Restorative practice in schools is an approach to fostering positive relationships, resolving conflicts, and building community. It focuses on repairing harm done to relationships and individuals through open communication, mediation, accountability, and mutual respect. Restorative justice introduces a fundamental change in how one responds to discipline, rule violation and misbehaviours. The typical way in which schools respond to bad behaviour is by punishment. Restorative justice resolves disciplinary problems in a cooperative constructive way.

Restorative practice is a proactive way of working WITH people, not doing things TO them, not doing things FOR them and NOT being neglectful or doing nothing at all (Wachtel and McCold, 2001, p.117). They seek to increase the opportunities for dialogue at every level. We use a three-tiered approach to restoration focused on prevention, intervention and reintegration.

PREVENTION

The first tier is all about community-building as a preventive measure. Teachers or peer facilitators lead students in circles of sharing, where kids open up about their fears and goals. Students play an integral part in creating the climate of Tier I. The teacher and students start the year by creating a classroom respect agreement.

Everyone agrees to be held accountable. The contract is an extremely effective way of maintaining harmony in the classroom. If the children help create the rules, then they have ownership. And if they break them, they can be referred back to them.

The goal of any restorative practice is to build a sense of community in the classroom by:

• Providing pathways to repair harm;
• Bringing together individuals impacted by an issue in a dialogue;
• Achieving a common understanding;
• Coming to an agreement about resolving the conflict and moving forward.

INTERVENTION

Tier II comes into play when students break rules and someone has caused harm to someone else. In traditional justice, this is when punishments are meted out. Restorative justice instead turns to mediation. The offending student is given the chance to come forward and make things right. They meet with the affected parties and a mediator, usually a teacher.

The mediator asks nonjudgmental, restorative questions like What happened? How did it happen? or What can we do to make it right? Through their discussions, everyone learns about what happened, why it happened, and how the damage can be fixed. “They’ll talk about what can be done to repair the harm,” Yurem shares. “They’ll come up with a plan and fulfill that plan. And hopefully, the relationship will be stronger. It’s really all about relationships—building and repairing them.

REINTEGRATION

Tier III aims to help kids who’ve been out of school due to suspension, expulsion, incarceration, or truancy. Returning to school life can be a real challenge in those cases. Many students in traditional environments quickly re-offend or drop out again. Restorative-justice practices seek to reduce this recidivism by providing a “wraparound” supportive environment from the start. They acknowledge the student’s challenges while promoting accountability and achievement.

Re-entry circles (or Community-building circles) – is designed to support a student returning to campus from disciplinary actions (such as suspension or expulsion), and, if possible, one or two days prior to the student’s return.

SCHOOLS THAT ADOPT RESTORATIVE PRACTICES

This restorative thinking approach often includes techniques such as restorative meetings or circles, conferences, and restorative justice principles to address conflicts and build social and emotional skills. It emphasizes collaboration, inclusion and the importance of repairing harm rather than resorting to punitive measures.

A school making a conscious decision to become restorative also opens a door to a new mindset and culture shift. It focuses on social emotional learning (SEL), a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) and invests in developing classrooms as communities, while searching for positive alternatives to reactive punitive behaviour solutions (e.g. exclusions).