The School Principles aim to provide a resource that can assist staff to apply restorative principles to everyday situations as well as more serious forms of conflict. Organized into seven sections based on the parties involved, the Principles relate to those sustaining the harm or loss, those causing it, the community, the school, the judicial system, and restorative agencies, and one section addresses common interests of all the participants. Under each of these sections, the Statement hopes to show the broad range of restorative approaches available, but above all to convey the message of the ethos underlined by restorative values.
The research began in January 2003 and over a period of six months a number of projects in the UK were visited. These included projects in Thames Valley, Nottinghamshire, and Hammersmith and Lambeth (London). Practice outside the UK was also surveyed. Research on restorative practices in schools has been carried out in a number of locations, including North America, with Ron Claassen’s ‘Discipline that Restores’ (DTR) and Ted Wachtel’s SaferSanerSchools in Pennsylvania; and Australia, with Valerie Braithwaite’s responsible citizenship programme and Brenda Morrison’s work on a restorative approach to bullying and re-victimisation. Although general principles for restorative practices already exist (both in the UK and further afield) there are none specifically focused on the school setting – making these principles the first of their kind. Belinda Hopkins, the director of Transforming Conflict (http://www.transformingconflict.org) and one of the most experienced school restorative trainers in the UK, contributed to this work.
In addition to the principles, the document includes a section titled ‘How restorative is your school?’ This section consists of a series of continuums based on Dan Van Ness’s assessment models, including the Meeting, Amends, (Re)Integration and School Involvement continuums. It aims to help schools gauge the extent to which their school is ‘fully’ restorative. After evaluating a program or discipline case in each of the four areas, the Combined Continuums Table charts whether the school is ‘fully’, ‘moderately’, or ‘minimally’ restorative.
For more information or a copy of the ‘Statement of Restorative Justice
Principles as applied in a school setting’, please contact the Restorative
Justice Consortium at +44 (0)20 7960 4633 or send an email to: info@restorativejustice.org.uk.
Alternatively, copies can be downloaded from the RJC website at
http://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/resources/pdf/schoolprinciples.pdf.
March 2004
This process can be undertaken by the individual students on their own or with mediators provided by the Office of Student Life or the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies (CPACS).
If the parties involved are unable to come to an agreement, a report is filed with Student Life and the second stage of the process begins. Accused students, "with few exceptions based on the seriousness of the behaviour or criminal violations“, receive an orientation in the community justice conference process. They are then given the opportunity to decide whether or not to participate in the process.
If they agree to do so, the community justice conferences are coordinated by CPACS. Conference facilitators include CPACS graduate students, graduates, or staff depending on the nature of the offence. The conferences bring together:
The objectives of the community justice conferences are the same three as those of the informal encounters of the first stage. The conferences also schedule follow-up meetings to celebrate fulfilment of agreements or renegotiate problematic areas of agreements.
If the matters cannot be resolved by community justice conferences, they move into the third stage, which involves the Student Judicial Board. This happens if the accused students deny guilt, are unwilling to participate in or uncooperative in the community justice conferences, or if the conferences are unable to resolve the matter. The Student Judicial Board serves as a fact-finding body to determine guilt. If students are found guilty, they are given an opportunity to return to a community justice conference to attempt to resolve the matter. If they refuse to use the cooperative process, the Student Judicial Board develops restorative plans for the offenders. The aim of the plans is to recognize the harm done, repair harm, and prevent future instances of offending. Plan are evaluated by whether they are reasonable, respectful, intended to restore, and intended to reintegrate. This process must commence within ten days after students are referred from community justice conferences.
If students are not satisfied with the decisions of the Student Judicial Board, they have the option of a one-time (per offence) appeal to the Dean of Students. This is the fourth and final stage of the restorative discipline process. The request must be submitted within three days from receiving the decision from the Student Judicial Board. The Dean of Students evaluates appeals using information gathered by the Student Judicial Board and any newly developed sources of information. If the Dean decides that the accused students are indeed guilty of the infraction, they are again given the option of returning to a community justice conference. If they refuse this option, the Dean may ask the Student Judicial Board to reconsider certain portions of its plan.
A committee of students, faculty, and staff developed the four-stage restorative discipline process, in cooperation with CPACS staff, during the 2003-04 academic year. The goals for this process are to:
For further information, contact Ron Claassen, director of CPACS, at rlclaass@fresno.edu.
