Up-Coming Events

**A date for your diaries**

Online ‘Spacious Day’ on Friday 13, Sept 2024 to explore current challenges and opportunities regarding contemplative pedagogies in Higher Education. The exact focus is to be confirmed. We will be in touch soon to solicit proposals/topics to explore.

Past Events

Webinar: Friday March 15^th, 3 pm-4:30 pm GMT

Small Outcomes, Light Gatherings Webinar: “The Role of Contemplative Pedagogies in an Age of Fragmented Attention”

We would like to invite you to gather together to explore the role of contemplative pedagogies in an age of fragmented attention. A recent Guardian article points out that social media and many other facets of modern life are destroying our ability to concentrate (Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen | Psychology | The Guardian). We will ask how contemplative practices and pedagogies can help us reclaim our ‘attention’ and that of our students. We will explore the concept of ‘presence’, how to promote it and how it can be embodied authentically in practice to counteract the separated mind vs body worldview to help us ‘reclaim ourselves’. We anticipate the ideas that emerge will be collated into a short CPN blog post.

Blog Post Coming soon!

Webinar: Friday October 13^th, 3pm to 4:30 pm BST

Contemplative Pedagogy and Meaningful Connection Across Human Differences 

Dr. Steven Thurston Oliver, Professor and Department Chair: Secondary and Higher Education, Salem State University, U.S.A.

We hope you can join us. Please register here

A Teams link to join will be sent to you the day before.

This webinar will create a space for exploration of the ways in which contemplative approaches to teaching, learning and being can increase the capacity of educators to connect meaningfully across human differences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and others. Writing as a contemplative practice and small group dialogue will be used as a vehicle for being present with the messaging we have undoubtedly heard and absorbed through the years about ourselves and those that are different from us. Our collective engagement will point us toward the ongoing contemplative work needed to provide a foundation from which culturally sustaining pedagogies can emerge.  

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Dr. Steven Thurston Oliver, Professor and Department Chair: Secondary and Higher Education at Salem State University, is a Sociologist of Education whose research and expertise are focused on using Contemplative Pedagogy in K-12 teacher preparation and higher education programs as a catalyst for cultivating greater capacity among educators to engage across human differences. Steven received a B.A. in International Studies from Antioch College, a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education from New York University. Steven and his husband Jonathan live in Lowell, Massachusetts with their rescue dog from Puerto Rico.

‘Contemplative Pedagogy in Higher Education: Growing Confidence, Creativity and Community’

2023 Contemplative Pedagogy Network (CPN) Symposium Dartington Hall, Devon, UK 4th- 6th September 2023

We had a wonderful few days together in the beautiful surroundings of Dartington Hall.

Please see the Event schedule here, including speakers:

We are very pleased that the Journal of Useful Investigations into Creative Education ( JUICE ) will be publishing a special issue to curate and disseminate the symposium proceedings.

‘Creating The Weather in The Seminar Room’ with Kamalagita on February 6th, 4-5pm GMT.

We are delighted that Kamalagita will be joining us to share some insights from her latest book The Mindful Teacher’s Handbook on weaving education and mindfulness together.
Here is a link to her recent blog post on this theme.
About Kamalagita:
Kamalagita has been practicing mindfulness for 25 years and teaching it for 15. She is a qualified teacher and lecturer with substantial experience in the classroom and in teacher training, further education and higher education. She is also the education lead for Mindfulness in Action and a lead trainer for the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP

Making Friends with Time

Thu 20/10/2022 13:00 – 14:30

with Dr Keith Beasley

This webinar explores how the whole notion of ‘time management’ highlights the difference between established ways of thinking in HE and how contemplative individuals perceive time. In terms of working efficiently and effectively, ‘Flow’ offers a far more useful and healthy approach. Activities will include time for reflection, sharing and an appropriate guided meditation. Suitable for anyone working in the HE sector, this engaging workshop will balance intellectual with inner needs.

Prior to his current role, as a Safety Officer at the University of Bristol, Dr Keith Beasley has been in quality and reliability management within microelectronics research and a life guide & holistic health practitioner, including running retreats in the Algarve, Portugal. His PhD, from Bangor University (North Wales), was on evolutionary consciousness.

Contemplative Pedagogy Symposium 2021

It has been over a year since the majority of educators in higher education moved rapidly from inhabiting shared teaching spaces to online learning. The movement of teaching away from lecture halls and seminar rooms into our own kitchens and living rooms has further blurred the lines between work and home. Our anxiety and stress and that of students and colleagues has been challenging and yet there has been the potential for change too. This symposium will be an opportunity to pause. To stop. To put down what we are carrying and look around, as well as inside, and notice what’s there.

From a pedagogical perspective we will be focusing on how contemplative pedagogy can help us bring valuable ‘pauses’ into teaching and learning. We will explore how silence, stillness and contemplation are not idle time wasting but space from which creativity and meaning can arise. They allow time for students and educators to appreciate their subjectivity and how this impacts their teaching and learning and that of others. Pausing is not just about rest and wellbeing, although they are certainly important aspects of it, it can be pedagogically valuable in ways that we will discover together over the course of the symposium.

