About Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice in School Citizenship in Action Restorative Justice in a school context
Active applications of Restorative tools
A draft model for establishing a Whole School Approach based on Restorative Justice
Restorative/Relational Justice in Schools
R.J. in Schools - some practitioners from Nottingham and the Thames Valley
Restorative Justice in Schools - getting the essentials right
Restorative Justice in Schools the new & old paradim

In recent years there have been developments in the arena of Criminal Justice prompting those dealing with youth crime in particular to review their approach. Different strands are coming together from different parts of the world, as described by Martin Wright in his book 'Restoring Respect for Justice'. (Wright 1999) He highlights early victim/offender mediation that grew from an initiative in Ontario, Canada and has now spread from there, via the United States to Europe. He also makes reference to 'conferencing' - a meeting of the extended families of both victims and offenders, developed from the interaction of Western and Indigenous peoples in New Zealand and Canada. A third strand involves a theoretical study by John Braithwaite (Braithwaite 1989) who was considering the impact of a 'reintegrative shaming process' in which offenders have their behaviour disapproved of by those close to them but who can nevertheless be supported in reparation and re-integration back into the community. Different 'Restorative Justice Approaches' are being developed around the world in response to local situations but as Wright says:

'A family of theories is evolving. Different aspects and methods are emphasised, but there is a common underlying philosophy; the Restorative Justice Consortium (1999) has drawn up a definition and standards, and guidelines for good practice have been drawn up in Britain and Germany (Mediation UK, 1998; Serviceburo, 1998).'

My inspiration for work in schools has come from a number of sources. One of the first theorists in the field of Restorative Justice, Howard Zehr, the Director of the first Victim/Offender Reconciliation Programme in the United States, drew up a paradigm in which he compared traditional retributive justice philosophy with restorative justice values and ideas (1990). When I first discovered this I could see immediate parallels with approaches to behaviour management in schools and I re-wrote the paradigm with a schools focus.

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.

Citizenship in Action - Restorative Justice in Schools

Restorative Justice is an innovative approach to offending behaviour, which places relationships and healing the damage done to relationships at the heart of a crime reduction policy. It is an approach that has the support of the Home Office, and Youth Offending Teams are being encouraged to consider restorative approaches when dealing with young offenders. Research is suggesting that young people who have met face to face with the people who have been affected by their criminal behaviour, together with trained mediators, have tended to re-offend less. Victims of criminal behaviour have also attested to the value of the process and many have been able to move on and put the trauma behind them.

This short article will describe our involvement in initiatives designed to take the values and principles of Restorative Justice into schools.

The experience in Great Britain
In some instances the starting point for the school focus had been a concern that certain schools were becoming involved in victim-offender mediation and conferencing (mediation involving a wider group of people affected by the offending behaviour) without appreciating the need for an environment conducive to restoration, rehabilitation and re-integration. The process of mediation and conferencing creates opportunities for active listening, recognition of the others' situation, empowerment and, often, apology and forgiveness. For real healing to take place, however, there is an implicit suggestion that the wider community has a role to play in supporting both victims and offenders to move on after the mediation. There has been anecdotal evidence to suggest that sometimes the safe and healing atmosphere of a conference or mediation has been undermined by unthinking responses from students and teachers. An important consideration then, is what skills the community might need to be able to support this process of reparation.

Another line of enquiry was inspired by a key idea in Restorative thinking - the importance of repairing harm. Restorative Justice stresses the importance of relationships over and above rules. It seeks at all times to restore relationships between people in a community when these have been damaged by inappropriate behaviour. The question arose as to whether it is always possible to assume that damage has been done to relationship. What if there was no relationship in the first place?

It became clear that a truly Restorative Approach, putting relationship at the centre of the community, needed to be working at both a preventative and a reparative level. Things started to slot into place! For several years Belinda had been working in schools developing Peer Mediation projects, working with young people and a few key staff. However she had come to the conclusion that such projects can only flourish if the whole school takes ownership of the philosophy of mediation and builds the practice and principles into their everyday interactions at every level.

