily train in mindfulness.

Students are required to demonstrate they meet Mindfulness Network UK minimum standard guidelines for mindfulness teachers They must submit supervision statements (not associated with credit) to demonstrate they meet minimum good practice guidelines

Assessment Strategy

-good -Pass Level B (B– = 60-63%, B = 64-66%, B+ - 67-69%)Comprehensive and accurate coverage, showing good use of teaching material and core readings, and demonstrating some ability to appraise the evidence critically. Is able to articulate teaching processes and underlying theories using critical appraisal, showing knowledge of mindfulness-based courses from both an experiential and a conceptual/theoretical angle. Synthesises understanding of teaching theory and process, with understanding and insight into personal process. Able to articulate clearly the particular ways in which mindfulness has its effects and the implications of this for teaching practice. -excellent -Distinction (A– = 70-77%, A = 78-83%, A+ = 84-89%, A* = 90-100%)Has sophisticated knowledge of mindfulness-based approaches from both an experiential and a conceptual/theoretical angle. Is able to outline and critically appraise personal experience in relation to the theory. Demonstrates outstanding depth of ability in synthesising understanding of teaching with understanding and insight into personal process. Demonstrates high levels of skills in articulating the teaching processes and underlying theories of mindfulness-based courses. Demonstrates outstanding and insightful understanding of the particular ways in which mindfulness has its effects and the implications of this for understanding and skills in teaching.Very comprehensive and accurate coverage, indicating that the student has gone beyond the core readings and explored the topic in depth. Writes coherently with clarity of argument and expression. -another level-Pass Level C (C– = 50-53%, C = 54-56%, C+ = 57-59%) Reasonably comprehensive coverage, indicating generally accurate understanding, based on teaching material and some core readings. Some critical appraisal. Shows some ability in articulating teaching processes and underlying theories but material is lacking in depth and insight. Demonstrates some skills but with areas which need development.

Learning Outcomes

• Achieve a level of competence in mindfulness-based teaching practice which would constitute ‘fitness to teach’ mindfulness-based courses within the student’s own professional context. This includes demonstrated competence across all six Domains of the Mindfulness-Based Interventions:Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC). 1) Coverage, pacing and organisation, 2) Relational skills, 3) Embodiment of mindfulness, 4) Guiding mindfulness practices, 5) Conveying course themes through interactive inquiry and didactic teaching, 6) Facilitating the group learning environment.

• Articulate the rationale for their chosen methods of participant referral, assessment and orientation, including ethical issues

• Conduct a critical literature review of mindfulness-based teaching in the context of their chosen participant population/organisational setting. Articulate the rationale for their choice of Mindfulness-Based Programme curriculum.

• Critically evaluate how awareness of group process and theory informs the teaching process

• Critically explore hypothesised mechanisms of mindfulness in relation to their chosen participant population

• Critically synthesise and analyse the underlying theories and rationale for mindfulness-based teaching practice. Through relating these theories to their direct experience of teaching the video-recorded mindfulness-based course, and to their understanding of mindfulness-based courses in general.

• Demonstrate critical discussion of the theoretical perspectives that inform this work (e.g. cognitive science, Buddhist psychology, physiological effects of psychological processes, etc.)

• Reflect critically on their personal process during the teaching, including how they dealt with difficulty and their own ‘edges’ during teaching by using mindfulness principles and practice, and demonstrate how the insights that come to light through the process are integrated into the teaching

• Synthesise understanding and awareness of ways of developing an effective and ethically based culture of learning within the group, including in this the importance of sensitivity to participants’ different learning styles and the ways that teaching methods can accommodate these. Critically incorporate theoretical underpinnings into their account.