First face-to-face dissemination meeting in Brussels

Nov 29, 2018 | News

How can schools benefit from the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme, which is easy to learn and promotes social inclusion in classrooms?

The practice of Transcendental Meditation within the Quiet Time programme allows students, teachers, head teachers and other school members to enjoy more positive personal outcomes and more inclusive educational environments! How is this possible? Practising Transcendental Meditation twice a day during Quiet Time ‘breaks’ allows students to develop their full potential and improve their personal and academic achievements.

This is true also for teachers and other school staff who experience a decrease in the stress level and an improved level of job satisfaction.

The FRIENDS project is an Erasmus+ cofounded project whose ambition is to implement the Quiet Time/Transcendental Meditation programme on a wider European scale/context.

Are you a school member? Do you want to know more about FRIENDS?

On November 29th 2018, schools’ representatives from different EU countries participated in the first FRIENDS Face to Face Dissemination Meeting. This was held at the Royal Library of Belgium and allowed for the creation of a channel of communication and sharing of experience between the schools already involved in the project and schools interested in implementing the programme in the future. 

Different topics were explored: firstly, the FRIENDS project was introduced to all participants, explaining its general aims and objectives. Then, the main FRIENDS tools and channels were presented so that interested stakeholders could find out how to take part to the FRIENDS community:

  • The FRIENDS website is the main online platform which gives a general overview of the project: an introduction, details of its partners, a section in which public deliverables are uploaded.  There is also a ‘Partnership and Contacts’ section so that interested schools can be a part of the FRIENDS online and face-to-face communities, contact the FRIENDS national networks directly to ask any questions related to the project, and explore upcoming events and initiatives at local and national levels.
  • The website is linked with social media channels, such as the FRIENDS Facebook page, where interested communities are created involving teachers, head teachers, pedagogical co-ordinators, parent representatives from schools, student & parents associations, youth workers, policy makers and other interested stakeholders at grass-root levels to keep them up-to-date about the results and acquaint them with the approach of implementing the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme within schools.
  • The website is also linked to the FRIENDS YouTube Channel that has been created to show specific videos of school children, teaching staff and parents discussing their own experiences of Quiet Time with TM across all partner countries
  • Finally, the schools participating in the face to face meeting were warmly invited to subscribe to the FRIENDS newsletter so they could find out more about the outcomes of the Quiet Time/TM programme and how they could get involved.

Maharishi Foundation UK moderated the interactive session in which the many participating schools and institutions interested in the Quiet Time/Transcendental Meditation programme expressed their enthusiasm for and their great interest in the scientific results that were presented, but also their doubts and concerns about the implementation of such an innovative and ground-breaking programme.

The possible challenges due in some case to some lack of flexibility and resistance to innovation from within the education system, were fully explored while founding as a great enabler the fact of this innovative approach being beneficial in one stroke for the entire wide education community.

Main contacts were shared among schools and institutions already participating in the project so they could share their direct experiences and make other stakeholders part of the different learning communities across partner countries.

Also, a specific highlight was reserved to the policy makers in the educational fields at local, regional and national level willing to be updated about this novel approach and its main results and about the benefits for the educational systems. The face to face session was closed with information about the next steps for FRIENDS and the upcoming activities in which different interested schools could participate to join the FRIENDS experience.

Are you a school member? Do you want to know more about the project and the next initiatives?

For further information
Quiet Time /TM Implementation coordinators contacts:

 

About the project

FRIENDS: Fostering Resilience-Inclusive Education & Non-Discrimination in Schools is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme under the Key Action 3 Support for policy reforms – Social inclusion through education, training and youth.

Partners

The project partnership is composed of: