Attention Matters: Educating Our Future Leaders
In line with NeuroCapability’s commitment to support a new generation of thinking leaders, Linda Ray weighs in on how building attentional intelligence into our educational system is something we can do now to benefit the leaders of tomorrow.
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We live in a world that doesn’t stand still. It’s more than probable that the frazzle we all experience will increase in the future. And while there is a lot of talk about “work-life balance”, the reality is that it proves very difficult to achieve with any regularity. A Galaxy Poll of more than 800 workers taken in 2011 found that 65 per cent of those working overtime acknowledged that additional hours at work were affecting their family relationships.
Adding to these pressures, there is the concern that Australia is falling behind in several key areas compared with other OECD countries. A UNICEF report from 2010 reveals that Australia “falls below the average on a large proportion of a basket of indicators including material, educational and health inequality.” Further, the report states that if these issues aren’t addressed, they are going to have an effect on a sustainable social and economic well-being far into the future.
The good news is that there is a cheap and easy way to alleviate much of the stress we experience daily–not only for ourselves in the workplace but for our children both at home and at school. Currently, there has been a push to use mindfulness-based techniques with young people, something that’s yielded excellent results.
In his research at Monash University, Dr Richard Chambers has taught young people to meditate and then showed them how to draw on these skills to improve their learning and study habits. Chambers says:
There is now a lot of research around mindfulness and performance, mindfulness and leadership, mindfulness and cognitive performance, and mindfulness and academic performance. Our findings show that as well as becoming more mindful and less stressed, they become better able to concentrate, their memory improves and their academic performance improves as well.
His claims are backed by a recent US study that found links between mindfulness training and better working memory and improved test scores in undergraduate students.
However, there is also evidence to show that we need to begin training mindfulness and building attentional intelligence much earlier than previously thought.
A new longitudinal study by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, which followed almost 3,500 children from age four through to 11, found children with an onset of puberty by eight to nine years of age had poorer emotional and social adjustment from early childhood. In the case of boys, greater behavioural difficulties were observed. This pattern continued through to early adolescence. What’s most interesting is that these results could be tracked from as early as four to five years of age.
Lead researcher Dr Fiona Mensah says: “We think that the association between early onset puberty and poorer adolescent mental health is due to developmental processes that start well before the onset of puberty and continue into adolescence.”
The study supports a ‘life course’ hypothesis, something that turns out to be good news for those willing to apply insights from neuroscience research. Knowing that genetic and environmental factors in preschool children can trigger emotional, social, and behavioural issues later on means that we can break the cycle early by incorporating mindfulness and attentional intelligence at the very beginning of their school years. Educators have long been in the business of re-wiring brains. With what we’re learning from neuroscience, it’s possible to utilise strategies that children can draw on well into the future.
This is exactly what the Benevolent Society is doing with their Shaping Brains program. Understanding that most brain development occurs during the first few years of life, they use research findings about neuroplasticity to help kids improve attention, memory, and sensory skills. A big component of the program is focussed on assisting children regulate their behaviour and improve their social, emotional and attentional intelligence.
As it happens, these are extremely cost effective measures that are simple to implement. We now have an ideal opportunity to support our kids from early childhood to develop attentional intelligence in order to manage stress, regulate their emotions and behaviours, and to be better prepared to adapt to a future that will only become increasingly complex. Through insights drawn from neuroscience, we can help them navigate this future more successfully. It’s time to be on the forefront of all we are learning about how the brain works in order to truly transform the next generation of thinking leaders.
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Linda Ray is the Managing Director of NeuroCapability. NeuroCapability is playing a key role in developing a new generation of thinking leaders through delivery of their Diploma of Neuroscience of Leadership and NeuLeader programs both in Australia and internationally. Linda is gaining recognition as a thought leader in the NeuroLeadership field and is contributing to the body of knowledge that supports the building of individual and organisational ‘neurocapability’ (the capacity or collectively ability to use your brain and mind more effectively).
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Brainwaves For Leaders 
Interesting to read this Linda, thank you! I’ve literally just been listening to Goldie Hawn speaking about her mindup program here in the US. A wonderful I initiative which she lives and breathes.
http://thehawnfoundation.org/mindup/
Kerry Azar
September 14, 2013