A major influence on this work has been Kingston Friends Workshop Group, which had devised a wonderful analogy for considering conflict and conflict management. They suggest that the behaviours we see or hear in a group in conflict (perhaps a classroom or staff room on a bad day!) are merely the tip of this iceberg. Beneath the surface we can be fairly certain that what needs addressing are issues of low self-esteem, poor communication skills and lack of co-operation. A comfortable, harmonious classroom or staff room, on the other hand, would be full of people with high self-esteem, who communicated easily and effectively and who enjoyed working together. Not an Iceberg but a Tropical Island! Belinda had therefore began encouraging schools to develop Circle Time as a starting point from which to develop an environment conducive to problem solving and mediation, using the ' Iceberg to Tropical Island' model as a basis for planning the programme. Her starting point had increasingly been the adults in the school community, who need to be modelling the ethos and skills of creative conflict management and restorative practices. Without regular staff Circle Time student Circle Time is difficult to sustain. Staff training has revealed many staffroom icebergs and a willingness to work towards that tropical island.

From this basis the staff themselves can develop the model which will work best for their own school. Restorative Justice is about dialogue, about involving everyone in the process of finding ways forward, about mutual respect. Circle Time provides the forum and indeed the structure, for developing other kinds of circles - problem-solving circles, mediation circles, conference circles, school councils and so on.

None of this is new. Richard Cohen in his book 'Students resolving Conflict' advocates establishing a positive ethos first and foremost, then developing one-to-one problem solving skills and only then considering interventions like mediation. Belinda's contribution has been to link all this together with the ideas and practice of Restorative Justice and call it a Whole School Restorative Approach.

Of course there is also the radical aspect of Restorative philosophy which asks us to look afresh at rule breaking and punishment. In his stimulating and challenging book 'Restoring Respect for Justice' Martin Wright writes:

'Restorative Justice in the area of criminal justice is based on the idea that the response to crime should be to put right the harm, as far as possible and not, as hitherto, to inflict harm on the offender'.

In the school context this might mean responding to inappropriate behaviour by considering who has been affected and ensuring that any response takes into account the relationship between those involved. Those people familiar with mediation will recognise the importance of dealing not only with the behaviours that have caused conflicts but also addressing the underlying difficult emotions. Failure to do this leaves resentment and the conflict is likely to erupt again, maybe in a different form. This principle can apply in schools even when the conflict is between adult and student or adult and adult. Furthermore, as Martin Wright says:

'The example set by those who punish is an anti-social one, it tells people that you can use superior force to stop other people doing what you don't want them to do.'

A Restorative Approach then, endorses practices like negotiating groundrules with all those affected by the rules- a common practice in schools using Circle Time. It encourages mediation as a way of dealing with conflicts. It promotes dialogue and negotiation, mutual respect and empowerment. It provides a template for developing a truly democratic school, encouraging active Citizenship skills in staff and students alike. It suggests processes by which harm can be repaired, not soft options to punishment, but processes which make people far more accountable for their actions than punishment. Punishment without the opportunity to hear from the people affected by an inappropriate action can breed alienation and hostility. The 'wrongdoer' may feel unheard, the people affected remain resentful or possibly complacent and the tensions on all sided remain, to bubble up at a later date. A face to face meeting, mediated by a neutral facilitator, might be tough, but experience suggests that there is more chance of all sides feeling greatly relieved by the chance to air their feelings, to explore ways forward and sometimes to offer or accept apologies.

These are radical ideas. They are inspiring ideas. They touch people's hearts as well as their minds. Schools are excited by them. They want to engage in the experiment of seeing what will happen if enough time and support is given over to making them work. Belinda is about to embark on some projects in the Thames Valley, for example, which could take at least two years to be self-sustaining.

The Northern Ireland experience
"Understanding of conflict and non-violent ways of responding to it' is an objective of Education Mutual Understanding (EMU, a cross curricular theme in the curriculum in Northern Ireland. Peer Mediation was first introduced into primary schools in 1993 as an EMU initiative of the then Quaker Peace Education Project, an action research project at the Centre for the Study of Conflict.

