Restoring relationships and managing conflict
What?
An argument between two pupils gets out of hand. The headteacher is drafted in to administer due punishment. Gossip, intrigue and talk of retribution festers amongst friends and peers, spilling over into the classroom. The pupils’ parents take up arms against the school to protest against the ‘unfair’ treatment of their child. The atmosphere in the classroom becomes more difficult to manage, and the situation starts to spiral out of control….. sound familiar?
Restorative practices describe a range of approaches to prevent and repair conflict in schools may already be familiar with. The practices range from:
• developing a restorative climate in schools with activities such as circle time and peer support;
• through ‘restorative conversations’ when teachers or peer mediators intervene in a situation;
• to the more formal restorative conferencing involving all those affected by an incident, including families where appropriate.
School ethos, policies and procedures need to be developed to support this work. The focus is on prevention as well as cure, and the involvement of the whole school community is paramount.
RP is not another ‘new initiative’ but rather a framework within which existing good practice can build and develop. The approach is complementary to other recent initiatives such as Staged Intervention, emotional literacy/empathy development and solution focused planning approaches. In short, it adds a new dimension to thinking and practice for inclusion.
Key Principles of RP
• Fostering social relationships in a school community of mutual engagement
• Being responsible and accountable for one’s own actions and their impact on others
• Respecting other people, their views and feelings
• Empathising with the feelings of others
• Being fair
• Being committed to equitable processes
• Everyone in school being actively involved in decisions about their own lives
• Returning issues of conflict to the participants rather than pathologising behaviour
• Being willingness to create opportunities for reflective change in pupils and staff
Why?
What many pupils say they want from adults when dealing with disciplinary issues is fairness. Whether they are a perpetrator or a victim, their focus is not on winning or losing, blame or revenge, but on trusting in a fair process. Restorative practices help teachers ensure that pupils, staff and parents can be part of a fair process, while helping all involved to learn from the harm that has been done, and to understand the impact of their behaviour on others.
Restorative practices can:
• Manage the varied expectations of behaviour standards which inevitably exist among all school staff
• Help develop a whole school positive ethos
• Encourage members of the school community to effectively resolve and learn from conflict in a way which maintains relationships, or terminates them in a positive way
• Support any necessary sanctions by processes of learning and reconciliation
How?
Restorative Practices can be used at different levels in school:
• as preventative – to promote positive relationships within the whole school community;
• as responsive - and repairing when difficulties arise;
• and as part of support and intervention for more long term and persistent difficulties.
The approach involves including the wrongdoer in finding a solution to the problem. Instead of asking ‘who’s to blame and how are we going to punish them?’, focus is put on reasons, causes, responsibilities and feelings. Those involved are asked questions such as ‘who has been affected and how?’ and ‘how can we put it right and learn from this experience?’
Vital Statistics
• Being piloted in Fife, Highland and North Lanarkshire over a two year period
• Evaluation team from Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities are working with the projects as they develop, and sharing findings on this website.
The Who’s Who of Restorative Practices
Sheila Riddell, Gwynedd Lloyd and Jean Kane are taking forward the evaluation from
Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities.
A conference is planned for September. Further information will be available on this site shortly.
How do I find out more?
For more information of restorative practices, visit www.transformingconflict.org or www.restorativepractices.org. The Scottish pilots will share their information on an ongoing basis via this webpage.
