The teaching profession can be very fulfilling and rewarding, but it also takes a great deal of energy in the face of increasing change and growing challenges (e.g. dealing with diversity in the classroom) and demands personal commitment.

In hardly any other field do people feel as exhausted and burnt out after a few years in the job as they do in the teaching profession.

It is therefore important to raise awareness among trainee teachers at an early stage about managing their own resources responsibly and to strengthen their personal resilience. Precisely because a teacher’s personal resilience is so crucial to pupils’ learning success and to their own sense of fulfilment, it is essential to nurture it.

As part of my seminars, practical exercises and theoretical input will be used to build three pillars that enable participants to recognise stressful situations at an early stage and address them using appropriate methods:

Exercises drawn from qigong, mindfulness and breathwork will be learnt through practical sessions over 14 weeks and can be incorporated into everyday life. Brief theoretical sessions will reinforce the seminar participants’ understanding of a) the significance of stress for the human organism and b) the effects of the selected mindfulness methods. All exercises will take place outdoors in the Botanical Garden in good weather and in the Green School in bad weather.

The seminar follows the inquiry-based learning approach outlined by Huber (2009, 2014) and encourages students to carry out small-scale empirical social research studies to identify their own everyday stress factors, the integration of daily exercises and the effects of these exercises. Students are also offered the opportunity to keep a happiness or gratitude journal. Alternatively, open-field studies on topics related to mindfulness may be carried out.

The seminar is primarily aimed at trainee teachers who are keen to engage seriously with the practical practice of mindfulness and are able to attend the seminar regularly.

If the seminar takes place during the summer semester, the focus is on mindful perception of nature. The students have devised an exhibition and a video which impressively demonstrate the nature-related phenomena they encountered during the seminar and how these can be expressed in words through ‘Elfchen’ poems.

Corinna Hößle is a member of the "Mindful Universities" association, where she represents the University of Oldenburg. You can find more information at: achtsamehochschulen.de

On 28 November 2019, the Day of Teaching and Learning was held under the motto "Mindful University". Graphic designer Diana Soriat has summarised the panel discussion very vividly.