Are you a student or a parent of a student struggling with bullying? Does your school want to get better at dealing with harm—from staff relations to student interactions to relationships with parents? Do you want your school to embed a restorative framework into curriculum and ways of teaching?
Zero tolerance policies in schools have been a failure—but Restorative Practice in schools is a real alternative!
More and more schools are turning to Restorative Practice—and finding the culture of their schools changing significantly by focusing on relationships and adjusting their response to those harmed and those causing harm.
Shalem is pleased to offer a comprehensive package of training and coaching designed to support schools (from JK through university) in becoming restorative culture environments. In a three-way partnership between Shalem, Edifide and the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools (OACS), Shalem offers training for Christian Schools in Ontario. Through EduDeo, we have offered school training in the Dominican Republic. Our Restorative Practice trainers and coaches are often themselves teachers and administrators in schools which have embraced Restorative Practice—and they have powerful first-hand stories to tell. And they articulate passionately the deep rootedness of Restorative Practice in the Gospel.
Read this front page Toronto Star story, “How a Toronto High School Fights Bullying”, highlighting Weston Collegiate Institute’s successful restorative practice approach, supported by our partner, the International Institute of Restorative Practices-Canada.
Follow one school’s journey with Restorative Practice in this documentary of a West Philadelphia high school, by the International Institute of Restorative Practices.
Read The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools, coauthored by Shalem’s colleague Dorothy Vaandering, Ph. D., professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Restorative Practice in Schools… a Different Approach
Traditional Discipline Questions
- What rules were violated?
- Who did it?
- What is the appropriate punishment?
- Who has been harmed?
- What are their needs?
- Whose obligations are these?
Shalem offers training in implementing all aspects of the Restorative Practice continuum:
- Informal restorative conversations
- Small impromptu circles
- Classroom circles
- Formal restorative conferences
- Implementing restorative pedagogy
- Restorative practice with the adults in the school
Director of Restorative Practice Services