During the next five years peer mediation programmes were undertaken in a number of primary and secondary schools in different parts of Northern Ireland. State school, Catholic schools, and Integrated schools were all represented in these programmes. The outcomes of these programmes illustrated a paradox. On the one hand, children were well able to internalise, adapt and apply peer mediation skills both in terms of providing formal mediations, and using them informally at home, and with friends. But on the other, hand, Jerry Tyrrell's research team found that very few schools were able to sustain the programmes, because the environment was not necessarily sufficiently child-centred. Matching Belinda's experience, they found that schools needed to reflect the same values throughout its community

This was brought home to Jerry, when after a demonstration of peer mediation by a group of pupils, at a school which had been training children for some time, a teacher said, "That's all very well, but what about blame and punishment." The values of peer mediation, which included empathy, inclusion, volunteering, being future focussed, and above all involving the parties in the conflict in the solution, are not necessarily those of the educational system.

In this sense the Northern Irish experience is similar to the rest of the UK, and as previously argued, schools have to create environments which are conducive to these values, if programmes such as conferencing or mediation are to flourish and grow.

The politics and reality of Northern Ireland have a way of creating baggage around even the freshest ideas. Justice is a contentious issue, and restorative justice has been dragged into the policing debate, because the restorative justice programmes in Republican/Nationalist areas tend to be community based, whilst those in the Loyalist/Unionist areas are police based.

So restorative justice has quite a high if confused profile, and perhaps a public misconception of what it is and what it can achieve. Nevertheless the children and the adults alike make the link between the skills children use to address conflicts in the playground and those needed in the Northern Ireland peace process. Empathy underpins peer mediation and politicians have gone on record acknowledging that empathy is a key skill in negotiation.

Conclusion
Those of us engaged in promoting programmes in schools based on restorative principles could point to anecdotal evidence that they have transformed the teaching and learning environments in individual schools. The reality is that for schools to take on such programmes in a sustainable way changes are needed in the environment of the whole school. Teaching is an undervalued, under appreciated, stressed profession, where the arbitrary measure of academic achievement is considered more important than life skills. The challenge for us is to harness the creativity, passion, vision and vocation that drew teachers into the profession and encourage them to reflect on their own practice.

We are feeling our way. We are all taking risks. We are learning together. Watch this space!

Belinda Hopkins, Director, Transforming Conflict; Centre for Restorative Justice in Education
Belinda@transformingconflict.org

Jerry Tyrrell, Director, EMU Promoting Schools Project
emu@ulst.ac.uk

References
Cohen, Richard (1995) Students resolving Conflict
Glenview: GoodYear Books

Wright, Martin (1999) Restoring Respect for Justice
Winchester: Waterside Press

Kingston Friends Workshop Group (1996) Ways and Means Today

Tyrrell, Jerry (2001) Peer Mediation - a process for primary schools (ed. Marian Liebmann) London, Souvenir Press.

Restorative Justice in a school context

Restorative Justice stresses the importance of relationships over and above rules. It seeks at all times to restore the relationships between people when these have been damaged by inappropriate or offending behaviour. This has profound implications for any community that seeks to embrace restorative principles - and none more so than the school community where young people are learning to be effective and reflective citizens.

The most well-documented applications of Restorative Justice in schools to date are the processes which seek to repair undisputed harm - Restorative Conferencing, Family Group Conferencing and Victim/Offender Mediation. These are being used not only in cases of offending behaviour but also with young people who are at risk of exclusion (or who have been excluded) as a way of addressing the relationship issues and residual tensions.

In schools where Restorative Practices are being used practitioners are discovering that other issues can be dealt with restoratively, and these may involve conflict where there is no 'guilty party' or when both sides are blaming the other. Mediation is often an appropriate response to such situations, where neutral facilitators enable those in conflict to listen to each other and find a mutually acceptable way forward.

An increasingly widespread application of Mediation in schools is the development of a Peer Mediation Service, usually run by young people themselves who have been trained to mediate amongst their peers and deal with conflicts that arise in the playground. Successful schemes are running in Junior and Secondary schools around the UK and secondary aged students have their own Young Mediators Network and run their own conferences.

Such schemes, however, are less successful if mediation is not an approach also used by the adults in the school community. This is the message of a Restorative Approach generally. It is important that Restorative Justice is seen not simply as a response to extreme behaviour but that the principles are in place in staffrooms, classrooms and playgrounds every day.

It would not make sense to deal with some situations using one set of values and then deal with other situations using different values. Young people are quick to spot hypocrisy and inconsistency. Justice is a very important issue for them and they appreciate it if the rules by which they are expected to live and work in the school community also apply to adults.
Indeed a key restorative principle would be that the whole community develop the rules together and are involved in finding ways forward when these rules are broken - whoever breaks them.

