Giving a Shit: The Intersection of Trait Mindfulness and Social Justice Orientations in K12 Educators (A Mixed Methods Study)
This dissertation examines the relationship between trait mindfulness and social justice orientations among K12 educators using a convergent mixed-methods design. As mindfulness becomes increasingly embedded in schools serving strategically undervalued student populations, the study investigates how educators’ dispositional mindfulness relates to justice-oriented intentions and how this relationship is enacted in practice. The quantitative data in this mixed-methods design were collected from 104 educators using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Social Justice Scale (SJS), and qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 18 educators. Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (1991), or TPB, guided analysis and integration, with social justice orientation conceptualized as justice-oriented intention. Quantitative analyses revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between trait mindfulness and social justice orientation. Qualitative data revealed overarching themes of empathy, harm reduction, and student empowerment in relation to mindfulness and social justice. The meta-inference that emerged was that engaged pedagogy represents the enacted convergence of trait mindfulness and social justice orientation in K12 educators. Mindfulness did not directly predict justice-oriented behavior; it conditioned the internal and relational processes through which justice-oriented intentions were formed and sustained.
Engaged Pedagogy, Equity, Mindfulness, Mixed Methods, Social Justice
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