The Australian Context - Restorative Practices as a Platform for Cultural Change in Schools.
A paper presented by Peta Blood to the World Criminology Conference in Philadelphia in 2005. This article outlines the Australian perspective on the implementation of restorative practices in educational settings and has been described as an excellent resource to assist practitioners with the scope of implementation issues.
The more schools work restoratively, the more they are forced to look at the strength of relationships in schools. This article, published in the Emotional Literacy Update journal develops the links between Emotional Literacy and Restorative Practices.
Overcoming Resistance to Whole-School Uptake of Restorative Practices (2nd in a series)
The 2nd paper in a series by Peta Blood and Margaret Thorsborne. Following the first paper which discusses how to embed restorative practices in schools, Marg and Peta have written a comprehensive article on how to take people through the process of change. Understanding that people will have their own journey through the process is key to understanding how best to work with them.
A fabulous document developed for the Victorian Department of Education on how to work effectively with children who have experienced trauma in their lives. Really helps to understand their needs and issues and how to effectively respond in a way that does not further traumatise these students. Does not specifically mention restorative practices, but it is easy to see how the range of practices help make a difference in the way this document describes.
Research on Classroom Practice The Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning and the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education has conducted extensive research on good teaching practice.
The study defined three broad domains of good teaching:
emotional support
organizational support, and
instructional support
The report says: 'Teachers who score high on positive emotional climate consistently demonstrate respect for their students. They are in proximity when they speak to the children in their classroom, establish eye contact before speaking to them, and address them by name. They consistently have a warm and calm tone and use language that communicates respect, such as saying "Please," "Thank you" and "You're welcome." The absence of harshness and tension is noticeable, and when conflicts arise they quickly dissipate. This type of environment is conducive to learning and allows children to feel safe to explore.'
ACT Inquiry into the use of Restorative Justice in Youth Settings The ACT government recently released its findings of a 3 year inquiry into the use of restorative justice in youth settings. A large portion of this report focused on the application of restorative justice practices in schools throughout the ACT. Circle Speak is proud to have contributed to the recommendations of this report and to have assisted ACT schools in the development of this practice.
Randomised controlled trials are finding solid evidence for the benefits of what's called "restorative justice", in which criminals meet their victims and discuss the impact of their crime. With his colleague Heather Strang, Sherman has reviewed many rigorous trials of restorative justice in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand and shown that with certain exceptions, it reduces repeat offending rates for violent criminals. It helps victims too, reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of violent crime by 40 per cent in one study in London.
"Restorative justice can work, but more research is needed to specify the conditions under which it works best," says Sherman. "Soon there will be an extremely robust body of evidence about restorative justice - not answering all our questions, but demonstrating that it's possible to take an innovation like restorative justice and subject it to rigorous research and improvement before just plunging right into it."
