Restorative discussion

Restorative chat with students who are withdrawn...

Restorative practices work by bringing about a sense of remorse and restorative action on the part of the offender and forgiveness by the victim when someone has been wronged. Practitioners can focus on the unacceptable behaviour of offenders rather than their moral character. This can lead to healthier interpersonal relations among members of the school community and more effective learning.


Individual conference:


Teacher and one student

If you do not see the incident start with:


•What happened?

then:

•What were you thinking when you?


When you know or see what happened,

start with:


•What were you thinking when you…?

•What have you thought about since?

•Did you do the right thing or the wrong thing?

•Who has been affected by what you did, in what ways?

•How can you fix things up?

•What can I do to help you?

•Can we put this behind us and move on?


Formally record agreement in chronicle. Congratulate student on their planning to improve their behaviour.

Skills and Values required to engage in restorative processes


• Remaining impartial and non-judgemental

• Respecting the perspective of all involved

• Actively and empathically listening

• Developing rapport amongst participants

• Empowering participants to come up with solutions, rather than suggesting or imposing ideas

• Creative questioning

• Warmth

• Compassion

• Patience


Small group conference:


Teacher and several students (offenders and victims)

To the offender:


•What were you thinking about when you… ?

•What have you thought about since it happened?

•Did you do the right thing or the wrong thing?

•Who has been affected by what you did, in what ways?


To the victim:


•What did you think when this happened to you?

•What has been the hardest thing for you?

•How do you feel about this now?


To the offender:


•What do you need to say or do to make things better?


To the victim:


•What would you like to see happen to fix things?


To both parties:


•Does anything else need to happen to repair the harm?

•Would an agreement help?

•Can we live with that, is that fair?

•Can we move on and leave this behind us?