The Contemplative Pedagogy Network has grown considerably in the last year which has been amazing to see. We hope that you will join us for this event to bring to life a unique type of learning community in which we will learn together, deepen connection with ourselves and each other and renew our capacity for service as educators.

You are welcome to attend as much or as little of the event as you wish.

You can choose to pay what you feel is appropriate for you: £0 | £15 |£30 | £50 | £70 | £100 | £150

All funds collected will go towards the deposit for a face to face event next year at Emerson College and maintaining the website.

Click here to book

Provisional programme

To reflect the theme of the event we will be arranging the symposium over three days to allow it to be more spacious and you are free to attend as many components of the event as you wish. There will be more time dedicated to shared contemplative practices than in previous events as well as the usual workshops style sessions and Open Space component. All aspects of the event this year will be run on Microsoft Teams to keep technical complications to a minimum. Times are British Summer Time (BST).

Day One Tuesday 24th August

Workshops and practices will be facilitated by attendees and the titles confirmed at a later date. The workshops will start with a whole group activity, then smaller group discussion will allow depth of exploration.

10:00 – 10:45	Welcome, introductions and guidance
11:00 – 12:00	Contemplative Practice 1
12:30 – 13:30	What is Contemplative Pedagogy? Optional session for people new to contemplative pedagogy
14:30 – 16:00	Workshop 1

Day Two Wednesday 25th August

Day Two Workshops will be facilitated by attendees and the titles confirmed at a later date. The workshops will start with a whole group activity, then smaller group discussion will allow depth of exploration.

10:00 – 10:45	Contemplative Practice 2
11:00 – 12:30	Workshop 2
14:00 – 15:30	Workshop 3
15:45 – 16:30	Introduction to Open Space

Day Three Thursday 26th August

Day Three will use an adapted Open Space Technology format allowing participants to set the agenda for the day. More information on Open Space can be found here. 

The overarching theme of the day will be ‘Creating space in higher education’. Questions that are collected from participants during the last session of Day 2 will then form framework for the day.

Several different options of activities and discussions will be available in each time slot.

10:00 – 10:30	Welcome to our Open Space
10:30 – 11:30	Open Space 1
11:45 – 12:45	Open Space 2
13:30 – 14:30	Open Space 3
14:45 – 15:45	Open Space 4
16:00 – 16:30	Closing and next steps

Contemplative Pedagogy Network Workshop

Contemplating the spaces in between: transforming meaning from experience through writing

March 24^th 2021 15.00–16.30 GMT on Zoom

Facilitated by Dr Mike Wride, Transformative Pedagogies Lead, Centre for Transformative Learning, University of Limerick, Ireland

It can be a challenge to make explicit and visible the implicit or tacit knowledge we require for transformation – ‘we don’t know what we don’t know’. Revealing such hidden truths to ourselves can be challenging but can also help guide our future actions. We can construct new knowledge and therefore new versions of ourselves through the re-interpretation of our experience.

In this workshop we will initially mindfully connect with the gathered community to create a safe space for contemplation and sharing. We will then begin to explore an event (personal or professional) that might be called a ‘disorienting dilemma’ or a ‘meaningful learning experience’. This narrative approach will provide an opportunity to initiate a deeper layer of learning.

We will then contemplate the experience through writing and empathic, shared dialogue. These practices will open-up ‘the spaces in between’ us and in our stories, enabling critical and creative contemplation, which, in turn, will help generate transformed perspectives.

This workshop will provide you with space for contemplation and sharing as well as practical tools and techniques. You can employ these approaches to enhance your own practice. You can also consider how they might be embedded in your curricula to support deeper engagement, expression, reflection and contemplation by your students.

To attend please complete the event registration

Contemplative Pedagogy Symposium 2020

Being Human in Higher Education

Online 25th August – 26th August 2020

Booking and further information

Teaching and learning in higher education tends to focus on the cognitive, mental domain. The human body and the often inconvenient feelings and emotions that accompany our embodied experience are largely pushed aside in pursuit of logical, rational thought. Now that many of us have moved rapidly from inhabiting shared teaching spaces, collectively exploring ideas in close physical proximity, to ‘distance’ learning and connection through technology, cultivating the more human aspects of learning may be more challenging than ever.

This year’s symposium will explore what it means to be fully human in higher education with particular interest in how we make space for exploration of our embodied experience in online learning settings. Even before COVID-19 there was growing concern about the mental health of university staff and students. Pressure on staff and students to perform, focus on outputs rather than process, and implicit and explicit competitiveness in academic life were all thought to be contributing to this decline in wellbeing. This is likely to exacerbated by the insecurity that is now facing the sector. Even though, or perhaps because, we are now occupying different spaces from our colleagues and students it is crucial that we recognise that the experiences of staff and students are not separate from each other. Both students and educators experience the full gamut of humaness, including the upheaval and insecurity of the current context.

