Restorative Justice in Schools

(printed in Mediation in Practice, April 2003 ,pp 4-9)

In broad terms Restorative Justice constitutes an innovative approach to offending and inappropriate behaviour which puts repairing harm done to relationships and people over and above the need for assigning blame and dispensing punishment. A restorative approach in a school shifts the emphasis from managing behaviour to focussing on the building, nurturing and repairing of relationships. Schools need relationship management policies, which consider everyone’s needs and responsibilities towards each other, rather than behaviour management policies. Behaviour management policies tend to focus only on the behaviour of young people and the imposition of sanctions has the potential to harm the crucial adult/student relationships on which good teaching and learning depend.

Traditionally the response to conflicts between students or to unacceptable behaviour has been:

- What happened?

• Who is to blame?
• What is the appropriate response to deter and possibly punish those at fault, so they will not do the same thing again?

This approach does not take into account the needs of those who have been harmed or distressed by the wrongdoing, nor the desirability of repairing relationships between people who are still likely to be seeing each other regularly in their community and at school. As John Braithwaite has said, if we punish too readily we make a young person angry and resentful rather than thoughtful

The punitive approach is based on the assumption that punishment will and can change behaviour and act as a deterrent. Punishment certainly does teach young people something, but not necessarily what the adults want them to learn. When an adult punishes a young person for doing something the adult does not approve of, the message is that this is what one does when others behave in ways we do not like. Hence many conflicts in the playground are merely reproductions of the behaviour learnt from adults. Ironically the adults are likely to respond once again by modelling exactly what it is they are trying to prevent! As for the belief that punishment will act as a deterrent one only has to ask teachers if a single punitive response does the trick in all cases.

Furthermore by threatening young people with consequences to themselves if they ‘misbehave’ rather than alerting them to the consequences for the people they may affect, we bring them up to be self-centred. Avoiding negative consequences for themselves becomes more important than ensuring others’ well-being. A commonplace belief is that the consequence of harmful or unacceptable behaviour is that you get caught and punished if you are unlucky, and if you are lucky you get away with it. This is a prevalent attitude in adults for example, with regards to drink driving and speeding.

The case against punitive sanctions is strong – not only do they not achieve the intended outcomes, they fail to teach acceptable behaviour, they do not encourage young people to be accountable for their actions and they do not address the underlying needs behind the inappropriate behaviour. Finally punitive sanctions tend to be reserved only for the unacceptable behaviour of young people and yet adults can also behave in unacceptable and harmful ways towards young people. Lack of respect, failure to listen to young people’s views, sarcastic and hurtful remarks, bullying and humiliation are not uncommon in schools. It is rare for teachers to be made accountable for these inappropriate behaviours and young people consider this unjust.

A restorative approach to conflict or wrongdoing consists in asking four key questions:

- Who has been affected by what has happened?

- What can be done to make things better for all concerned?

- How can we ensure that everyone involved gets a chance to tell their side of

the story and hear everyone’ else’s perspective?

- What can be learnt so something like this can be avoided in the future?

This approach is based on the notion that people need to take responsibility for the impact of their behaviour on other people and that the consequence of harmful (ie upsetting/distressing/disruptive/destructive) behaviour is that relationships are damaged and people get disconnected. Recent research in the States is emphasising just how important connectedness is to young people and how it can be a major factor in preventing destructive and anti-social behaviour. Restorative responses are focussed on healing the disconnections between people wherever possible when they do happen.

An important restorative belief is that the people best placed to resolve a conflict or a problem are the people involved, and that imposed solutions are less effective, less educative and possibly less likely to be honoured. In order to engage in a restorative approach to conflict and challenging behaviour people need certain attitudes and skills:

• a willingness to listen to others’ perspectives on a situation and suspend the notion that there is only one way of looking at something.
• an ability to listen to the feelings and needs behind others’ words, especially if these words are offensive, hurtful or accusatory.
• an ability to be in touch with one’s own feelings and needs so that these can be expressed in a way that gets heard and understood by others.
• a commitment to giving everyone a voice and to respecting the contributions made even though this is a time consuming process.
• a belief that hearing all sides is a worthwhile and ultimately a time saving approach as people gradually learn these processes for themselves.

Thinking about harm can be a useful starting point when considering different ways of dealing with challenging behaviour and conflict. Most people can relate to being harmed, and to causing harm at some point in their lives, when harm is defined as ‘an adverse affect on another person or people, involving emotional or mental distress and/or physical or material damage’.

If people are asked to consider what they need when they have been harmed the answers tend to be similar:

• someone to listen to my story.
• time to calm down.
• a chance to ask – why me? what did I do to deserve that?
• the person concerned to understand and acknowledge the impact their behaviour has had on me.
• a sincere spontaneous apology.
• things put right, if possible
• reassurance it won’t happen again

If people are asked what they need when they themselves have caused harm to someone else, whether on purpose or by accident, answers usually include:

• time to think
• someone to listen to my story
• a chance to explain to myself and the other person why I did it
• an opportunity to apologise
• a chance to make amends
• reassurance that the matter is dealt with and I can move on
• hope that there is no resentment left.

More traditional, punitive, approaches to wrongdoing rarely create a situation where the needs expressed above can be met. When a young person behaves in a way that is challenging for a member of staff, for example, there is likely to be harm experienced on both sides unless both people feel heard and understood. There is a possibility that the relationship between the two will be adversely affected and that will affect the way they work together in the future.

In describing the approach in this way it is clear that Restorative Justice is driven by a set of values and an ethos that emphasises trust, mutual respect and tolerance. It acknowledges the importance of human feelings, needs and rights and it aims for re-connection where possible.

