Sharing Student Projects

Stress is common in secondary school pupils, with high stakes exams, perceived pressure from teachers and parents, homework and tests, all featuring high on the list of common stressors for adolescents. The aim of this research was to understand how positive, emotionally close relationships with teachers can help reduce stress levels in pupils, by promoting the development of trait mindfulness skills. As opposed to trained mindfulness, trait mindfulness refers to an individual’s natural tendency to be mindful. It is believed to consist of four components: awareness (the ability to maintain attention on what is currently happening without being distracted by other events, thoughts and feelings), describing (the ability to use language internally and externally to label the experience), nonjudging (the ability to accept inner thoughts and feelings without worrying or self-blaming), nonreactivity (the ability to accept stress as a natural part of life, and actively detach from negative thoughts). This research aimed to provide new knowledge about how these abilities can be fostered and developed in the school environment. The target population was pupils in Years 9 and 10. This age group was selected as stress increases with age and proximity to exams. These year groups are preparing to sit their GCSEs and may therefore be experiencing heightened stress levels. Pupils this age are also going through an important developmental stage as they become more independent and autonomous. At this time, relationships with parents can suffer, and teachers may become more important as stable, adult, nonparental role models. This was therefore an ideal time to investigate whether positive relationships with teachers can help maximise pupils’ trait mindfulness skills, and in turn buffer their stress levels. The sample in the study comprised 124 pupils from two schools in the North West of England – an independent girls’ school, and a boys’ selective academy converter. Pupils in these schools came from affluent areas and achieved above the national average in KS4 results. Participants completed a short tick 65 box style survey designed to measure how they felt about their relationships with teachers in their school, their levels of trait mindfulness, and how often they have experienced stressful thoughts and feelings over the previous month. The research found that pupils who felt they had more positive, emotionally close, and supportive relationships with their teachers, were also more likely to have higher levels of trait mindfulness skills, in particular the components of awareness, describing and nonjudging. This was expected as adolescents who have supportive and close relationships with other adults in their lives, namely parents and other family members, also have higher levels of trait mindfulness. The findings also underline the important role that teachers play in adolescents’ psychological development. Pupils with higher levels of trait mindfulness, particularly awareness, describing and nonreactivity, also had lower levels of distress, suggesting that implementing strategies that foster these skills could be effective in reducing stress in school pupils. It was expected that pupils with high levels of awareness and nonreactivity would experience less stress, but it was not expected that the ability to describe a situation and label emotions would be linked to lower stress levels. This suggests that younger adolescents may use different skills when faced with potentially stressful situations, compared to older adolescents and adults.

The research provides new insights into the importance of relationships with teachers as a tool to maximise trait mindfulness skills in pupils, and how pupils utilise these skills when faced with potentially stressful situations. Mindfulness based stress reduction programmes, which teach mindfulness skills, are popular, but results are mixed. The theory behind using mindfulness for stress reduction is that if an individual is able to maintain their focus on the present, and observe and accept a potentially stressful situation and their response to it, they can avoid worrying about past or future events, and respond in a 66 measured way rather than resorting to knee-jerk reactions. This might mean pupils focus on revising for an exam, rather than worrying about the specifics of what might be in the paper, or the results of a previous test. However, while mindfulness training has been found to help reduce stress levels among pupils in the short term, without continued practice the benefits often wear off. The current research suggests that a simpler way for schools to promote mindfulness skills may be through fostering the innate abilities of their pupils to be mindful. These innate abilities are strongly related to the quality of relationships that pupils have with their teachers, and are also important for stress reduction. A focus on nurturing positive relationships between staff and pupils to promote trait mindfulness skills, in particular the components of awareness and describing, could therefore be effective in reducing stress in this age group.