The processes mentioned above require certain skills of the facilitators but are also more effective if participants are also practised in certain key Restorative Skills which include:
Active listening
Non-violent communication
Anger management
Conflict transformation skills
Dealing with difficult situations
Restorative de-briefing and reflective practice

Restorative Justice is predicated on the notion that damage has been done to relationships by inappropriate behaviour and that prior to an incident there were relationships that have subsequently been damaged. This may not have been the case. In a school community relationships and community need to be actively developed and not taken for granted. This requires a set of Relational skills and can be nurtured with certain relational processes.

The skills include:
Active Listening
Self-awareness
Emotional literacy
Building rapport
Patience
Objectivity
Developing and maintaining self esteem
Appreciating difference
Inclusive practices
Expressing feelings and needs

The Relational processes and systems, which also develop the Active Citizenship skills of the whole community, include:
Circle Time for Staff (for staff development, team building and mutual support)
Circle Time for Students (for developing self-esteem, communication skills and a spirit of co-operation)
Healing Circles
School Council
Peer-counselling
Peer mentoring
Buddying Schemes
No-Blame Approach to Bullying
A Self-Esteem Policy for Staff and for students
A Whole School Relationship Management Policy (as opposed to a 'Behaviour
Management' Policy that tends to focus on young people's behaviour)

Pieced together, the Restorative and Relational processes and skills described above make up the jigsaw of a Whole School Restorative Approach. Every school will have its own priorities and will want to build on existing good practice. Time and resources for training and support will also be issues. For further information some useful links to other websites are listed below:

Transforming Conflict - A Centre for Restorative Justice in Education .This organisation is developing its own website which will have information about Restorative Issues in schools, details of courses , a bibliography of useful books and a discussion forum. It will be fully online by June 2001.
www.transformingconflict.org

Mediation UK. This is the umbrella organisation for community and victim/offender mediation services around the UK. It also supports mediators working in schools on Peer mediation projects.
www.mediationuk.org.uk

Active applications of Restorative tools -
putting relationships at the heart of the process

Circle Time for students
as part of the morning tutor time
as part of PHSE / Citizenship programme
to be integrated into curriculum time

Circle Time for staff (teaching and non-teaching)
for staff development
for sharing difficulties in a spirit of open learning
for supporting year teams, curriculum teams, lunchtime staff, etc.
Workplace mediation for discipline issues amongst staff
Mediation between parents and staff
Peer mediation for student conflict
School councils for developing active citizenship skills
Conferencing
as a Circle Time approach to class conflict
as a tool for dealing with inappropriate behaviour
for case conferences
for special-needs assessments involving parents, school staff and LEAs
These are some examples. Individual schools will design their own action plan.

Belinda Hopkins, January 2000

Restorative/Relational Justice in Schools

P R O C E S S E S

RESTORING (Repairing harm done to relationships and community)	RELATING (Developing/nurturing relationships and creating community)
A) undisputed harm: Restorative Conferencing Family Group Conferencing Victim/Offender Mediation Sentencing Circles B) disputed harm, conflict, mutual recrimination: Mediation Peer Mediation Healing Circles No-Blame Approach to Bullying	including: Circle Time for Staff (for planning, review, support and team building) Circle Time for Students School Council· Circle of Friends Peer Counselling and Mentoring Whole School Development of Relationship Management Policy (cf Behaviour Management, which tends to be student-focused)

RELATIONSHIPS

S K I L L S

skills include: Non-Violent Communication Active Non-Judgemental Listening Conflict Transformation Developing Empathy and Rapport Having Difficult Conversations Restorative Debriefing After Critical Incidents Understanding and Managing Anger MUCH

skills include: Emotional Literacy Developing and Maintaining Self-Esteem Valuing Others Explicitly Assertiveness Acknowledging and Appreciating Diversity Constructively Challenging Oppression and Prejudice Connecting Across Differences OVERLAP

Restorative Justice in Schools - some practitioners from Nottingham and the Thames Valley share their experiences

This article is inspired by a visit that I made recently to Nottingham at the behest of the Restorative Justice in Schools project organisers. Four of us met, Robin Tinker, Lynne Pickup, Debbie Hewer and myself, in the comfortable setting of Lynne's house on a glorious sunny day and we gave ourselves the luxury of a fairly free agenda, discussing issues as they came up. We were all there to learn from each other's experiences but my particular brief was to offer insights on how the Nottingham project could develop further and involve more of the whole school population.