Lynette Parker
December 2005
Mel Stanley, deputy head at Deptford Green School, talks about her experience of restorative justice and Kenny Frederick, headteacher at George Green's School, discusses her school's various approaches to resolving conflict.
Watch all four lectures (total time 53:59).
Also, check out Teachers.tv's three part-video series on schools and crime which "considers restorative justice as an alternative to exclusion in order to keep kids away from crime. It evaluates the role of CCTV and examines methods to deter pupils from getting involved in gang culture".
]]>She explained the rules: Only the person holding the bookmark could talk. Everyone else would listen and not interrupt and the bookmark would be passed to the next person wanting to speak. Everything said in the peace circle was deemed confidential. No gossiping allowed! And, of course, cell phones were turned off.
Our leader asked three questions: What we liked most and least about ourselves, the city of Evanston, and our ability to create change. One by one, people who were complete strangers to me, some just teenagers, shared their hopes and dreams, their fears and frustrations, confident that the others were listening respectfully and without interrupting or passing judgment. (Remember that rule of confidentiality? I can’t tell you what was said.)
Next, the four peer jury teens gave us examples of how the peace circle concepts worked in resolving school-based crimes. Let’s say a student shoved his teacher against the desk, in an argument over a cell phone. If police intervene, this becomes battery on a school board employee, and in Florida that’s a felony. Instead, a peer jury of trained students is convened, the offender participates in a peace circle and then acknowledges the harm he caused. Did the teacher lose face in the classroom? Did other students get upset and distracted from learning? Was there an injury?
Once the harm is acknowledged, the offender and peer jurors discuss how to repair the harm. The offender makes suggestions, guided by the jurors. Of course, a letter of apology. Then, perhaps the offender could come to school early and help the teacher set up the classroom. Or, if he or she is flunking the class, maybe getting some tutoring would make him a more engaged student. A contract is written and if the student performs, no charges are filed.
The statistics are compelling. Evanston High School has a 97 percent success rate for completed peer jury agreements. The peer jury has helped avoid more than 300 suspensions in just two years.
This is not a substitute for police or court diversion models or for youth courts which convene after an arrest. The Evanston peer jury model operates at an earlier stage on true restorative justice principles: the community helps the offender recognize, acknowledge and repair the harm.
]]>"The attitude is that the bully is the end product of problems; so the meetings... involve students, teachers, parents sitting down, trying to work towards bringing out the source of the problem.
"I'm not sure how it works at other schools, but if you're constantly punishing the bully it'll probably just get them more angry. So if you work towards the source of the problem, you'll probably get better long-term results, so that's what's good about our system here.
"Bullying continues all the way throughout life, not just in school and formative years, so if we're getting more educated about it now, with good programs we have at Villa then in later life, we'll be better set-up to deal with those problems."....
]]>It's an attempt to back away from putting so much focus into academic achievement and taking a step back to view the bigger picture of a person's involvement in society and the planet.
"Children need the skills to be empathetic and manage stress," Schonert-Reichl said. Adding that B.C.'s education is ahead of the rest by implementing the "Social Responsibility" pillar in 2001.
But teachers lack the training to successfully do this in the classroom.
Some high schools she worked for and did research in responded to this by banning the use of cellphones in the hallway as a means to teach social responsibility by not interrupting class time and encouraging students to get ready for class and not be sidetracked by texts or calls.
Somewhere the line between communicating social responsibility and disciplining teens was blurred.
]]>Now, schools, parents, and communities can organize school based programs such as Peace Circles, Peer Juries, community service, and more as alternatives to suspension, expulsion or arrest. Restorative justice emphasizes teaching the student who misbehaved and offering that student a chance to “repair the harm” that he or she caused.
We know from our own families that the chance to learn from mistakes—and fix the damage that has been done—is how we build trust and community. Restorative justice in schools teaches children to understand the impact of their behavior and take responsibility.
Parents have to be involved, and take the initiative in local schools. But we also need to know our rights, and understand the system! Part of this guide is sharing what we believe is important to know when your son or daughter is suspended, expelled, or otherwise punished in a way that you think is unfair or inappropriate.
Finally—we want to inspire parents across the city to work together to make sure that these new policies and practices are put into place. Let’s prevent misbehavior and resolve conflicts before violence or other bad things happen to more of our children.
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