This article was originally published by UVAToday.

Most modern school systems are actually designs from the last century. A UVA professor is researching applying classroom mindfulness techniques to bring them into the present. (Illustration by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications.)

What’s good for a classroom may be good for an entire school system.

For 20 years, Patricia Jennings, a professor of education at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development, has worked to apply mindfulness practices and compassion to help teachers create a more emotionally supportive learning environment in the classroom, a sometimes high-stress space that is both cognitively and emotionally demanding.

Now she is also considering how mindfulness can extend beyond classrooms and play a role in re-envisioning and modernizing entire education systems.