Bethlehem, PA
Training of Trainers: Introduction to Restorative Practices and Using Circles Effectively
The emerging field of "restorative practices" offers a common thread to tie together theory, research and practice in seemingly disparate fields, such as education, counseling, criminal justice, social work and organizational management.
Restorative practices provides a general framework for a broad range of approaches that give those most affected by conflict the tools and principles needed to resolve problems and build relationships.
The underlying premise of restorative practices is that people are happier, more cooperative, more productive and more likely to make positive changes when those in authority do things with them rather than to them or for them. This premise is part of a unifying conceptual framework that helps to explain human motivation and social behavior, from families and classrooms to workplaces and communities.
Restorative practices in schools
For teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators, restorative practices provides a proactive approach for building a school community based on cooperation, mutual understanding, and respect. Restorative practices provides processes for holding students accountable for their actions and behavior while at the same time building a nurturing school environment.
Restorative justice and parallel developments
Many who find their way to this web site will have heard the term “restorative justice,” a worldwide movement that offers a new way of looking at criminal justice by focusing on repairing the harm done to people and relationships rather than on punishing offenders. Originating in the 1970s as mediation between victims and offenders, in the 1990s restorative justice broadened to include communities of care as well, with victims’ and offenders’ families and friends participating in collaborative processes called “conferences” and “circles.”
There have been a number of parallel developments in other fields:
- Primary school educators have used talking circles and morning meetings to improve classroom climate
- Secondary educators have adapted restorative justice to address discipline problems
- Social workers have organized family group decision making (FGDM) conferences to bring together extended families to solve problems of abuse and delinquency involving their own loved ones
- Business managers have used horizontal management strategies to empower their employees to solve problems in the workplace.
Restorative practices integrates these diverse but fundamentally similar developments under one umbrella. Restorative justice may be thought of as a subset of restorative practices.
An effective alternative to zero tolerance policies
Most of the time restorative justice has been applied reactively in schools to address discipline problems. It is often seen as an alternative to zero tolerance policies, which studies show have failed to improve school discipline issues and may have actually exacerbated them. Restorative justice gives students who commit infractions in school an opportunity to understand how their behavior affects others in the school community, including other students, teachers and parents, and directly involves them in a process to repair the harm caused.
Building a positive school culture
Restorative practices takes a proactive approach to transforming the whole school environment, from the classroom to the lunchroom, from the playground to the school bus, and from the teachers’ lounge to adminstrators’ offices. It gives teachers, administrators, office staff, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, students and parents, too, the means to foster a restorative atmosphere throughout a school, by nipping problems in the bud and creating a positive community.
Learn more
Summer Training Institute 2010
