Following the exponential rise in publications on mindfulness in education and the emergence of some critical perspectives on this field, this paper articulates three roles of mindfulness practice in education: Mindfulness in, as and of education. The three are developed based on an examination of the practice as it is shaped by two different socio-historical narratives, which in turn manifest in different modalities of implementation and aims in the contemporary educational field. While much of the field is governed by 'mindfulness in education' within economic-therapeutic interventions, equal attention is given to 'mindfulness as education' as reflected in a whole school approach and to 'mindfulness of education' in which the practice radicalises the ethos of critical pedagogy. Describing these three roles, the paper introduces readers to the practice itself, offers a framework for understanding its associations with a variety of educational aims, and critically discusses these associations as well as the diverse pedagogical possibilities that this practice brings to contemporary and future education.