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Summary

Braithwaite, Valerie A framework for tailoring a Responsible Citizenship Program to your school In From bully to responsible citizenship: A restorative approach to building safe school communities, ed. B. Morrison. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. (forthcoming)

School anti-bullying programs usually reflect the underlying organizational philosophy of the school, from a traditional hierarchical perspective to a liberal democratic one. Hence, programs range from a hierarchical structure with strict codes of conduct and punishments in response to code violations, to a set of democratic principles where codes of conduct and enforcement function through community discussion and feedback. Valerie Braitwaite contends that schools, not matter how traditional or liberal, should create the safe space offered by programs like the Responsible Citizenship Program (RCP), in which each child is to be treated with love and respect. This program - which can be integrated into a variety of school philosophies and structures - enables a school to espouse principles of respect, consideration, and participation, practice those principles, and sanction actions that contradict them. On this basis, Braithwaite draws a framework in this paper for adapting RCP to a school context.

Link: crj.anu.edu.au/pubs.vb.framework.pdf

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