school management
Restoration project
Why we should bother with restorative practices .
By Adam Voigt
I
’ m often asked why I advocate so fiercely for restorative practices . After all , its detractors are many and they certainly seem a fervent lot too .
So , before I answer that question of why , I actually think it ’ s important to address the concerns of those who ’ ve had a less-thanwonderful experience with restorative practices – because those concerns are real .
The lived experience of educators who have had restorative practices imposed upon them by either an overenthusiastic school leader or a zealot who doesn ’ t really understand the unique pressures of school life are valid . For too long , the unacceptable gap between the wholly useful principles of working restoratively and the simple , yet artful , implementation of those principles in any school ’ s local context has been tolerated .
It ’ s resulted in time-poor teachers feeling the need to read a list of questions from a business card every time a student
drops a piece of litter . It ’ s left school leaders unprepared for the questions that inevitably come from parents about where the punishments have gone .
And , more than this , it ’ s deprived Australia ’ s teachers of the true benefits of bringing restorative practice habits into their daily work . Which brings me back to why I bother with restorative practices . Well , it ’ s chiefly a selfish choice – it makes me more effective and less stressed .
When I practice restoratively , I ’ m more effective in that my students make more progress – both academically and socially . And I ’ m less stressed in that I know that my practice aligns with my beliefs and values about working with young people .
It ’ s my contention that too many teachers go home every night feeling awful about inflicting arbitrary behaviour management programs upon their students and following flowcharts prescribing the appropriate consequences for students who step out of line . Nobody gets into teaching for that .
So , how do we finally dispel the old myths about restorative practices and instead install a new , respectful model of working restoratively that educators , students and parents can both understand and follow ?
We ’ re calling that model RP2.0 and its arrival is long overdue . Essentially , it ’ s about the supported understanding of three key concepts that can provide teachers with a whole new frontier for impact and ease in the classroom .
LANGUAGE The culture of any human system is chiefly determined by the language of those who lead it . We all remember the words , positive and negative , that our parents used to raise us . We remember the musical lyrics of the era we were shaped in ; the catchphrases of the television shows we watched and the messages from the novels we read in high school .
Words matter , primarily because they serve as permanent audible and written reminders of what matters or counts in that culture . As a result , language manifests as both an input and an output of a culture . An input in that it ’ s incumbent on the leaders to be careful about the words they use to grow young people . An output in that those words are adopted by those who do the growing – our students .
Put bluntly , if we choose words of control and punishment in order to grow our children , we can expect them to eventually seek to control and punish others in order to succeed . In a sound restorative model , we instead speak to affective statements for the plethora of moments in which informal behaviours , both that we like and don ’ t , occur in schools .
Instead of saying “ don ’ t say that ” when a student swears , work on shifting that language without any tangible cost in time , to “ It disappoints me to hear you speak like that . Choose some better words .”
Now , how often in a day do you think you could just squeeze a feelings / affective word – like disappointed , delighted , impressed or frustrated – into your work ? Hundreds possibly ? Well , even if each staff
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