Overview

The module offers the opportunity for those teaching mindfulness-based courses as part of their work to gain an academic postgraduate award. 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 for mindfulness-based teaching competence. Students will be encouraged to integrate the following areas: awareness of personal process, experience of teaching practice, and the theories and rationales underlying mindfulness-based courses. 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. There will also be the opportunity to demonstrate responsible and sensitive use of supervision processes during the teaching required by the module.

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -50% 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. -good -60%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 -70%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.

Learning Outcomes

• 1. 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. In relation to this students will be able to demonstrate: a. Responsive and flexible pacing, good organization and coverage of a mindfulness-based course curriculum that is suitable for the participants being instructed b. A high level of relational skills appropriate to teaching a mindfulness-based course in a genuine, warm and collaborative way c. Ability to guide participants competently in core mindfulness-based meditation practices within a professional setting d. Ability to convey course themes in clear, accessible language through interactive teaching, including use of the enquiry process to guide participants’ exploration and understanding of their practice, and apposite use of didactic teaching and group exercises e. Clear embodiment of the core values and attitudinal foundations of mindfulness-based approaches within the teaching process f. Management of group process, combining safety and exploration, and balancing the needs of individuals and the group

• 2. Critically 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, successful students will demonstrate their ability to: a. Articulate the rationale for their choice of curriculum b. Articulate the rationale for their chosen methods of participant referral, assessment and orientation, including ethical issues c. Reflect 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 d. Demonstrate and evaluate how awareness of group process and theory informs the teaching process e. Demonstrate 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 f. Demonstrate critical discussion of the theoretical perspectives that inform this work (e.g. cognitive science, Buddhist psychology, physiological effects of psychological processes, etc.)