Sir, – The discussion surrounding the Convention on Education raises a question that should perhaps precede all others: what is education for? (“Special edition of Studies published to coincide with Convention on Education,” Brian Mooney, September 22nd),
The contributions highlighted in Studies point towards a conception of education concerned not simply with examination results, qualifications and preparation for employment, but with human flourishing – developing young people who can think clearly, exercise judgment, relate to others, find meaning and participate fully in society.
If that is our ambition, we need to take seriously the condition of the learner. A curriculum can be excellent and teaching methods innovative, but learning is compromised when young people are persistently stressed, anxious or overwhelmed.
Wellbeing should not be an adjunct to education; it is part of the conditions in which learning takes place. This suggests that the convention should look beyond what we teach and ask how we help young people develop the inner resources to learn and flourish.
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One such approach, sometimes described as conscious-based education , incorporates structured periods of quiet time and meditation, including Transcendental Meditation (TM), to help students develop greater calm, attention and self-awareness.
This is not simply a theoretical proposition. An Irish pilot involving 100 fifth- and sixth-class pupils in two schools found a quiet time programme based on TM was feasible and acceptable to pupils, parents and teachers, with suggestive evidence of improvements in aspects of executive functioning. The researchers were careful to describe these as preliminary findings, pointing to the need for further research rather than definitive conclusions.
There is also relevant European experience. The Erasmus+ funded Europe project introduced the approach in schools in Portugal, Sweden and the Netherlands, while the subsequent Friends project extended it to schools and educational settings in four European countries.
These projects involved hundreds of pupils and teachers and explored questions of wellbeing, inclusion and the school environment. None of this means that meditation is a substitute for good teaching, appropriate mental-health services or wider educational reform.
Nor does it mean that the evidence should be regarded as settled. It does suggest that, if the convention is serious about putting human flourishing and student wellbeing at the centre of education, structured quiet time and meditation are worthy of properly designed, independently evaluated Irish pilot programmes.
The convention has been presented as a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It should therefore ask not only what knowledge and skills young people will need in the future, but what kind of human beings we want education to help them become – and what conditions will allow them to flourish.- Yours, etc,
JOHN BURNS,
Blackrock,
Dublin.
