“I’m immensely grateful to my younger self that I was willing to experiment with mindfulness practice and adopt it into my everyday life. It is this gratitude that fuels my desire to keep deepening my understanding, including my PhD research.” (Tom Blackwell)
Tom Blackwell is a full-time PhD student with the University of Nottingham asking the fascinating questions of whether mindfulness can be integrated into Waldorf education and specifically whether Waldorf education is already a mindful form of education.
He draws from a rich combination of experiences including having been a Waldorf teacher with responsibilities in additional learning needs, safeguarding and management; his role as a single parent of two children; his earlier studies in life in religion and theology and his twenty plus years of practising mindfulness and meditation.
Tom’s first degree in Religious and Theological Studies revealed a strong appreciation of Indian religions, in particular Buddhism. As well as reading about it and studying, he began to experiment with mindfulness at home. Alongside his formal sitting meditation, he practises mindfulness in many daily activities, everything from bathing and drinking coffee in bed in the morning, to talking with his children and walking around the village. Practising compassion and loving kindness are an important aspect of his mindfulness practice. Having experienced great benefits from these practices has encouraged him to keep going and to connect with other practitioners.
Rather than simply trying to bring mindfulness into Waldorf education, Tom’s starting place is to wonder about the mindful element already present within Waldorf schools, evident for example in the contemplative approach of teachers who are trained to develop a deep awareness of child development based on observation, and therefore of the children in their care.
“Waldorf education can be said to have many beginnings. One of these is certainly child development. Yet Rudolf Steiner also reminds us that we teachers must work on ourselves; this is another beginning of our philosophy of education.”
Alongside evaluating this existing contemplative practice, and other expressions of a mindful approach potentially already embodied within Waldorf education – such as in art, rhythm and architecture – Tom is also exploring whether there might be a place for the more formal expressions of mindfulness such as sitting or walking meditation; practices that many Waldorf educators would not automatically bring into the classroom.
“If Waldorf education is mindful already, it may broaden our understanding of what it means to use mindfulness in education, and what mindfulness indeed truly means… It may highlight ways in which Waldorf education can inform education and mindfulness-in-education, allowing us to consider not only how we practice education, but also how we use mindfulness within education”
Tom hopes that the research around his two central questions may influence the global conversation within the fields of education, and mindfulness-in-education, regarding how we educate children meaningfully and holistically. His hope is to contribute to ways of educating young people that reflect them as human beings: individually, socially, and as part of the world in which we live.
“I’m conscious from the research literature, conversations with educators inside and outside the Waldorf movement – and with young people themselves – that the educational landscape needs to respond meaningfully to support the holistic development of future generations. My work represents my own efforts in this respect”.
His commitment to the transformative potential of education is international. He has cultivated partnerships with educators and organisations around the world, including Jhamtse Gatsal’s Children’s Community: a home and school for vulnerable children in the Indian Himalayas, as well as a grassroots educational initiative in Ethiopia aimed at expanding access and equity for marginalised communities. Across these collaborations, he remains focused on fostering and supporting education that is centred upon dignity, belonging, and the development of human potential. Tom also recently hosted two talks to start a conversation worldwide about how mindfulness may be important within Waldorf attended by educators and others from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, the USA, UK, Hungary, Thailand and Indonesia, and he has been in contact with others in Canada, Chile, Peru, Norway, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
Looking ahead, Tom’s hopes are to visit Waldorf schools worldwide and learn from educators there, and that his current work will sit alongside other global research as much needed support for the remaining UK-based Waldorf schools. More locally, he hopes to support the development of a heartfelt and meaningful education system in Wales and beyond.
To find out more about Tom:
Email: tom@tomblackwell.education
Website: www.tomblackwell.education
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomblackwell.education/
LinkedIn: Tom Blackwell | LinkedIn