Between us we offered a variety of different approaches and experiences in schools. Robin, Lynne and I share a background in teaching and although we had differing philosophies whilst in the classroom, we now share a commitment to Restorative Justice. Lynne made no secret of the fact that her previous position on dealing with challenging behaviour was punitive but that she had become an enthusiastic convert to restorative ways of dealing with such issues now. My impression was that her experience must speak loudly to sceptical members of the teaching profession whereas someone like myself- always of a liberal, humanistic persuasion- might well get dismissed by some as 'unrealistic'. Robin's long experience working in challenging educational environments and his current advocacy of Restorative Justice also stands as a testimony to the value of a restorative framework in these settings.

Our current approaches differ too and this provided much food for discussion. The Nottingham project has grown out of enthusiasm from the Notts police, notably Dave Wakelin and Dave Padleigh, for using Restorative Conferencing when dealing with youth offending. The schools project began with offering conferencing in school settings with cases of bullying and harassment and has now been extended to peer buddying. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the people directly involved have benefited from the process, the inappropriate behaviour has been reduced and all sides have been able to move forward more positively.

In some respects the Notts approach mirrors the approach in the Thames Valley, where conferencing is being used to deal with inappropriate behaviour in a school setting. In some notable cases police officers working in schools - Drayton School in the Bretchill area of Banbury being a good example- have identified the wider potential of Restorative principles. It is perhaps fair to say that, to date, the restorative conferencing experiences have been in isolated schools, compared to the more formally constituted Notts project where six schools have been involved and the project evaluated for the Home Office CRISP project. (Crime Reduction in Schools)
My observation, in conversation with police officers involved in school projects in the Thames Valley, is that more could be done to coordinate their experiences, provide support, share their skills and create a clearer picture of what is being achieved. I have not gained the impression that there exists a Thames Valley Schools Project as such although there is an attempt to coordinate better what is happening in schools now.

Interestingly, in both the Thames Valley and in Notts a similar story is emerging - that whilst there is undoubted benefit to the individuals involved in conferences most of the time, the school community as a whole remains largely untouched by the process and the philosophy behind it. One of the very first questions Robin and Lynne asked me was how they can make a difference in the schools rather than just to individuals. It is pertinent to ask why they should ask such a question. Why do they want to make a difference in the school as a whole? One could argue that providing those directly involved in an incident are satisfied, the rest of the school community need not be bothered. But of course this is not what Restorative Justice is about. For pragmatic reasons alone the community in which the participants in a conference live and work need to understand what has happened. Their reactions to those involved following a conference will be crucial factors in the reintegration and rehabilitation of both 'victims' and 'offenders'.

However I would argue, and Robin, Lynne and Debbie agree, that there is much more to Restorative Justice than dealing with serious inappropriate or offending behaviour. All those who start using it in such cases can see its potential for dealing with inappropriate behaviour at all levels and also with conflict in general. (It is not for nothing that trained conference facilitators are being asked to adapt the process in neighbourhood conflicts where there are no specific victims and offenders.) Indeed there is something odd about using a process which emphasises restorative principles in one context whilst, in the same school and perhaps even simultaneously in another room, more minor conflicts and misdemeanours are being dealt with in a different, perhaps more punitive, way. Hence the question Robin and Lynne posed - how can we reach the teachers and the students?

This is where my contribution may have some value because I have been involved in developing a project which starts from the premise that we are talking about a 'Whole School Approach'. It has to be said that the project is in its early stages but the thinking and the development has grown out of years of thinking and preparation Interestingly enough, the position I have reached now, with a background in mediation and conflict management in schools, mirrors the experience of Restorative Justice school -based practitioners and it may be pertinent to reflect on that. Things appear to be coming full circle.

Mediation was first developed in this country, in the victim/offender context ,during the 1980's. This later led to the founding of an organisation called FIRM in 1984 (Forum for Initiatives in Mediation and Reparation) which has since become Mediation UK. Very soon afterwards the first neighbourhood mediation schemes began to develop.

