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Restorative justice in schools in The Times and on Radio 4 Women's Hour

BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour on 22th November featured restorative justice in schools. Presenter Jenni Murray speaks to Helen Philpotts from Walworth Academy and Lizzie Nelson, Director of the Restorative Justice Council, to look at the development of restorative justice in schools. 

Lizzie highlighed the consistent findings across five recent research studies - in Scotland, Hull, Cardiff, Bristol and Barnet - that restorative practice in schools reduced exclusion and bullying, and increased attendance and teacher confidence; and the recent DfE report showing 97% of teachers see restorative practice as the most effective approach to prevent, and deal with, bullying.

Visit the Radio 4 Woman's Hour website to listen again to the programme (starts at 11 minutes 30 seconds), which includes a recording from a restorative justice conference held at Walworth Academy.

In October The Times was invited to Walworth Academy by the Restorative Justice Council and Principal Devon Hanson. 

Journalist Carly Chynoweth's article in The Times is included below:

It is not an uncommon scenario: one schoolboy feels slighted when a friend does not want to play, and responds by punching him. Other children find out, rumours circulate and mischief-makers start stirring. If it gets out of hand, the school could find itself dealing with more incidents involving the two boys, or fights between other children who decide to take sides.

That’s why Jack and Thomas*, pupils at Walworth Academy in southeast London, spent part of one sunny autumn afternoon sitting across from each other while Helen Philpotts, the school’s restorative justice co-ordinator, led them through a discussion of what happened and how things could be put right.

Restorative justice is used in all sorts of settings, from criminal cases — where it can be recommended or taken into account during sentencing — to care homes. “The aim is to work out how someone can take responsibility for what they did, and what they can do to repair the damage,” said Lizzie Nelson, director of the charitable body the Restorative Justice Council. “It also gives the victim the opportunity to explain how they were affected by the person’s actions.”

While the term “restorative justice” can create the impression that the focus is on financial or physical restoration — say, repainting a wall damaged by graffiti — very often the focus is “emotional restoration”. Many victims are happy with a genuine apology.

At Walworth it is a way of resolving the problems that underlie misbehaviour. “Otherwise our only sanction is detention or exclusion, and that does not take away the problem,” said Devon Hanson, the academy’s principal. “So while we may still need to exclude a child or two children for fighting, it makes sense to make it short so that they lose less lesson time, and to create opportunities for them to learn how the victim feels and for the victim to be able to look in their eyes in a safe environment and explain it.”

At the session observed by The Times, Thomas — the boy who was hit — started by telling Ms Philpotts what had happened and how it made him feel. Jack then explained that he had been upset and frustrated because Thomas had run away from him rather than playing with him earlier. At first the boys stare at the desk, but as they relax, they start talking to each other directly rather than through Ms Philpotts, who had worked with both of them separately before the session.

That preparation also allowed her to steer the boys’ discussion so that all the issues underlying the incident were addressed. Gradually it became clear that Thomas and others in their group of friends occasionally avoid Jack because he sometimes uses racist language and calls other children names. He also has a short fuse, something that Jack himself acknowledged.

Jack, for his part, said he hated feeling he was being ignored by his friends and just wanted the chance to be part of the group. He also told Thomas that he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

“I will be your friend again but you need to stop and calm down and just play football with us, and you need to stop being racist and calling people names,” Thomas said. “Then we will play with you again.”

Jack apologised for hitting Thomas and promised to stop using racist words, while Thomas apologised to Jack for running away from him rather than explaining that sometimes he wanted to play with other friends. Ms Philpotts helped to formalise and underline what they had each agreed, but it was very clearly the boys who made up their own minds.

By the time the session drew to a close, the boys were grinning and talking happily about a new game that they wanted to try out together. After the boys had gone back to class, Ms Philpotts said: “The whole thing is about underpinning emotions. Nine times out of ten, what happened with Thomas and Jack is not about being punched; it is about Jack wanting to be friends with Thomas.” Find a way to resolve that and the emotion that led to the punch disappears.

One of the biggest restorative justice sessions that she has managed at the school concerned cyber-bullying. The meeting involved several teenage girls, their parents, the head of year and a police officer. At the heart of it, though, was that the victim was being picked on because she wanted to be friends with the “cool” girls. “In that situation the policeman had to lay down the law [around cyber-bullying] and explain that they couldn’t do it and they had to agree that they were not friends. You can’t force people to be friends. But I always say to them, ‘there are more than 100 members of staff here, do you think I invite them all to my birthday?’ It helps them see that you don’t have to be friends with someone to work with them courteously.”

Children feel more confident about reporting bullying when they know that the school will work to solve the problem, Mr Hanson explained. It is more work for the school — “let’s face it, it’s easier and quicker to say to a child, ‘you’re excluded’ ” — but it has contributed to an environment in which they feel safe. “It helps give them the tools to be able to deal with issues. We teach them that it is OK to look someone in the eye and say ‘sorry’.”

*The children’s names and some details of the incidents have been changed. Photograph Credit: Times photographer, Richards Pohle. Article published 14th October 2011.

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24th Nov 2011 | Media

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