I was also inspired, and continue to be so, by the vision of Marion Liebmann, first director of Mediation UK, who wrote a chapter in the first victim/offender mediation training manual to be produced in this country (Quill and Wynne 1993). In this chapter she sketches her vision for the future:
'Like an artist with a palette of colours, I will not restrict myself to what is already available, or what is financially feasible. Rather I will use my imagination to paint a picture of how things could be, given the resources and commitment to achieve what is really needed. (…) What could a system of restorative justice look like? The main feature would be an emphasis on undoing harm done, of whatever kind, and on looking to future behaviour.'
She then describes a new approach to parenting, to education of both old and young and to provision in the community, which emphasised conflict resolution and the restoration of relationship in the event of conflict or inappropriate behaviour.

My third point of departure was the Practice Standards mentioned by Wright, developed by the Restorative Justice Consortium. Reading these carefully I have again seen potential parallels between traditional criminal justice approaches and attitudes to dealing with inappropriate behaviour by adults in their capacity as either parents or teachers. The revolutionary potential of these Practice Standards if applied to authoritarian parenting and school discipline procedures is breathtaking- and yet I became convinced that if these standards were to be meaningful in the criminal justice field then attitudes would need to change in the community first. Thinking in the long term this would mean educating young people in dealing with challenging behaviour and building meaningful relationships.

My enthusiasm for Restorative Justice in the school context has developed partly because I saw links between Restorative approaches and the conflict management skills with which I was already familiar and which I believed to be important in the school context. However I was also concerned by anecdotes I had been hearing about how thoughtless remarks from members of a school community, old and young, could unravel the good that a conference could achieve. I had already come to the conclusion in my school work that neither Mediation nor Circle Time could thrive as 'bolt-on's. The underlying principles and the skills needed to be embraced by the whole school community. I began to suspect that the same was true for Conferencing.
All three processes would appear to be applications of a philosophy that needs to inform day to day interactions in a school community. I began to coin the phrase 'Whole School Restorative Approach' (Hopkins 1999a; Hopkins 1999b) This approach puts the maintenance of relationship at the heart of all interactions between people in a school community, especially in the event of conflict.

Braithwaite, J. (1989). Crime, shame and reintegration. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Hopkins, B. (1999). "Restorative Approaches in the Community." Mediation 15(3): 3-4.

Hopkins, B. (1999). "Restorative Justice in Schools." unpublished.

Quill, D. and J. Wynne (1993). Victim and Offender Mediation Handbook. London, Save the Children/West Yorkshire Probation Service.

Wright, M. (1999). Restoring Respect for Justice. Winchester, Waterside Press.