Resources
FRIENDS Final Conference – Part 1 & 2 – 4th December 2019
On December 4th, 2019, the FRIENDS project Final Conference: “Promoting Inclusive Education through Wellbeing”, an innovative approach to promoting social inclusion, equality and non-discrimination in the learning environment through The Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme, took place at the Royal Library in Brussels, with the active participation of around 130 people, including, as well as the speakers, principals, teachers, students and parents.
A representative from the National Ministry of Education Directorate General for Education (DGE), Monitoring Team and Curriculum Development (Portugal), spoke on the topic of: “How to make possible innovation in a public educational system: the case of Portugal”.
Other participants were policy makers at local and national levels, including European Commission representatives, representatives of municipalities, university professors (from Portugal, Italy, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, the UK and India), NGOs, representatives from the business sector and from non-formal education, TM providers, and all those interested in the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation approach and inclusive education. Participants came from more than 15 European countries including from countries outside the EU and outside the project, such as Iceland, Denmark, Germany, France, The Netherland, India, South Africa, Luxembourg, Romania and Sweden.
The conference was followed by a networking buffet, an occasion for the different stakeholders and participating moderators of local learning communities to exchange contacts and experiences. This was the starting point for further expansion beyond the end of the project, including into new European countries.
D1.1 – Strategic Analysis: the status-quo
A strategic analysis has been developed to frame the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme for its successful implementation, reaching a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities and its effects in promoting social inclusion in the education systems on a wider European level.
D 5.5 – Overall conclusions, policy recommendations and lesson learned
This report covers the overall conclusions of the evaluation. It includes: · Statistical analysis and discussion of the quantitative data collected as well as the application of Categorical Content Analysis of the qualitative data collected. This part covers the results and discussion of: (a) the training of administrators, teachers and staff (e.g. anxiety and job satisfaction), (b) the training of students, and (c) the different surveys. · Recommendations for Policy Making · Lessons Learned, Conclusions of the Lessons Learned Log
D 6.9 – Policy recommendations
The project has developed a Policy Making Framework (PMF) for the introduction of the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme in schools on a larger scale. This framework provides material and guidance for successful policy development, implementation, and follow-up. A set of policy recommendations has been developed including the results of the evaluation with an emphasis on both the enablers of, and also the barriers to, scaled-up implementation. It further includes practical information for implementing the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme in schools on a wider scale.
D 7.1 – Support for policy reform
This report contains guidelines and recommendations for policy making, based on D5.5, as well as support to policy makers wanting to implement the Quiet Time with TM programme in the schools in their nations. It gives them the tools necessary for policy reform and for further successful dissemination and exploitation.
Frans Van Assche (University of Leuven, Belgium) speaking on the two-fold relationship between inclusive education and well-being … This presentation explores how the Quiet Time based on Transcendental Meditation (QT/TM) addresses this question.
Alberto Bramanti (Bocconi University, Italy) gives a vision of the FRIENDS project as an instrument for promoting well-being. He covers the need for systemic change, the cost saving and financial strategies that are strengthening well-being practices in the educational system, and policy recommendations at national and European level to foster systemic change.
Other relevant FRIENDS project materials
In this section, you can download other project materials that are relevant for the public dissemination of the project’s objectives, results, activities, etc.
Experiences of principals and staff at 3 Alternative Provision schools in UK implementing TM.
…reporting on the benefits for themselves and for the pupils in their schools, who generally have lost their place in mainstream schools because of behavioural problems. Teachers and principals report how the calm atmosphere created by large numbers of staff practising Transcendental Meditation has already changed the school and the life of children, even before they have started to meditate.
Experiences with TM of Principal, teachers and students in a primary school in Bolzano, Italy.
Enjoy the experiences of the principal, teachers and students at a primary school in Bolzano, Italy that implemented the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme as part of the FRIENDS project.
FRIENDS project: Quite Time/TM programme in Italy.
Experiences from a school implementing the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme in the context of the FRIENDS project in Brescia, Italy (March 2018).
The implementation in Italy is led by AMTM – Associazione Meditazione Trascendentale Maharishi, a partner of the FRIENDS project.
The video has been made in cooperation with Fondazione Maharishi, an associated partner of the FRIENDS project.
Experiences of inmates practising Transcendental Meditation in a prison for long sentences in Italy
In collaboration with the FRIENDS project, Carcere Senza Stress, a programme based on Transcendental Meditation, was introduced for both guards and inmates in a prison for offenders with long sentences in the north of Italy as part of the project “S-cateniamo la mente!” funded by the call Libero Reload 2018 promoted by the Association A Buon Diritto Onlus.
Together We Stand
House of Colours, in collaboration with the FRIENDS project and with the support of the EU Youth in Action Programme, launched “Together We Stand”, a project to create social occasions for local young people and migrants to help promote their integration into Belgian society. Through the FRIENDS project they were also offered the opportunity to learn the Transcendental Meditation programme for schools.
1st FRIENDS report on the implementation activities during the first year of the project (January 2018 – December 2018)
This report provides an overview of the activities of the FRIENDS project that took place in four European countries (Portugal, UK, Italy and Belgium) between January 2018 and December 2018.
Click on the cover to discover more.
2nd FRIENDS report on the implementation activities of the whole two-year project (January 2018 – January 2020)
This report provides an overview of the activities of the FRIENDS project that took place in four European countries (Portugal, UK, Italy and Belgium) between January 2018 and January 2020.
Click on the cover to discover more.