Semi-structured interview with tutor teacher

After thematic analysis of the interview with the tutor teacher the following themes were identified: ‘benefits of mindfulness exercises’, ‘no changes’, ‘ease of implementation’, ‘points to consider’ and ‘the value of professional support’ (see Appendix 48 for thematic map).

Benefits of mindfulness exercises. The tutor stated that some of the children

had enjoyed the PME and benefitted from it. The opportunity to have five minutes every day to be calm and transition into the classroom was really important for some of the children.

T1: I think some of them just coming in and having five, ten minutes of going [sighs] “right, ok, I’m here” because they’ve got stressful home lives and just

getting to school is stressful for some of them.

Later in the interview the tutor reiterated her belief that for some children being able to have a time in the day that was calm and relaxing was important for them.

T1: I think I’ve realised that they don’t all get this calm anywhere else … and if

they’re getting excited that this is their five minutes of calm in the day then I want to be able to help with that and let them have it.

During the interview the tutor repeated her feelings on several occasions that there was a benefit to the class participating in five or ten minutes sitting still in a calm and quiet environment.

T1: I think it was good for them to just have ten minutes of calm.

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The tutor also spoke of some changes in behaviour that she had seen in some of the children.

T1: I think some of them are a bit more aware of others. I’ve had some of them

who will do silly things but they’re much quicker to apologise or say “oh, that was wrong” and I think, you know, that might be linked to what they’ve been doing in the mornings.

But I think some of them there’s definitely been a change, they seem more aware of others and some of them do seem a bit calmer. And I think, some of them have been enjoying it, they’ve enjoyed coming into school because they know they’re going to get their five minutes of just calm and quietness.

Additionally the tutor also spoke of how the PME had impacted on her own teaching. She felt that participating in the PME had helped her to take a more reflective stance at points in the school day.

T1: And actually just sometimes stepping back as a teacher and revisiting some of the things that we’ve sat and done in the morning was quite nice… so I think it’s affected me because I’ve been able to sit and do it with them and then in other lessons at other times in the day I have been able to take a step back, to just go [breathes in, pauses] “yeah, ok”.

No changes. Whilst the tutor spoke of the benefits of the PME she also stated

that for some children there had been no real changes or differences that she had observed. She had not noticed any whole class differences in behaviour and was aware that some of the children were not fully participating in the PME. T1: Some of them didn’t really take it seriously.

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Some of them I’ve not seen any change whatsoever. I’ve not seen a whole class change or anything like that.

The tutor was unsure how many of the children were taking the exercises they had done in school and thinking about them or using them elsewhere.

T1: I don’t know how much they’ve taken it on-board or how much they do it

anywhere else … none of them have said they do it at home or any other time.

The tutor’s perceived mixed responses of the children to the PME was articulated in the following way:

T1: They’ve not said much, some of them have come in and said “oh do we

have to do that sitting thing again?” … and then others have come in and gone

[excited voice] “Are we doing it? Do we get to do the mindfulness sitting thing?”

They’ve not really said much else but I’ve not probed them.

Ease of implementation. The following themes focus on running the PME, its

content, and other considerations, additionally comments relating to EPs working with school staff to facilitate interventions and projects such as the PME in this study are reported.

The PME was well received by the tutor and she was happy with the materials provided to enable her to run the sessions every day. The role of this TEP in selecting and planning appropriate daily sessions was commented on.

T1: It wasn’t any hassle to me to be honest. You’d planned it all, we had it all. It

was just a case of looking where we were, seeing what I needed to have playing and have open, or have on me. There was no extra work, although I went home and read the book [Sitting Still Like A Frog], that wasn’t anything.

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The planning side of it you’d done it all anyway. It’s ten minutes in the morning, we have those ten minutes anyway.

The tutor also spoke of the level of detail of the planning being enough to enable her to deliver the sessions and having the planning, the book and the CD was really helpful as she had not delivered anything like the PME before. The PME itself was also thought of as appropriate for the children in her tutor group. The teacher’s comments also allude to the role of the EP in judging the appropriateness of interventions for use with children.

T1: What they were being asked to do was fine, because it was just “think about

your breathing”… I think the rest of it is doable, even for nine year olds who can’t sit still. There weren’t complicated words used, there wasn’t too much information about almost sort of the effects of it. It was very much “let’s sit, let’s take time to think about this.” So I think it was well suited to the children,

especially the ones that were really into it and really thinking about it.

Points to consider. The tutor acknowledged that for some of the children

sitting still had proven difficult and the classroom environment was sometimes not conducive to running the PME.

T1: These chairs… they’re not comfy chairs… that side of it, because we’re in a

classroom, we can’t suddenly get cushions out and actually sit comfortably because for some of them lying down would be better for them so I think that was difficult because the tracks [on the CD] are asking them to sit comfortably and relax and you can’t always in these chairs, you know there’s lights on, and there’s things going around outside, and every morning at some point that door has opened, even when I’ve got signs saying ‘Don’t come in’. So I think the

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being in a classroom possibly isn’t the best space to do it just because they can’t really relax and there’s that constant knock on the door, constant interruptions.

During the interview the tutor spoke about the possibility of mindfulness not being suited to everyone:

T1: There’s some that kind of “oh, sit still, humph, I’m being forced to sit still”

and I think some of it is they may not have benefited a huge amount … some of them they’ve got too much energy, it’s not how they’re going to relax. Yeah, I don’t know if I would say it’s for everybody.

Value of professional support. The tutor spoke of her previous involvement

with EPs being very limited and generally as a result of a situation reaching crisis point. She highlighted the positives of greater collaboration with EPs. T1: As teachers it would be nice to have EP input a little bit more because you

might be able to stop some of the escalating behaviours rather than dealing with the consequence. Having a bit more support, not on a day to day basis but maybe just weekly or monthly or termly or something and just for everyone not just for those that we think might hit a breaking point.

It would feel nice to be supported from other professionals.

The tutor said that she had never had any outside professionals in to specifically talk about SEW.

T1: The only time we get to see any outside agencies is when we’re at breaking

point… we hardly ever get to see anyone.

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We discussed using EP time to facilitate a programme such as the PME. T1: I definitely think, even if it’s just working with one person in the school, and

then them delivering it to everyone else because something like this… it would definitely be worth some time, some input if it was going to be a whole school initiative where everyone is doing it.

The tutor spoke of her increased confidence in delivering something similar to