A Response to ZAVO School Directors’ Letter to the Flemish Minister of Education – Addressing Schools Concerns in Belgium

Feb 16, 2025 | News

Across Europe, educational systems are confronting a significant rise in student behavioral issues, including violence, threats, and emotional instability. This surge has led to increased teacher burnout and a growing number of students being excluded from the educational system. The lack of effective responses and the scarcity of appropriate mental health care for these students exacerbate the situation, highlighting the urgent need for innovative and systemic solutions to safeguard the well-being of both students and educators.

As an answer to this need, the FRIENDS project aims to provide an innovative strategy addressing the root causes of disruptive behaviors, offering a promising solution to enhance mental health and improve overall well-being of students and teachers, while creating a more supportive and caring educational environment.

Read further and discover more about our proposed solution:

Answer to the recent open letter of the ZAVO school director and his colleagues to the Flemish Minister of Education.

The recent open letter of the Zaventem secondary school director and his colleagues to the Flemish Minister of Education, expressing deep concern about the behavioural problems and Mental Health of students and teachers, underscores a growing concern about mental health and well-being in schools.

This issue was repeatedly addressed in official documents, reports, recommendations, and initiatives of the European Commission and international agencies such as the the World Health Organization (WHO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and UNICEF. They all call for action given the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to address mental health challenges within countries educational institutions to ensure the well-being of both students and educators.

Which answer works best today?

Recent Erasmus+ Key Action 3 (KA3- support for policy reforms) calls for projects have been looking for development and implementation of cost-effective,  innovative, “whole-system, school approaches to well-being and mental health’ in schools. This initiative have been advocating for ‘universal strategies for all school children as a major goal of Education’, and aiming to promote ‘a comprehensive  and coordinated effort across all levels of the education system (from policy and governance to individual schools, classrooms and students), and across policies (health, social policies, migration, justice, …).

The Network of Experts working on the Social Dimension of Education and Training (NESET) has also underscored in a recent report (A systemic, whole-school approach to mental health and well-being in schools in the EU)  the importance of a systemic, whole-school approach to mental health and well-being. The report mentions that ‘School-based interventions aimed at promoting students’ mental health and well-being are more likely to be effective if they are organised within a systemic, whole-school approach.’

Current approaches

Traditional approaches to tackling mental health, bullying, and violence in schools, are often fragmented and reactive, addressing symptoms rather than underlying causes. While many interventions provide valuable support, they often focus on managing symptoms rather than fostering long-term resilience and emotional well-being.

As highlighted by child psychiatrist Eva Kestens, the issue of mental health in education is broader than behavioural problems. Mental health issues—like those at ZAVO school—do not have a single, easily identifiable cause that can be simply resolved. Various underlying factors contribute to such behaviour, including societal influences, the pressure experienced by parents, the stress children face—it is a complex phenomenon, not easy to address through more rules, more teachers or therapy alone. These approaches offer only partial solutions.

Dr. Kestens emphasizes the core issue: “… it requires a calm mind to look beyond behavioural problems. That calm mind is lacking today.” (De Standaard, January 19, 2025).

Our approach focuses on fostering sustainable systemic support to cultivate calm minds among teachers, students and parents.

An innovative response

Two Erasmus+ KA3 co-funded projects, EUROPE and FRIENDS (2016-2020), in answer to the Paris declaration of the European Education Ministers and Commissioner for Education adopted after the terroristic attacks in 2015, were focussing respectively on the prevention of violence and violent radicalization in school and on the promotion of inclusive education and  have been successfully implementing in 7 European Countries (Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Nederland, Spain and the UK) an innovative, scientifically proven whole school approach. This approach is  based on the practice for 10/15 minutes, at the beginning and at the end of the school day, of a very simple, natural, scientifically validated psychophysiological technology known as Transcendental Meditation (TM), that has been found to be effective for the development of brain functioning, cognitive performance, personality integration, and positive social behaviour.

This innovative, learner-centred approach in the field of education, training and youth care allows very simply and naturally students and teachers  to  have  a profound experience of inner peace, happiness and calmness within. At the same time, the physiology experiences a very deep rest that allows to dissolve the very deep-rooted stress and tensions that are at the basis of negative behaviours, violence and enmity. 

The result is that programme participants show greater openness to experience; greater emotional stability; more agreeableness; lower anxiety; and higher moral reasoning (Consciousness and Cognition 2004; 13(2):401–420)…and anger simply disappears.

A key success factor in both projects was that students and teachers found it very simple and natural, and that it can essentially be practiced independently. This is in contrast to many current approaches that fail because they require extensive and prolonged coaching of many individuals. For example, if you have 1,000 students and 200 teachers, the coaching approach quickly becomes too burdensome in terms of time and resources, and thus too expensive financially.

Daniel (Student) – EUROPE project

“Before I was a nervous kid, I used to insult my classmates and defy them. But since I started meditating, it seems I started calming down. I am like another person, I feel more relaxed, more free. I look at things with more clarity, with different eyes. I have learned a lot” (…) “As I said, meditation gives us a different mindset. So, I don’t mind what people tell me because I like who I am. I don’t care about what people think about me. (…) My life changed since I started meditation. Here, inside. Not on the outside, but inside me.”

A key feature of the effectiveness of the TM technique is that it has been found to develop greater integration of brain functioning, supporting clarity of mind and physiological balance: higher levels of electroencephalographic (EEG) coherence are associated with higher levels of creativity, learning ability, and moral reasoning.

An important strength of this whole-school approach, known as the Quiet Time based on Transcendental Meditation (QT/TM) programme, is that teachers, administrators and staff  are involved since the beginning of the implementation in the schools by offering them to participate in the TM-based QT programme, and parents are strongly engaged in the programme, being accurately informed about the good practice adopted. Parents are also offered the possibility to learn the TM Technique if they wish.

Therefore, the benefits of the Quiet Time/TM programme universally reach the whole school community, with all students [1-5,9,10,11,13], teachers [7,12], staff, administrators [6], parents, and the whole community benefiting from the effects. The programme is applicable to all levels of education, including ECEC, primary, secondary, upper secondary, second chance, etc. and QT/TM expert qualified instructors are available across Belgium, Europe and all around the world.

The aim is to create a system of education where every student can realize his or her full potential in a caring and inclusive school environment, that secures well-being and mental health as a key educational objective.

The Quiet Time programme has been the subject of hundreds of published peer-reviewed studies, including randomized control trials (RCT’s), indicating holistic student development for various student groups across cognitive [2,3,5,13,14], affective [1,4], physiological [5,8,9,15], behavioural [10,11], and social dimensions [4], including a reduction of risk factors associated with minority and disadvantaged learners and early school leavers [8].

Several RCTs done in Italy (FRIENDS- Bolzano Study, 2023), and in the US (West coast, San Francisco, American University; Norwich) found that TM significantly enhances children’s social emotional competences, strengths and well-being, and increases resilience, coping and academic achievements in young students (primary school: age 10-12; high school: age 13-18; University: age 19-22).

Few experiences: San Francisco, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, UK

Visitacion Valley School in San Francisco, USA

The Visitacion Valley School in San Francisco was a school on the verge of closing, ‘in the middle of the battle’, as the principal says, between gangs. The suspension rate at school was very high reaching about 30% . After introducing the QT/TM Programme the school atmosphere was completely transformed with a 79% drop in suspensions in 3 years.

The Visitation Valley principal receives the award as the Best principal of the year!

Portugal

In Portugal, the A. IRIA, our main implementing school in the Algarve region, is part of the national TEIP (Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária) governmental programme. These include schools located across the country in disadvantaged areas, with children at risk of social exclusion.

After the results of the first year of implementation (2016/2017), the QT/TM prgramme was officially introduced as a best practice in the TEIP ‘Plano de Melhoria’ (plan of improvement) of the implementing school in Algarve as an official measure of quality improvement.

The A. Iria school, according to the TEIP programme records, had an overall grade improvement of 70% in the year 2016-2017, and reached an overall improvement of 95% at the end of 2017/2018 school year.

The school is successfully implementing the QT/TM programme, and hosts Erasmus+ mobilities that offer to other European schools the possibility to experience the QT/TM programme in action.

Click to discover our Erasmus+ Mobility offer

Sweden

In Sweden, the main implementing school during the EUROPE project was a welcome school for refugees, where newly arrived migrants get accustomed to the Swedish school system as preparation before entering the regular Swedish system of education.

The school implemented the QT/TM programme with good results for teachers and students, as reported by the principal and the coordinating school teacher.  (See EUROPE final conference – min. 17.07)

The principal mentioned in a presentation after few months of the QT/TM implementation:

“One year ago, we had conflicts between students quite often, this term only 2 conflict… and in another school similar to mine, there are conflicts every week, almost every day between students, and in our school is calm, quiet…”

 

Belgium

In Belgium one of the implementing schools, in Erembodegem (near Aalst), was a primary school characterized by its commitment to children in difficulties (refugees, poverty, behavioural problems).

The QT/TM programme was introduced to all the children, young people and teachers of the school. The project coordinators comment:

‘New children sometimes come to the school during the school year. Especially children of refugees who sometimes do not know a word of Dutch. Sometimes children who are expelled from school elsewhere because of behaviour. Sometimes children whose parents are divorced and one of the parents moved to Erembodegem or the surrounding area. Each time they were offered the opportunity to start with the TM technique. And for many of these troubled children, TM was a welcome gift to find inner peace within themselves after all they’d been through.’

UK

In UK, the Maharishi School is the first school that has been fully implementing the Quiet Time with Transcendental Meditation programme in Europe since more than 40 years. This school (partner in the FRIENDS and EUROPE projects) is a free school fully government supported in the UK since about 10 years and it has now a significantly higher percentage than average of the School’s pupils defined as being ‘in care’.

In the 2017 report of the inspection by the schools’ watchdog, Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills in UK) the school was judged ‘outstanding’ for Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare.

This is how the Ofsted evaluation report reads:

“Children behave well and show respect for each other. They understand about taking turns and helping when a classmate is struggling or upset. … Pupils’ attitudes and behaviour are outstanding. They are very keen to learn, they listen well and are able to express their carefully considered views respectfully. Pupils care for each other and make a major contribution to ensuring that their school is cohesive, safe and orderly. Pupils are happy and content.”

A world-wide track record of success

This approach has been adopted successfully in many schools worldwide, including very difficult schools – in terms of academic performance, behavioural problems, attendance and drop out levels, with excellent result attracting the interest of National and Regional Governments worldwide including Australia, New Zealand, Bali, Thailand, India, Kenya, Uganda, Jamaica, Peru, Ecuador (in military school), Mexico and Brazil, and last but not least the USA.

Click to find an exposé of TM-based Quiet Time in the USA

Conclusions

The mental health crisis in our schools is an urgent issue that requires immediate action. By incorporating the Quiet time with Transcendental Meditation programme into the school system, we can provide students and teachers with the tools they need to cope with stress, improve resilience, and create a more positive, harmonious and inclusive educational environment. This holistic, evidence-based solution offers a way forward in addressing the underlying causes of bullying and violence, indiscipline, school failure and anxiety,  paving the way for a brighter, inclusive, healthier future for all.

We invite our community of schools to step forward looking for new solutions to old problems:

‘Only a new seed could yield a new crop’

We invite you to visit a school in Portugal where this programme is a reality since many years!

We invite you to visit a school in Portugal where this programme is a reality since many years!

Click to discover our Erasmus+ Mobility offer

Change Comes From Within!

REFERENCES

[1]          Effect of meditation on social-emotional learning in middle school students. Education 139(3): 111-119 (2019) – 101 middle school students (SFUSD)

[2]          Practicing Transcendental Meditation in High Schools: Relationship to Well-being and Academic Achievement Among Students, Contemporary School Psychology 19, 312–319 (2015) – 194 ninth-grade students (SFUSD)

[3]          Academic Achievement and Transcendental Meditation: A Study with At-Risk Urban Middle School Students, Education 131: 556–564, 2011 – 189 middle school students (SFUSD)

[4]          Effect of Meditation on Social/Emotional Well-Being in a High-Performing High School. Professional School Counseling. August 2020 – https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X20940639  –  52 high school students (SFUSD)

[5]          Effect of Meditation on Psychological Stress and Academic Achievement in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Study, Education, Volume 141, Number 4, 15 June 2021, pp. 192-200(9) – 98 high school students (SFUSD)

[6]          Effect of meditation on emotional intelligence and perceived stress in the workplace: A randomized controlled study, The Permanente Journal, 2018; 22: 17-172 – 96 SFUSD school administrator 

[7]          Meditation Effective in Reducing Teacher Burnout and Improving Resilience: A Randomized Controlled Study, Frontiers in Education, 04 March 2021 https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.627923 – 78 Teachers (SFUSD)

[8]          Decreased Psychological Distress with Transcendental Meditation, Journal of Instructional Psychology 38(2): 109-116, 2011 – 106 at-risk racial and ethnic minority students practicing TM compared to controls over a period of 4 months

[9]          Effects of transcendental meditation practice on brain functioning and stress reactivity in college students, International Journal of Psychophysiology, 71(2), 170–176, 2009 – 50 college students

[10]       Impact of stress reduction on negative school behaviour in adolescents, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 1: 10, 2003 – 45 African American adolescents (ages 15–18 years) RCT

[11]       ADHD, Brain Functioning, and Transcendental Meditation Practice – RCT, Mind & Brain, The Journal of Psychiatry 2: 73–81, 2011 – 18 ADHD students (age 11- 14)

[12]       Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Employee Stress, Depression, and Burnout: A Randomized Controlled Study, Permanante Journal 18 (1): 19-23, 2014 – 40 secondary schoolteachers and support staff

[13]       Accelerating Cognitive and Self-Development: Longitudinal Studies with Preschool and Elementary School Children, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality; Palmerston North Vol. 17, Iss. 1, (2005): 65-91,591-593. Two longitudinal experiments (37 experimental and 29 controls) (25 experimental and 25 controls) 

[14]      Taiwan – Three randomized experiments on the longitudinal effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on cognition , Intelligence 29: 419–440, 2001.

[15]      Non-Trauma-Focused Meditation Verses Exposure Therapy in Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomised Controlled Trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, Vol. 5 (December 2018), 946 – 947; 975 – _986

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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.

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