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Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative publishes guidebook to share practical experience; recruits more affiliated schools to develop a mindfulness school culture

23 Feb 2023

Professor Shui-fong LAM, Director, The Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative (JC PandA) and the educational psychologists from JC PandA have written and published a guidebook entitled “Mindfulness Culture in Schools” to share the practical experience gained and research findings learnt from the past three project years.

(From left) Ms. Tze-hang Fong, Ms. Wai-sing Fong and Mr. Tse-hong Zhang, principal, teacher and student from HHCKLA Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School, shared their fruitful experience from joining JC PandA, together with Ms. Clare Cheung.

(From left) The educational psychologists from JC PandA, Mr. Denis Kwan, Dr. Nelly Tong, Professor Shui-fong Lam, Mr. Michael Su and Dr. Jessie Chow will continue to support the education sector to develop mindfulness culture in school.

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The Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative (JC PandA), organised by the Faculty of Social Sciences of The University of Hong Kong and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, has published a guidebook entitled “Mindfulness Culture in Schools” to share the practical experience and research findings gained over the project’s first three years.

JC PandA was launched in 2019 and has been working closely with 9 seed schools and 27 affiliated schools in the first phase to develop a mindfulness school culture, bringing the practice’s benefits to thousands of students, teachers and parents. These schools exhibited ambition, insight and courage in implementing the project. To share their precious experience with educators who aspire to promote the well-being of school community, Professor Shui-fong Lam, Director of JC PandA, has written the guidebook in collaboration with three Educational Psychologists from the project. The book explains the effectiveness of mindfulness and possible ways to introduce mindfulness to schools, for the benefit of students’ academic performance, mental health and social life. The guidebook consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1 “Mindfulness and Education”	Resolves doubts about mindfulness; explains the effectiveness of mindfulness, and its contribution to the education sector.
Chapter 2 “Mindfulness School”	Introduces the vision, strategies and implementation of JC PandA; shares the initial results of different areas.
Chapter 3 “Development of Mindfulness Culture”	Discusses five major obstacles to the development of mindfulness culture in schools and the corresponding solutions.
Chapter 4 “Experience Sharing”	Shares the practical experience and insights gained by schools, in the framework of four key aspects of schools’ daily operations.
Chapter 5 “Summary and Prospect”	Reviews previous work, and anticipates possibilities and potential for the future.

Ms. Wai-sing Fong, a teacher from HHCKLA Buddhist Chan Shi Wan Primary School (one of the seed schools), shared that she spent 10 to 30 minutes practising mindfulness daily before work in the morning, which helped her teach in a calm and peaceful state. This not only improved her work efficiency, but also led to a closer relationship with her students. Mr. Tse-hong Zhang, a student who attended the mindfulness course at school, noted that mindfulness enabled him to remain calm in times of difficulties and stress. He also pointed out that mindfulness improved his attention span, and his performance in examinations and competitions. Meanwhile, Ms. Clare Cheung, a parent, said that mindfulness improved her family relationship. She incorporated mindfulness into her family activities and now finds it easier to parent her son.

Thanks to continued support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the second phase of the project was launched in 2022. JC PandA will continue to support the education sector until 2025. The number of affiliated schools served by JC PandA each year will increase from 9 to 16. Affiliated schools for 2023/24 and 2024/25 now opens for application and the deadline is June 30, 2023. Eight-week mindfulness courses will be offered to teachers from affiliated schools for free. Some teachers will be able to receive further training to become mindfulness teachers, enabling them to offer mindfulness courses for students in their schools. Together with the consultation service provided by the Educational Psychologists from JC PandA, it is hoped that a mindfulness culture will be cultivated in schools, benefiting all stakeholders in the school community.

Please visit www.jcpanda.hk/en to find free resources developed by JC PandA. The latest news on upcoming events will also be released on the project website.

About Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative

The Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness Culture in Schools Initiative (JC PandA) aims to promote a mindfulness culture in Hong Kong schools and focuses on the mental health of students, teachers and the general public. This six-year project, running from 2019 to 2025, is funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and organised by the Faculty of Social Sciences of The University of Hong Kong. JC PandA is one of the pioneer large-scale projects in Chinese societies that explores the benefits of mindfulness for students and teachers in school settings. The project’s research findings and experiences will shed light on how mindfulness could be applied in the education sector, and enable educators in Chinese societies to apply mindfulness to building a healthy and flourishing school culture.

Website: www.jcpanda.hk/en

For media enquiries, please contact
Miss Lia Tsang/Miss Emily Ma, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU
(Tel: 39171261/39171250; email: jcpanda@hku.hk)

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