First face-to-face dissemination meeting in Brussels

How can schools benefit from the Quite Time based on Transcendental Meditation programme, easy to learn and favouring social inclusion in classrooms?

The practice of the Transcendental Meditation within the Quite Time programme allows students, teachers, head teachers and other school members to enjoy more positive personal outcomes and more inclusive educational environments! How is it possible? Practicing twice a day Transcendental Meditation during Quite Time ‘breaks’ allow students to develop their full potential and improving 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 which ambitions is to implement the Quite Time/Transcendental Meditation programme in a wider European scale/context.

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

On 29th November 2018, schools’ representatives of different EU countries participated to the 1° FRIENDS face-to-face meeting that was held at the Royal Library of Belgium and which allowed to create a channel of communication and experience sharing between the schools already involved in the project and the schools interested in the Quite Time/TM programme future implementation.

Different topics have been 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 in order to know how interested stakeholders could take part to the FRIENDS community:

  • The FRIENDS website is the main online platform which allow to get a general overview of the project, with an introduction of it, of its partners, a section in which public deliverables will be time after time uploaded, and a ‘Partnership and contacts’ section in which interested schools could be part of the FRIENDS online and face-to-face communities contacting directly the FRIENDS national networks to ask any question related to the FRIENDS project and also exploring upcoming events and initiatives at local, and national level
  • The website will be linked with the 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 stakeholder at grass root level to keep them up-to-date through all the channels of dissemination about the results and get them acquainted with the approach of implementing Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation within schools
  • Then, the website will be also linked to the FRIENDS YouTube Channel that has been created in order to show specific videos of school children, teaching staff and any parents in 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 the FRIENDS newsletter in order to get acquainted about the Quite Time/TM results within the FRIENDS project and their engagement within it

Maharishi Foundation UK moderated the interactive session in which the many participating schools and institutions interested in the Quite Time/Transcendental Meditation programme expressed their enthusiasm and their great interest for 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 of 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 in order to provide their direct experiences and make other stakeholders part of the different learning communities across partners countries.

Also, a specific highlight was reserved to the policy makers in the educational field 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 FRIENDS next steps and the upcoming activities where different interested schools could participate taking part to the FRIENDS experience.

Are you a school member? Are you wishing to know more about the project and its 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 holds together: