Gwynedd Lloyd

Can restorative practices in schools make a difference

Schools in the UK looking for solutions to concerns about indiscipline have been enthused by the basic premise of restorative practice; the need to restore good relationships when there has been conflict or harm; and develop a school ethos, policies and procedures that reduce the possibilities of such conflict and harm arising. In 2004 the Scottish Executive funded a national pilot project on restorative practice and commissioned a team at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities to carry out a two‐year evaluation of the pilot. In this paper, we discuss staff and pupil understandings and offer some exploration of the underpinning principles of restorative practice as it has developed thus far in schools. We explore the successes and challenges schools experienced and discuss the potential contribution of restorative practices for schools in challenging times. Finally we relate our findings to some critical arguments about the meaning and purposes of discipline and control in schooling.

‘I was dead restorative today’: from restorative justice to restorative approaches in school

This paper explores definitions and understandings of restorative practices in education. It offers a critique of current theoretical models of restorative justice originally derived from the criminal justice system and now becoming popular in educational settings. It questions the appropriateness of these concepts as they are being introduced to schools in parts of the UK and refers to a recent Scottish Executive funded pilot initiative to implement restorative practices in schools. The paper then reflects on some findings from the evaluation of this pilot project, outlines a new notion of restorative approaches and suggests that this broader conceptualisation may offer an important way in which to promote social justice in education and to reassess the importance and inevitability of conflicting social interaction and structures inherent in schools as complex social institutions.

Education and Gypsies/Travellers: "Contradictions and Significant Silences".

For centuries there have been strong tensions between Gypsy/Traveller communities and their nation states. Today, discrimination against Gypsies/Travellers in the UK is still so widespread that it has been described as the last ‘respectable’ form of racism. The paper argues that the experiences of Gypsies/Travellers, as they come into contact with the structures of education, reveal a continuing discrimination against one of the most disadvantaged minority ethnic groups in the UK; a discrimination that, at the same time, points to continuing ‘contradictions and significant silences’ within the UK government, and Scottish Executive, policy drive to reduce social exclusion.

Parents, professionals and ADHD : what the papers say

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has risen rapidly to public and professional prominence in the UK in recent years. In this paper, we explore some issues that emerge from an analysis of newspaper articles on ADHD and look at the discourses that are constructed discourses which contribute to defining what ADHD is, through argument and counter-argument. We contextualize these arguments in a developing consumerism and the changing relationships between the public and experts.

From difference to deviance: the exclusion of gypsy‐traveller children from school in Scotland

We explore issues generated by a current research project exploring the views of teachers and children on the conflicts that may be generated by the meeting of the cultural norms of traveller families with the expectations and value assumptions of schools.

Take More time to Actually Listen: Students' Reflections on Participation and Negotiation in School.

Behaviour in schools is an emotive topic and one of enduring political interest and sensitivity. The media often portrays schools as violent and dangerous places and young people as ever more unruly. This paper explores findings from a recent large-scale national study on behaviour and focuses on the data from primary and secondary school students within this study. The comments and suggestions offered by students move beyond a discussion of behaviour to focus on the broader questions of participation, engagement and meanings of active citizenship in school.

Teachers are Afraid we are Stealing their Strength’: A Risk Society and Restorative Approaches in School

Abstract This paper will discuss the introduction of Restorative Approaches (RA) in schools, contextualising this within a discussion of international concerns about school safety, (in)discipline and school violence. It will explore questions about the compatibility of RA with zero tolerance and positive/assertive discipline approaches and the use of disciplinary exclusion in a ‘risk society’.

Joined-Up Approaches To Prevent School Exclusion.

This article explores findings from a recent research project, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and contextualizes these in a discussion of some current thinking about inclusion and exclusion. Although the research found that it was possible to prevent disciplinary exclusion from school and that inter-agency working was central to this, nevertheless strategies for preventing disciplinary exclusion often meant that young people were no longer very fully included in the mainstream school curriculum. This has implications for how we think about and use the idea of inclusion in practice and raises questions about how we can include the most challenging young people into inclusion theory and practice. This research was carried out in Scotland, and the article also discusses some key differences in policy and practice from England.

Exclusion from school : a view from scotland of policy and practice

This paper reports research on the nature and extent of exclusion from school in Scotland 1994-6. The research involved: documentary analysis of local authority policies on exclusion, supplemented by telephone interviews with officials responsible for the operation of policy; a survey of 176 headteachers; an analysis of information about 2,710 excluded pupils; and case studies of eight secondary and four primary schools. A wide variation in local authority policy was found although most authorities emphasized exclusion as a last resort. Most exclusions were short term with pupils returning to their original school but a significant number of pupils lost more that a weeks schooling and about 30 per cent had been excluded more than once. Schools with similar characteristics varied markedly in their exclusion rates and this could largely be explained by their different ethos. Key elements in understanding differences in ethos were beliefs about the purpose of schools, the curriculum on offer, school relations with the outside world and decision making about exclusion. These findings are placed in the context both of research on exclusions in England and of current policy concerns with social exclusion.

Generating an inclusive ethos? Exploring the impact of restorative practices in Scottish schools

In 2004, the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) established a project to pilot restorative practices (RPs) in schools in three local authorities (LAs) in Scotland. The pilot project was one strand of the Scottish Executives range of initiatives to promote Better Behaviour Better Learning in Scottish schools and was to run from 2004 to 2006. In parallel with the pilot project, SEED commissioned a team from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow to evaluate the initiative. That evaluation was collaborative and flexible and took account of differences between the eighteen pilot schools and also of the varying aims schools had in implementing RPs. This paper will draw on data emerging from the evaluation to compare and contrast the experiences of schools as they tried to work in ways which were more restorative and less punitive. The first part of this paper will define RPs and will discuss the nature and distinctiveness of these approaches as they have been used in different settings. The paper will then examine RPs in relation to the experience of schools in the Scottish pilot. Did successful implementation depend upon the existing ethos of the school? Or were RPs themselves a vehicle by which schools could develop a more positive ethos? Three case studies in implementing RPs will be offered. These will be used to exemplify how some schools • changed their practices as a result of implementing RPs • incorporated RPs into existing practices • did not change at all These varying experiences of the case study schools will be used to probe notions of restorative and retributive approaches in relation to school ethos. Finally, the paper will explore the capacity of RPs to transform school ethos and, in general, will consider the conditions necessary for this to happen.