Evaluating staff and student experience of contemplative pedagogies

Background

Teaching and learning approaches which integrate aspects of contemplative wisdom and practice are becoming more common in tertiary education globally. While contemplative pedagogy and curriculum have gained a measure of interest and popularity, there exist very few rigorous research evaluations. There is also little examination of how contemplative pedagogies are interpreted and implemented in different disciplinary contexts. Consequently, it is difficult to evaluate whether these approaches are really able to achieve their stated aims, or to offer well-founded advice about design and implementation in the diverse contexts of university teaching. This program of research seeks to address these important gaps in our understanding of contemplative pedagogies. The outcomes of this research will directly support improvements in the design and implementation of contemplative approaches to teaching and learning, and inform the design of professional development programs for staff.

Project: Evaluating Staff and Student Experiences of Contemplative Pedagogies

This project builds on the Centre’s Contemplative Pedagogy Initiative, in which a network of educators is implementing contemplative approaches in a range of undergraduate and postgraduate subject offerings, including the Centre’s flagship undergraduate subject The Art and Science of Meditation. The research systematically examines the experiences for both students and educators in each subject, considering outcomes in relation to wellbeing, engagement, belonging, and depth of learning. It also examines the affordances and barriers to successful implementation of contemplative pedagogies in different subject contexts.

Project: Dialogising Contemplative Pedagogies Across Academic Disciplines

This project is a theoretical and conceptual inquiry into the nature of contemplation and contemplative pedagogy, as these ideas are understood from different personal, philosophical and disciplinary perspectives. Undertaken by members of the Contemplative Pedagogy network, the research uses synchronous and asynchronous dialogues, and contemplative practices of embodied knowing, to explore diverse perspectives on contemplative pedagogies.

This research is supported by a Melbourne Graduate School of Education Seed Funding Grant (2023), a University of Melbourne Learning and Teaching Initiative Grant (2024-2026), as well as generous contributions from the Contemplative Studies Centre.

University of Melbourne contributors

2023 pilot

In 2023, a pilot research study was undertaken with students completing The Art and Science of Meditation, the Contemplative Studies Centre's flagship subject for first-year undergraduate students. The study was designed to explore student experiences of the various meditation practices presented in the subject, and identify factors that support or inhibit student engagement those practices. Data collected included short surveys during the teaching semester, end of semester individual interviews with students, and student submissions from two of the subject’s assessment tasks.

The data analysis revealed a high degree of individual differences in the response to different meditation practices, both in terms of the ease or difficulty of the practice, and the reported outcomes. Students’ cultural and religious background shaped their willingness to engage with particular practices, as well as their experiences of the practice. Exposure to peer perspectives was important, as a way to encounter different perspectives on meditation, and to be open to trying different types of meditation. Students expressed a range of different preferences in their engagement with meditation, including preferences for more subjective/experiential vs scientific exploration of meditation, preference for group vs individual practice, and for more emotional, cognitive or physical focus in meditation.

The analysis also yielded insights into a range of affordances and barriers to successful engagement with the curriculum and learning activities of the subject. Factors which supported meaningful engagement included a high degree of personal relevance, reflective practices such as journalling to encourage self-exploration, having a wide variety of practices to experiment with, and freedom to engage with the practices in a way that suited the individual. Barriers to participation were also identified, such as language background, strong preconceptions or biases about particular meditation practices, physical and environmental distractions.

Findings from the 2023 pilot study were presented at the 2024 Faculty of Education Research Conference.

2026 interim findings

Through the leadership of members of the Contemplative Pedagogy LTI network, a range of pedagogical practices involving mindfulness, meditation, deep reflection and educator presence were co-designed and implemented across seven University subjects in Semester 2, 2025. The research evaluation involved student surveys, student focus groups, educator interviews, and in-class observations.

The mixed methods evaluation framework was designed to flexibly capture both i) measures of strategically important student variables, which are comparable to University-wide scores, and ii) qualitative data that enable a deep understanding of the diversity and complexity of student and educator experiences.

Survey outcomes showed strong, positive endorsement of the use of contemplative approaches in university teaching. Students in participating subjects showed higher scores, on all of the following measures, in comparison to University-wide scores:

  • Overall wellbeing
  • Sense of connectedness
  • Confidence with self-reflection
  • Sense of belonging
  • Ability to work with others
  • Educator engagement
  • Overall quality of teaching

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There was something very specific about the energy in this subject that I was just like, wow, this is…This is really nice...And the way that we were all sort of bonded together, like, it didn't feel, like, isolating in the way I think I sort of felt in other tutorials at the beginning."

- The Art and Science of Meditation student quote

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis of the student focus groups and educator interviews revealed a range of themes that will inform future co-design and implantation phases, including:

  • Community: Practising together, in-person, with others is highlighted as a key value.
  • Integrity: Students notice and value the fact that their educators are, themselves, practising.
  • Design: The timing, consistency and atmosphere of meditation activities need to be carefully planned.
  • Supported personal connections: Students see how meditation practices can help them to connect what they were learning in class to their own lived experience.

Further data collection, with an additional suite of University of Melbourne subjects, will occur in Semester 1, 2026.