Meanwhile, and at first apparently separately, initiatives were being developed in schools to help children deal with conflict in a more creative way. Ideas came over from the United States and various Peace Education networks were formed around the country. Even at that time it was perceived that radical changes might be needed in schools if the ideas being discussed could take root in schools. Political factors governing school policy also played a part and of course there came the backlash against liberal teaching styles that reduced teachers' freedom to develop more holistic approaches. I directly experienced these myself as a teacher struggling with a commitment to democracy in the classroom in the 80's and 90's.

Increasingly people committed to developing conflict management skills in children were drawn to peer mediation as a way of channelling the skills development and some schools responded enthusiastically, seeing it as a way of addressing the bullying and conflict which happened in the playground. Mediation UK lent its support to these initiatives and developed an education wing to its work. Over time however, experienced peer mediation trainers have noticed that the schemes fail to survive for long after the initial training if the school does not embrace the values of mediation.
Young people soon notice if their conflicts are dealt with one way out on the playground by their peers but another way by the adults. They appreciate having their views respected by the mediators and notice all the more if there is a lack of trust and respect from the teachers and lunchtime staff.

To some extent this dissonance can be mitigated if a school has taken on board the practice and values of Circle Time - a process which encourages mutual respect, active listening, non-judgemental acceptance of differences, inclusion and problem-solving. Unfortunately this excellent process is not always understood as precisely that - a process which entails the use of many restorative skills and values - mutual respect, empathy, active listening, impartiality, non-judgemental acceptance of difference, win-win problem-solving. All too often it is considered a time for 'sitting around and discussing problems' and the personal growth and development aspects are ignored, not least by the teacher for whom, to be fair, vulnerability is threatening without the appropriate support from colleagues.

School mediation work then, has reached a point where many practitioners are accepting that more work needs to be done to effect whole school change. This seems to parallel exactly what has been happening recently in Restorative Justice Projects initiated by the police. The inspiration for the projects has come from the conferencing process, originally designed for dealing with victim/offender issues. The potential for use in schools has been identified, the work has started and then frustration has arisen because the whole school has not necessarily understood or embraced the approach.

So let me return to Robin and Lynne's question and my contribution. I am involved ina two-year project in Oxfordshire, working in two secondary schools, to see how Restorative Justice principles and practices can impact on certain key issues in schools. The performance indicators being looked at by the funders of the project - the Oxford Y.O.T,(Youth Offending Team) the L.E.A.(Local Education Authority) and the Thames Valley Police - include reduction in exclusion, raising of attendance, raising of achievement , reduction in staff turnover and absenteeism. I am also concerned with key qualitative indicators such attitudinal and behavioural change as well as tangible changes in management structures. I have made no secret of the fact that this is a pioneering project and we are all learning as we go. Explicitly so - I consider this an Action Research project with the involvement and the collaboration of the school community. This is a vital aspect of the project - it is an organisational change project underscored by restorative values.

It is early days to discuss the project in detail but I will relate the thinking I have been doing back to the sunny day Robin, Lynne, Debbie and I spent together and to the issues that were raised. I only mention the Oxford project to put my thinking in context.

Approaching schools
Key questions for Robin and Lynne were how to approach a school and how to engage key people. I have been reflecting on this and come to the conclusion that we need to address this issue from a community conferencing, problem-solving perspective and go into the experience with our conference facilitators' hats on. In other words we do not have an agenda of persuasion or coercion. Instead we listen actively to the situation as painted by the people we are meeting, we support them to identify their issues and problems, we create safety for them to express their fears and concerns in their present situation, we encourage exchange in the group about what they currently do well and then invite them to identify ways forward. Last and not least we explain what we can offer by way of support, whether this be training or consultancy in addressing the implementation issues. In other words - we are modelling restorative practices from the moment we make the first contact with the school. Our process IS our 'product'.

