Restorative practices

JUNE 29 and 30 signalled another milestone in the professional development efforts of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA).

In collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), TTUTA hosted a two-day workshop on restorative practices facilitated by a three-member team from AFT.

Participants included teachers from across the educational districts including Tobago, as well as personnel from Student Support Services. This workshop was timely, as it provided the participants with an additional skill for improving interpersonal relationship to their toolkit. But what is this restorative practices? Restorative practice is a social science that studies how to build social capital and achieve social discipline through participatory learning and decision-making (Ted Wachtel, International Institute for Restorative Practices).

It aims to help reduce crime and violence, improve human behaviour, strengthen civil society, provide effective leadership, restore relationships and repair harm. The processes focus on proactively building relationships and a sense of community to prevent conflict and wrongdoing.

Restorative practice has its roots in restorative justice, a philosophy founded on the belief that relationships are the glue that holds our communities together. It is rooted in values that create positive relationships such as dignity, respect, trust and care. Restorative justice uses multiple strategies to strengthen relationships and build a sense of community.

These strategies are also used when conflicts or adverse situations occur. Key stakeholders are brought together to collectively address harms, needs and obligations in order to heal and make things as right as possible. The goals of restorative justice include relationships, accountability, healing and safety. Discipline paradigms are also taken into consideration when engaging in restorative practices.

Punitive discipline’s central assumption is that “Punishment and fear of future punishment will deter future misconduct.” This type of discipline asks questions such as: “What rule or law was broken?” “Who did it?” “What punishment do they deserve?” Restorative discipline’s central assumption is “Strengthening relationships and holding people accountable for repairing harm will deter future misconduct.” Questions asked include: “Who was harmed?” “What are their needs?” “Whose obligation is it to repair the harm and make it right?” We must build restorative school cultures which intentionally build trusting and respectful relationships between staff and students; understand the importance of individual and collective healing; seek to find and acknowledge the root cause of conflict; invite those who cause harm to create positive solutions to repair it; and use a dialogue-based process to resolve conflict.

Restorative practices which can be used in schools include: 1. Classroom community — intentional and consistent activities that help build meaningful relationships, strengthen classroom community and promote a culture of mutual respect in the school; for example, reflective bell ringers, shared classroom values, mindful daily interactions.

2. Talking circles — to build relationships and community in the classroom; for example, to check in and check out at the start/end of the class and/or the start/end of the week.

3. Restorative conversation — one-on-one semi-structured conversation between staff and student( s) in response to a behaviour that is causing a negative impact.

4. Peer conferences — a structured process led by trained students or staff. This is usually in response to classroom misconduct, conflicts with teachers, tardiness, minor property damage, name calling, and threats.

5. Conflict or healing circles — to heal after a fight or other major incident.

In ongoing efforts to address violence and indiscipline in schools, restorative practices offer another layer of intervention with a promise to make a difference in the long term.