Contemplative Education: A Systematic, Evidence-Based Review of the effect of Meditation Interventions in Schools

A review of 15 peer-reviewed studies on school meditation programs examined their effects on student well-being, social competence, and academic achievement. Across 76 calculated effect sizes from 1,797 participants, 61% were statistically significant. Most results (67%) showed small effects, 24% medium, and 9% large. Transcendental meditation programs yielded a higher proportion of significant effects than mindfulness-based or other types, though this may reflect differences in settings and delivery rather than the technique itself. Program duration, practice frequency, and instructor type influenced outcomes. The authors propose that meditation boosts student success by enhancing cognitive functioning and emotional regulation.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Schools need reliable evidence about the outcomes of meditation programs before they consider if and how such programmes can influence learning agendas, curriculum and timetables. This paper reviewed evidence from 15 peer-reviewed studies of school meditation programmes with respect to three student outcomes: well-being, social competence and academic achievement. In total, there were 76 results where effect sizes could be calculated. The overall number of participants in the effect size analyses was 1,797. Of the 76 effect sizes calculated, 61 % were statistically significant. Sixty-seven per cent of the results had small effects on student outcomes, 24 % of the results had medium effect strength and 9 % showed a large effect of meditation upon student outcomes. Transcendental meditation programmes had a higher percentage of significant effects than mindfulness-based and other types of meditation programmes, but this may be to do with the settings and programme delivery rather than the technique itself. Programme elements such as duration, frequency of practice and type of instructor influenced student outcomes. A conceptual model is put forward based on two propositions: proposition 1—meditation positively influences student success by increasing cognitive functioning; proposition 2—meditation positively influences student success by increasing emotional regulation. Suggestions are made to stimulate future research and to assist in the development of more efficacious applications for meditation in schools.