Time
Another issue that Lynne raised was the issue of time. It is an issue raised by the teachers time and again. When is there time to receive training? When is there time to train young people? When is there time to use the processes even when trained?
These are all very important questions. To some extent I think, as trainer/consultants, we have to be careful not to 'rescue' here. How and when the training will pan out is partly a problem for the schools themselves. My experience in mediation training is that when a school really wants it they make the time available but before they have taken that decision, almost like a leap of faith, time is an insurmountable barrier. So when people raise issues of time I try to listen to the feelings behind the words. However, it is also true that there are tremendous pressures on teachers time-wise. The Restorative Justice community has a role to play at an LEA and even at a national level to lobby for greater flexibility in the teaching timetable. If the government supports the development of Restorative Justice, which I believe it does, then there needs to be a commitment to creating opportunities for it to happen in schools and this includes the financial resources and the time for the initial training, the time for strategic support and the time to sustain the projects.

Restorative Justice in Schools - getting the essentials right

1) It is ESSENTIAL that schools are familiar with Restorative Justice - the processes, the skills and the philosophy that underpins it.
Many young people in school commit offences or are victims of an offence. They and their teachers may well find themselves involved in a Restorative Conference or Victim/Offender mediation in some capacity. They need to understand the rationale behind this approach and what it is trying to achieve.

2) It is ESSENTIAL that schools recognise the role they have to play in the restorative process and what happens afterwards.
Even if not directly involved in the Restorative Conference, all members of the school community can play a role in the reintegration and rehabilitation of the offenders - and can support the victims too, if these are members of the school community.
Failure to understand the philosophy behind a restorative approach could lead to damaging remarks and condemnatory attitudes that could undermine the positive effects of a conference or mediation.

3) It is ESSENTIAL to reduce the numbers of young people being excluded from school. Restorative Conferences, Family Group Conferences and subsequent measures based on Restorative Principles all play a part in this.
New research suggests that permanent exclusion from school can trigger a train of events that can lead to offending behaviour. If behaviour that presently leads to exclusion can be dealt with restoratively this may mean young people can stay in their school community and all concerned benefit from the process.
Cf statistics OHP

4) It is ESSENTIAL to explore alternatives to exclusion and to managing behaviour along Restorative lines.
Teachers need skills and support to relate to disaffected young people in a different way - Restorative Justice may have the philosophy and principles that could lead to greater mutual respect and communication.
Very few Teacher Training courses prepare teachers for relating effectively to students, for dealing with conflict and challenging behaviour and for understanding emotional and behavioural difficulties.

5) It is ESSENTIAL to explore alternatives to punishment. Punishment doesn't work for many of those who are punished regularly and can be counter-productive for the occasional minor misdemeanour - so why are sanctions often used in schools?
Restorative Justice challenges the notion that punishment is effective in changing behaviour. This must have fundamental implications for the way teachers and parents address inappropriate behaviour with all young people. If Restorative Justice were used in a school for serious offences then it would be inconsistent to use a more punitive approach for less serious misbehaviour. Justice is about being fair and consistent.
Cf Howard Zehr's model OHP

6) It is ESSENTIAL that young people learn to be accountable for their actions and to take responsibility for the choices they make if they are to be active and responsible citizens.
Restorative Justice is about encouraging offenders to be accountable for their actions and to take responsibility for repairing the harm caused. Schools and parents have a role to play in bringing up young people to approach relationships in this way from a young age and to consider the needs of others as well as their own.

7) It is ESSENTIAL that schools recognise the importance of good relationships in creating a climate for effective teaching and learning and for the development and maintenance of a safe respectful community.
If we want young people to be accountable for their actions and to want to repair damage to relationships in the event of a conflict then we need to develop relationships in the first place. There needs to be something there to repair! Relationship skills and emotional education are part of Citizenship education.

8) Restorative Justice in action is, ESSENTIALLY, Active Citizenship.
I use the words Relational Justice to describe the important baseline for a community to build on. A school needs to be developing a strong positive ethos amongst all its members, adults and students alike. It needs to provide training in, and opportunities for, community building, active listening, creative conflict management, emotional education and developing empathy, understanding and tolerance towards diversity.
From this base grow Restorative practices such as Restorative Conferencing and Mediation in the event of conflict and inappropriate behaviour. All of these aspects are part of active citizenship and participatory democracy in a school community.
The example of all the adults in a school is vital -senior management, teachers, learning support assistants, administrative staff, governors, parents, lunchtime staff etc - and they to need use these processes for their own team building and conflict management. This is what I mean by a Whole School Approach.

Restorative Justice in Schools
Revised adaptation by Belinda Hopkins
of a paradigm devised by Howard Zehr