Welcome to the Restorative Schools Initiative!
This section of the site is about using Restorative Practices in schools.
Restorative Practices in a school setting is a way of thinking about
- school climate and community,
- classroom management, and
- accountability for misbehavior.
This model is based on evidence – research data that shows us the model works. As with many other evidence-based models, Restorative Practices begin with the premise that positive behavioral supports work.
Retributive vs. Restorative Practices
A comparison of restorative discipline with traditional punitive or retributive disciplinary processes (which essentially mirror the criminal justice system) reveals marked differences in key philosophical, process, and strategic aspects. Click below to view some of these crucial differences1:
Misbehavior:
- Retributive: Defined as breaking school rules or letting the school down.
- Restorative: Defined as harm (emotional/ mental/physical) done to one person/group by another.
Focus:
- Retributive: On what happened and establishing blame and guilt.
- Restorative: On problem-solving by expressing feelings and needs and exploring how to address problems in the future
Process:
- Retributive: Adversarial; includes an authority figure with the power to decide on penalty, in conflict with wrongdoer.
- Restorative: Dialogue and negotiation; everyone involved is in communication and cooperation with each other.
Goal:
- Retributive: Imposition of pain or unpleasantness to punish and deter/prevent.
- Restorative: Restitution as a means of restoring both parties, the goal being reconciliation and acknowledging responsibility for choices.
Attends to:
- Retributive: Rules and adherence to due process.
- Restorative: Relationships and achievement of a mutually desired outcome.
View of Conflict/Wrongdoing:
- Retributive: Impersonal and abstract; individual versus school.
- Restorative: Interpersonal and grounded in relationship; opportunity for everyone to learn.
Harm:
- Retributive: One social injury justifies and is compounded by another.
- Restorative: Focus on repair of social injury/damage.
Accountability:
- Retributive: Defined in terms of receiving punishment.
- Restorative: Defined as understanding impact of actions, taking responsibility for choices, and suggesting ways to repair harm.
School Community:
- Retributive: Viewed as spectators, represented by member of staff dealing with the situation; those directly affected uninvolved and powerless.
- Restorative: Involved in facilitating restoration; those affected taken into consideration; empowerment.
1 Adapted from: Implementing Restorative Justice: A guide for schools (2009), published by the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority, p. 7.
