Teaching is indeed a fulfilling career, yet it’s often accompanied by considerable stress. The Care Teacher Program is uniquely designed to address this challenge, offering educators and administrators effective strategies to reduce stress and invigorate their teaching practices. CARE focuses on cultivating inner resources such as awareness, presence, compassion, reflection, and inspiration – essential elements that empower teachers to foster holistic development in their students, encompassing social, emotional, and academic growth.
Neuroscience has increasingly highlighted the benefits of mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness, a core component of the CARE program, enhances self-regulation and promotes a calm, focused mind. This mental state is crucial for educators, enabling them to be more receptive, responsive, and sensitive in their teaching, guiding, and learning environments. By developing these inner resources, educators can become powerful role models of healthy social and emotional behavior and more effective guides for their students.
CARE Program Design and Delivery
The CARE program is grounded in contemporary neuroscience research on emotions. It incorporates emotion skills training to enhance the understanding, recognition, and regulation of emotions. To mitigate stress and foster both awareness and presence in teaching, CARE introduces fundamental mindfulness practices. Starting with brief periods of silent reflection, the program progresses to demonstrate how mindfulness can be applied to navigate the challenging situations that educators frequently encounter. Through these activities, educators learn to cultivate greater calmness, mindfulness, and awareness in their classrooms. This, in turn, enriches their relationships with students, improves classroom management, and enhances curricular implementation. Furthermore, the CARE program nurtures empathy and compassion through activities focused on caring practices and mindful listening.
The CARE program’s adaptability is notable. It has been tailored to support the personal and leadership development of principals, assistant principals, and other school administrators. Its application also extends to higher education faculty, helping them refine their awareness and presence in their teaching roles.
The delivery of the CARE program is flexible, accommodating various contexts. The annual retreat at the Garrison Institute offers an immersive four-day experience. Alternatively, CARE is also structured as a series of day-long sessions spread over several months, providing ongoing support via the internet to assist teachers in practicing and applying their newly acquired skills.
“As a teacher educator, I learned and re-learned vital knowledge, skills and attitudes for fostering social, emotional and academic learning in my graduate students, and through them to K-12 student in schools and other learning communities.”
The program blends instructional sessions with experiential activities, including dedicated time for reflection and group discussions. Participants consistently describe the program as relaxing, enjoyable, and deeply inspiring. Educators have shared their positive experiences with the program in this insightful video. The CARE Program has had a global reach, benefiting educators in the US, Canada, The Netherlands, China, Croatia, and Germany. CREATE for Education (CREATE for Education) is the sole provider of all CARE program training.
CARE Program Research and Effectiveness
In an era marked by heightened stress and burnout among educators, school districts are actively seeking evidence-based solutions to support their teaching staff. The CARE professional development program stands out as a scientifically validated and effective intervention. Extensive federally funded studies have rigorously examined the impact of CARE on teacher well-being, classroom dynamics, and student outcomes. The findings from this research have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. Consistently, these studies demonstrate that the CARE program significantly enhances well-being and reduces stress levels in participating teachers compared to control groups. More detailed research findings are available at https://createforeducation.org/care/care-research/.
A significant cluster randomized controlled trial, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and conducted in New York City, involved 224 teachers and over 5,000 students. This study not only corroborated previous findings of teacher improvement but also revealed CARE’s positive influence on crucial aspects of the classroom environment. Trained researchers, unaware of the study’s objectives or teacher assignments, observed and coded classrooms. Results showed that CARE classrooms exhibited more emotional positivity, and teachers displayed greater sensitivity to student needs compared to control classrooms. Furthermore, CARE classrooms demonstrated higher levels of productivity. A subsequent follow-up report indicated that CARE teachers sustained significant reductions in psychological distress and ache-related physical distress, along with notable improvements in emotion regulation and certain facets of mindfulness. Findings from nearly one-year post-intervention assessments revealed that teachers who participated in CARE reported both continued and new benefits to their overall well-being.
These results are particularly noteworthy for several key reasons. Firstly, the consistent positive outcomes across a series of CARE studies provide compelling evidence that CARE is a highly effective professional development program for alleviating occupational stress and enhancing teacher well-being. Secondly, the NYC study stands as the largest and most rigorous investigation into a mindfulness-based professional development program for teachers. It is also pioneering in its examination of intervention effects on classroom and student outcomes. Thirdly, the NYC study’s findings, which demonstrate impacts on the classroom environment, underscore the significant link between teacher well-being and classroom quality. Finally, this study serves as a powerful “proof of concept,” demonstrating that a mindfulness-based intervention can positively influence both individuals and their professional environments. Tish Jennings further discusses the study’s findings and their implications in this insightful video.
For educators and administrators seeking a robust, research-backed program to enhance teacher well-being and create more positive and productive learning environments, the CARE Teacher Program offers a compelling solution.
