Restorative Justice in Action 2

Brigid Medlam is the Restorative Justice in Schools project co-ordinator. Here, she tells Teachers' TV about the principals that underpin Restorative Justice and how she applies them in a school setting.

Restorative Justice can be described by the three Rs:

Responsibility

For behaviour taken by those involved and their parents

Reparation

Victim involvement through consultation mediation and participation in decision-making meetings to deal with the offence

Re-integration

Responding to the causes of the offence in ways that help the young person continue to benefit from mainstream services

School should be a positive experience where students can learn and achieve their full potential. All young people have the right to learn in a safe environment without fear of being bullied, threatened or abused, and everyone has a part to play to make sure this does not happen. Restorative Justice works by bringing together the young people involved in conflict in a safe and structured environment to resolve problems in a calm and positive way.

Problems that can be helped by Restorative Justice in Schools

Bullying

Assault

Harassment

Truancy

Theft

Inter pupil conflict

Pupil-teacher conflict

Parent-teacher conflict

Parent-school conflict

Those responsible must accept they have done wrong and be prepared to participate in the process. The Restorative Justice worker meets the pupils involved and if appropriate will arrange a Restorative Justice conference.

A conference brings together all those affected and provides a controlled and calm environment for the incident to be discussed. Parents and carers can also be involved.

Conference aims

To look at ways to put right the harm the incident has caused

To write an agreement (contract) of the actions that will be taken

To support all concerned so they can continue in their school life successfully

Conference process

The facilitator runs the meeting and ensures everything is fair and balanced

Everyone is asked in turn what their thoughts and feelings are about the incident and how it affected them

Everyone whose behaviour caused the incident is given the opportunity to put it right

An agreement/contract is drawn up and everyone present signs it

The facilitator follows up everything that has been agreed and ensures the contract has been undertaken

The results

All the people harmed are given the chance to say how the incident has affected them

All involved have the opportunity to take responsibility for the incident and are given the chance to put things right

Because it is generally a positive and healing experience, the risk of repeating the incident is reduced

How Restorative Justice in Schools can be used

To help reintegration into school following an exclusion for an incident involving another pupil or teacher

To help defuse a situation that is in danger of getting out of control

To deal with incidents which happen outside which are affecting pupils in school

One of the aims of RJ is that pupils will learn to model the process for themselves.

The principles of Restorative Justice

A victim would not be expected to participate in a conference if the RJ worker felt they would be re-victimised by the process. In this case the RJ worker would work with the victim on an individual basis to help them develop coping mechanisms.

Restorative Justice actively encourages parental inclusion as this can often aid the process of conflict resolution and at times will ask parents to attend a RJ meeting.

RJ is not designed just to be an add-on in schools.The aim is to be integrated into a schools rewards and punishment policy and for all staff to be cognisant with its philosophy. To this end I have designed a Year 10 peer mediation training programme which is AQA accredited. Once trained, the peer mediators work in pairs to help younger students.

The peer mediators are supervised by the RJ worker in school, but run the service themselves. Staff INSET training in RJ is important as is RJ presence in PSHE. Lastly we take referrals from all members of staff and encourage pupils to self-refer. Having a link worker in school is essential to ensure that this process happens appropriately.

We are currently working one day a week in three LBRUT secondary schools and on an ad hoc basis in three others. Referrals come through the LEA, social services, education welfare, the youth offending team and victim support.

RJ in schools is funded by The Children's Fundand is a part of the Adolescent Resource Team LBRUT