Video Review: Introducing Restorative Justice: A Positive Approach in Schools
This video contains four segments that explain how restorative justice can be used in schools and demonstrates the positive impact it can have on discipline and hence on its overall environment.
Directed by Faye Gilbert. Produced by Living Archive. 2005.
Produced
for the Milton Keynes Council, Introducing Restorative Justice contains
video presentations of varying lengths to explain the concept of
restorative justice and how it has been applied in schools. Through
interviews with teachers, administrators, and students the video
segments demonstrate the positive impact that restorative processes can
have on school discipline.
The first segment of the video is
an introduction to restorative justice for students and their parents.
It describes it as a mechanism for resolving conflicts, restoring
relationships and fostering respect among students and school staff. To
illustrate the benefits, students relate three stories, two about
fights and the third about bullying.
The second video segment
provides an explanation of restorative justice for staff and school
administrators. Divided into two parts, it includes the information
provided students in segment one adding the voice of teachers and
administrators. Teachers describe the training they received and how it
has helped them apply restorative approaches. They describe being
surprised by the understanding the students had of the process and the
creativity they show in creating solutions. An administrator discusses
how restorative conferencing has been useful in conflicts between
students, students and faculty, and staff.
A third
video segment, titled ‘Other Stories’, presents individual
stories. This includes a student and teacher talking about an incident
between them in class and how a conference had helped them improve
their relationship. Another story concerns a conflict between two girls
that escalated to the point of parents becoming involved. The father of
one student and the facilitator describe the expanding impact of the
conflict and the emotional journey of the conference and the positive
results coming out of it. In the final story, a young girl describes a
disagreement she had with a friend when two of her friends did not get
along and how the conference helped them find ways to repair their
relationship.
The final video segment is a dramatization
of a conference between two students who had been in a fight and their
parents. The video shows the facilitator welcoming each party to the
conference, discussing ground rules and then allowing each participant
to have a voice in the process. Of the four segments, this is the
longest at 32 minutes.
Introducing Restorative Justice: A Positive Approach in Schools is
an excellent resource for schools implementing restorative conferencing
as a discipline option. The segments allow the video to be used in
explaining the concepts to diverse audiences: school decision makers,
students and their families, and staff.
The DVD may be ordered from:
Incentive Plus
Price £29.50
www.incentiveplus.co.uk
info@incentiveplus.co.uk
Telephone: 44 (0) 1908 526120
Lynette Parker
October 2006
