An international policy event in Rwanda will showcase new research demonstrating how low-cost, neuroscience-informed classroom practices may significantly improve school climate, teacher wellbeing and student learning outcomes across the country.
At the centre of today’s event is ‘The Neural Bridge: Reclaiming School Climate for Human Capital Development’, a joint research initiative led by the University of Aberdeen and the University of Rwanda College of Education, under the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Promoting Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The project responds to a critical challenge facing education systems in contexts of deprivation. While investments in infrastructure, school feeding programmes, and curriculum reform are essential, they are often undermined by the ‘cognitive tax’ experienced by children exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Research shows that chronic stress and trauma can leave children in a persistent state of neurobiological hyper-arousal, limiting attention, emotional regulation, and readiness to learn.
The research presented today demonstrates that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can act as a ‘neural bridge’, helping pupils shift from a survival state to a learning state. Importantly, these interventions are designed to be integrated into daily classroom transitions, requiring no additional curriculum time and minimal resources.
Rather than focusing narrowly on individual outcomes, the project identifies both direct benefits for pupils, including improved self-regulation, focus, and emotional control; and indirect, emergent benefits for the entire classroom when the most disruptive pupils gain the ability to remain regulated and engaged. This reduces teacher stress, increases instructional time, and creates a calmer, more productive learning environment for all students.
The research highlights mindfulness as a practical tool for positive discipline. Preliminary evidence from a pilot school shows that disciplinary referrals for physical punishment dropped to near zero following implementation of the intervention.
As well as aligning classroom practice with national child protection and wellbeing goals, the project also directly supports several other national and international frameworks. These include the World Health Organisation’s Health Promoting Schools Initiative, by embedding mental wellbeing into daily school life; Rwanda’s Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC), by strengthening generic competences such as self-regulation and interpersonal skills; and school feeding and nutrition programmes, by ensuring pupils are emotionally regulated and cognitively ready to benefit from nutritional investments.
Sustainability is built into the model. Educators trained at the University of Rwanda–College of Education and Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) ensure that mindfulness skills can be embedded at the foundational level of teacher education. All training materials are locally adapted, translated, and available as open-access resources, making national scale-up financially feasible.
The research team will present three key policy recommendations at the event:
- National curriculum integration – that the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) should integrate mindfulness as a core pedagogical competency within TTC curricula.
- Strategic policy inclusion – that the ‘Two Pathways’ model should be incorporated into the National School Health Policy to address the biological and emotional barriers to learning.
- Human capital framing – that cognitive and emotional readiness should be recognised as a prerequisite for the success of educational, nutritional and infrastructure investments.
Professor Pamela Abbott, Director of the Centre for Global Development at the University of Aberdeen and project co-lead, said: “Our work is about making sure that investments in education truly reach children in the classroom. By addressing the emotional and neurobiological foundations of learning, we are giving teachers practical tools to create calmer, more productive environments where all pupils can succeed.
“We are showing that improving school climate does not require costly reforms. It requires understanding how children learn and giving teachers simple, effective tools. Presenting these findings in Rwanda is crucial, because it allows evidence generated in local schools to directly inform national policy and practice.”
This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) using UK aid from the UK Government. It is jointly led by Professor Abbott and Professor Wenceslas Nzabalirwa from the University of Rwanda.