Restorative processes and interventions are the most public face of restorative justice. They aim to make things as right as possible after some behaviour or event which has adversely affected people. They seek to meet the needs of those who have been harmed and also the needs of those who have caused harm. These interventions share certain essential steps. Everyone affected by harmful behaviour, a conflict situation or a problem, has the opportunity to talk about what has happened, explain how they have been affected by it, describe how they are currently feeling about the situation and what they want to do to repair the harm caused.

Restorative processes include:

Restorative enquiry, which can be used when one person essentially listens to the thoughts, feelings and needs of someone else in distress. A non-judgemental listening ear can help people to restore their own sense of well being and make different choices. Young people can be trained to do this for each other, acting as peer mentors. Adults can develop young people’s self esteem and problem-solving skills if they use this approach as much as possible and let go the notion that their role is to offer advice and solutions.

Restorative discussion can be used in the event of a challenging situation when the relationship between two people is at risk In these situations both sides need to be curious about the thoughts, feelings and needs of the other and be open to the distinct possibility that each is seeing the situation through a completely different set of spectacles. This would be a useful strategy in a classroom when an adult and a young person differ over what is expected and what comprises appropriate behaviour. (!)

Mediation can be helpful in situations when people need the support of a neutral third party to help them have the restorative discussion described above to find a way forward. Young people can learn to be effective mediators for their peers from the age of 5 and peer mediation projects are increasingly common in both primary and secondary schools. However it is vital that this approach is also used by everyone else in the school community, so that if a case is too complex for the young mediators they know that when it is referred on the disputants will get the same approach from someone older.

Restorative Mini-Conferences (Mediation when one person has accepted responsibility for the harm they have caused another). This is sometimes called Victim/Offender Mediation, but the terms ‘victim’ and ‘Offender’ are seldom appropriate in schools and indeed wherever they are used there is a risk of self-perpetuating labelling.

Restorative Conferencing can take place if the person or people who have accepted responsibility for harmful behaviour agree to meet with the person or people they have affected, together with friends and family of all concerned, to hear each others’ stories and find a mutually acceptable way forward to repair the harm.

Family Group Conferencing can be beneficial when a young person or their family need support to make changes .The wider family network is often involved and the meeting is convened initially by neutral facilitators. The family group then discusses the issues and draw up a plan, and eventually the facilitators return to hear the plan and offer ongoing support and review.

Underpinning all the restorative processes is the assumption that there is something to restore in the first place. Whilst this may not always be true or important in the wider community it is vitally important in a school setting, where people have to live and work together in a relatively closed environment. A crucial part of the Restorative Toolbox lies in developing relational skills, emotional literacy, and conflict management strategies since these enable people to form and keep good relationships. The most important strategy for this is one that is increasingly common in primary schools and growing in popularity in secondary schools – Circle Time.

Circle Time is a much-misunderstood beast and can often be dreaded by teachers and students alike, who associate it with sitting in a circle talking about ‘heavy stuff’. Certainly if it is only used at times of crisis and if the ethos of Circle Time is at odds with what happens at other times in the school day, Circle Time may be of no benefit. However, used creatively and well, Circle Time has the potential for developing all the relational and restorative skills that young people need to grow up as caring, compassionate, tolerant, responsible citizens. It is the seedbed of all the restorative processes described earlier and as such is a valuable staff development tool as well. It is also where a sense of belonging and connectedness is developed in a class group, where people learn what they have in common with other and how to respect the ways in which everyone is unique.

The vision of a Whole School Approach using Restorative Justice is one that is being shared by an increasing number of people. The Youth Justice Board is supporting two major initiatives that will develop restorative principles in schools. The first involves 7 Youth Offending teams throughout England and various initiatives are being started. Projects vary in their focus. Some projects start by offering restorative conferencing by outside facilitators, others are beginning with peer mediation projects. The one I am involved in, in Oxfordshire, involves training a group of teachers from each school in Restorative Skills and then supporting them in implementing a Whole School Approach. All of the projects share a common goal – to change school culture, if that is what the schools want once they are familiar with the approach.

The second project, the Safer Schools Partnership project, involves placing 100 police officers and 100 project managers, in pairs, into 100 schools in the 10 areas of highest street crime. The aims of the project are four-fold:

• reduction of crime and victimisation
• creation of a safe learning community;
• improvement in attendance by addressing the issues that contribute to non-attendance;
• whole school culture change to ensure active participation by the whole school community in conflict management and decision making.

The 200 people involved in the project will have training in restorative interventions and principles.

Interest in these initiatives is inspiring other Youth Offending Teams and other Local Education Authorities not involved in the two projects mentioned to take an interest in Restorative Justice. However there is a pressing need for more information, more networking, more training opportunities and more resources for restorative practitioners in schools. The ideas expressed in this article fit in well with Citizenship initiatives, the Healthy Schools scheme, the Behaviour Improvement Plans being developed around the country and initiatives to reduce exclusion and raise attendance.

What is needed now is some joined - up thinking on the part of the Home Office, the Youth Justice Board, the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) and the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) so that the enthusiasm for Restorative Approaches shown by the first two can inform the thinking of the second two. With DfES involvement we may eventually get a curriculum for young people that helps them develop their restorative and relational skills throughout their life at school. With the TTA on board we can work towards a teacher-training programme that equips every new teacher with the skills to develop and sustain respectful relationships with young people, even in the face of challenging behaviour. As Keith Bradley, from the Home Office, said recently ‘Restorative Justice is an idea whose time has come’. It is certainly an idea whose time has come in schools.

Belinda Hopkins is Director of Transforming Conflict, a Centre for Restorative Justice in Schools.

This article was adapted from parts of her new book ‘Just Schools – a Whole School Approach to Restorative Justice’ to be published in the autumn by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, in conjunction with her training manual ‘The Just Schools Training Programme - Restorative Skills for Teachers)