Transforming Conflict in Schools

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Transforming Conflict in Schools

• Restorative Justice in Educational Settings

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• Values and key messages
• The challenges and the joys of implementation
• Recommendations

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Belonging

• Everyone needs to feel they belong and that they
  are valued for who they are.
• Good relationships need to be at the heart of
  everything a school does if effective teaching
  and learning are to take place.
• If people feel heard they feel respected and
  valued.

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Existing initiatives that build relationships,
mutual respect and a sense of belonging and
having a voice

• PHSE curriculum
• Citizenship
• SEAL SEBS PATHS
• Circle Time
• School Council
• Mentoring and buddying programmes
• Peer Mediation
• Sport and drama events

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• What about the way teaching and learning takes
  place are teachers modelling restorative/relatio
  nal skills in the way they teach and are young
  people developing such skills in the way they set
  about their learning?

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• If we are not modelling what we teach then we are
  teaching something else.

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• And what happens when things go wrong?

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• Every discipline' issue in schools is an
  inter-personal conflict leaving at least one
  person feeling frustrated, angry, hurt,
  resentful, anxious or even afraid.

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Congruence

• Does the current way we manage inappropriate
  behaviour and conflict also
• build /repair relationships?
• maintain mutual respect?
• preserve the sense of belonging?
• ensure everyone involved is given a voice and
  feels heard?
• empower those with the conflict to resolve it for
  themselves?
• whilst also ensuring accountability and
  minimising the chance of a occurrence?

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Think of a discipline issue you have dealt with,
or observed being in the last two weeks

• Were you able to treat those involved with
  respect?
• Were you genuinely curious about what those
  involved had to say and how they felt?
• Did you encourage them to explore what needed to
  happen to put things right?
• Did you refrain from making demands, offering
  advice or pronouncing judgement?
• Did those involved go away feeling satisfied and
  comfortable with each other and you?
• Did they, and maybe you, learn to do differently
  from the experience?

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• If not what stopped you?

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Attitudinal

• Punitive mindset
• Cultural resistance to being asked to talk about
  thoughts and feelings
• Resistance to change

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Practical

• Lack of time for training, implementation and use
  of restorative approaches
• Lack of money for training
• Staff turnover losing trained staff/gaining
  untrained staff

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Procedural

• Existing school/authority/national policies
  differ from restorative philosophy
• eg Is the underpinning philosophy of Solution
  Focussed Approaches or Assertive Discipline the
  same as that of Restorative Approaches ?

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Contextual

• Violence in the surrounding community influencing
  young people
• Needy, inadequately supported families can make
  too many demands on staff time once staff start
  to use active listening skills

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Attitudinal

• Initial awareness-raising to change
• attitudes
• Sharing a vision
• Growing confidence in restorative
• approaches by the school community
• and those using them

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Practical

• Training (initially training enough people,
  especially senior management) gradually
  involving others (students as peer mediators
  lunchtime staff, canteen staff and office staff
  parents)
• Support continuing professional development
  sharing ideas and experiences ongoing training
  and refresher days

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Procedural

• Ensuring initiative is in the development plan
• Making linkages relating restorative practices
  with other initiatives such as emotional
  literacy cooperative learning etc

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Contextual

• Encouraging support within the community
• Parent workshops restorative practices to be
  introduced to transform/deal with challenging
  behaviour
• Work with your multi-agency partners who support
  young people and their families

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• To believe in something and not live
• it is to be dishonest
• Gandhi

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Recommendations at authority level

• Integral to authoritys development plan .
• Local authority steering group/resources
• Make the links between current and developing
  practice and restorative approaches
• Multi-agency involvement
• Initiative is underpinned by restorative
  principles from the outset, working with key
  stakeholders rather than imposing on (doing to)
  or taking decisions for them

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Recommendations at school level

• Establish an in-house steering group,
  representing all sections of the school community
  
• Ensure that the initiative is in the school
  development plan and is linked to other related
  initiatives
• Choice of course flexible content
• Choice of initial trainees on a course SMT must
  be on board
• Cultivate and nurture your early adopters dont
  spread word too thin
• Network with other schools

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Belinda Hopkins can be contacted at

• Transforming Conflict
• National Centre for Restorative
• Justice in Education
• Mortimer Hill,
• Mortimer
• Berks
• RG7 3PW
• Tel/fax [phone]
• Belinda_at_transformingconflict.org
• www.transformingconflict.org