Contemplative practice can help us to explore our humanness and sit with complexity rather than reaching for quick fix solutions to the difficult aspects of our experience. This can support our learning and that of our students and inform our motivations and intentions as professionals. The symposium will provide a platform for exploring the relevance of contemplative pedagogy to our current situation with particular emphasis on online learning. The whole event will be underpinned with contemplative activities and interactions so that your learning will be experiential, not just theoretical.

We hope that you will join us for these two days to bring to life a unique type of learning community in which we will learn together, deepening connection with ourselves, each other and our capacity for service as educators.

Day 1 Workshops on Contemplative Pedagogy

10.00 – 10.45	Welcome, introductions and instructions
11.00 – 12:30	Workshop 1
14:30 – 16:00	Workshop 2
16:00 – 16:15	Closing reflection

Day 2 Open Space

Day 2 will use an adapted Open Space format allowing participants to set the agenda for the day. More information on Open Space can be found here. 

The overarching theme of the day will be ‘Being human in higher education’. Participants are encouraged to contribute questions and ideas about the theme and how it connects with contemplative pedagogy. These will then form the framework of the day.

Several different options of activities and discussions will be available in each time slot.

10:00 – 10:30	Introduction to Open Space
11:30 – 12:30	Open Space 1
13:30 – 14:30	Open Space 2
15:00 – 16:00	Open Space 3
16:00 – 16:30	Closing and next steps

Booking and further information

Contemplative pedagogy in higher education: building confidence and community

9th -12th September 2019

Emerson College, East Sussex, UK

A four-day symposium for educators

Teaching and supporting students in higher education within the current environment of political and financial uncertainty, is difficult. Increasing workloads and expectations, and growing anxiety and poor mental health amongst staff and students, reflect the challenging nature of both working and studying in modern day universities. Contemplative pedagogy, with its active embrace of the subjectivities of learners and educators, combined with its call for slowing down, feeling and connecting goes against the prevailing trends in higher education today. Growing research points to the value of contemplative approaches in teaching and learning, to deepen understanding, build community and improve the wellbeing of students and those teaching and supporting them.

The theme of this contemplative pedagogy symposium is building confidence and community and it is relevant for anyone with an interest in contemplative ways of teaching and learning, no matter their level of experience or formal role. The event will include workshops run by participants who will demonstrate how they use contemplative practices in teaching, learning and the support students. There will be time to engage in contemplative practices together and actively build our community. Through the use of Open Space Technology, there will be deep exploration of your own questions and the gentle fostering of confidence and community.

At this point we envisage three key areas for exploration:

• How do we slow and deepen learning both for ourselves and our students?
• How do we build community both within our institutions and outside, so that difficult social challenges such as social justice and inequality can be explored meaningfully and tackled effectively?
• How can contemplative pedagogy contribute to culture change so that we might create a more just and sustainable future in and through higher education?

We invite you to come with an inquisitive mind and a willingness to actively participate and explore your own experience. The event will create space for reflection and meaning making, allowing you to develop greater confidence in your role as an educator and the potential for change that this embodies. This will, again, be a truly unique event on your conference timetable.

 

This four-day event at Emerson College will bring together educators working in higher or further education, with an interest in contemplative pedagogy to explore question such as:

* What is contemplative pedagogy?

* How can contemplative practice be integrated in higher and further education both by educators and students?

* How is contemplative pedagogy related to radical and critical pedagogies?

* What role can contemplative pedagogy play in promoting not just wellbeing but social change and social justice?

* What questions does contemplative pedagogy raise about the meaning of the educational endeavour, particularly within universities?

Emerson College, East Sussex, Forest Row, RH18 5JX

Past

Contemplative Pedagogy: a counterforce in higher education?

Monday 10th & Tuesday 11th April 2017 at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

You are warmly invited to participate in an Open Space Technology (OST) event around the theme of: Contemplative Pedagogy: a counterforce in higher education?

Who should attend? Anyone interested in contemplative pedagogy in higher education.

What is the format? This is a real time, real place, live, face-to-face event. We’ll use ‘Open Space Technology’ (=’open space’ as technology)  to connect, relate to each other and explore this broad topic.

There is no agenda.

There is no preparation required.

There are no key note speakers or invited papers.

Just come and join in and be prepared to relate, engage, contribute and learn.

Both days – Waged : £125 or Student/unwaged: £65

One day – Waged : £75 Student/unwaged: £40

Refreshments and lunch included

You can register here to attend

Please register no later than 31 March 2017

 

Doing less, learning more: the potential of contemplative pedagogy in health professional education

Seminar faciliated by Caroline Barratt

Wednesday 25th May 2016 3 -4.30pm

Room 2S2.5.20 University of Essex, Colchester Campus

Email: barrattc@essex.ac.uk for details

Growing Contemplative Practices in Higher Education?

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, EH21 6UU, Scotland

Friday 22nd April 2016, 9am-4.30pm

The event will use Open Space Technology to explore if and how contemplative practices, mindfulness and meditation should and could be grown within the Higher Education context.

There is no agenda. There is no preparation required. There are no key note speakers or invited papers. Just come and join in and be prepared to relate, engage, contribute and learn.

Financial exchange: £50 (employed) or £25 (unemployed/student)                                       Places: 60