This paper explores definitions and understandings of Restorative Practices in education. It offers a critique of current theoretical models of Restorative Justice originally derived from the criminal justice system, and now becoming popular in educational settings. It questions the appropriateness of these concepts as they are being introduced to schools in parts of the UK and refers to a recent Scottish Executive funded pilot initiative to implement Restorative Practices in schools. The paper then reflects on some findings from the evaluation of this pilot project, outlines a new notion of Restorative Approaches and suggests that this broader conceptualisation may offer an important way in which to promote social justice in education and to reassess the importance and inevitability of conflicting social interaction and structures inherent in schools as complex social institutions.
SEED commissioned a team from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow to evaluate the initiative. That evaluation was collaborative and flexible and took account of differences between the eighteen pilot schools and also of the varying aims schools had in implementing RPs. This paper will draw on data emerging from the evaluation to compare and contrast the experiences of schools as they tried to work in ways which were more restorative and less punitive. The first part of this paper will define RPs and will discuss the nature and distinctiveness of these approaches as they have been used in different settings. The paper will then examine RPs in relation to the experience of schools in the Scottish pilot. Did successful implementation depend upon the existing ethos of the school? Or were RPs themselves a vehicle by which schools could develop a more positive ethos? Three case studies in implementing RPs will be offered. These will be used to exemplify how some schools • changed their practices as a result of implementing RPs • incorporated RPs into existing practices • did not change at all These varying experiences of the case study schools will be used to probe notions of restorative and retributive approaches in relation to school ethos. Finally, the paper will explore the capacity of RPs to transform school ethos and, in general, will consider the conditions necessary for this to happen.
In 2002, the Scottish Executive Education Department launched a national debate on schools for the 21st century. The debate elicited over 1500 responses and it is estimated that 20,000 people took part. This paper describes the main themes arising from the debate, highlighting the support for comprehensive education and the high level of trust in the quality and professionalism of teachers. The agenda for change was in terms of greater flexibility and choice in the school curriculum and of the need for well-built and well-resourced schools. The paper discusses this approach to policy formulation in the context of voter disengagement from politics and suggests that the Scottish Executive should attempt to sustain civic participation in education policy-making as a way of developing a new politics in Scotland.
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