Matthew Hirshberg, Center for Healthy Minds
Title: The Importance of Teacher Well-being: And How to Strengthen It
Description: Teaching is intellectually and emotionally demanding. As a result, many teachers experience the profession as stressful. High rates of teacher stress and burnout are associated with poorer quality instruction and a higher probability of early career attrition, which in turn are associated with worse and often inequitable student outcomes. Many of the skills, dispositions, and mindsets that support well-being are also important in teaching. In this talk, I’ll review evidence that meditation-based interventions can strengthen well-being skills in teachers, leading to (1) improved mental health and well-being, (2) reduced early career attrition, and (3) improved instructional quality.
