Restorative Practices - Breaking down the silos

Sometimes silos can  be useful when they concentrate effort for specialist purposes. On the other hand silos can become barriers to collaboration between people who are struggling to meet the challenge of complex problems.

One of the strong themes associated with Restorative Practices is the breaking down of barriers between stakeholders.

As these barriers dissolve new, stronger, more positive relationships, practices and arrangements often emerge leading to greater success and well-being for all concerned.

It is often individual staff members in schools and services groups, government agencies... who lead the way in breaking down the silos that exist between their respective organisations. 

They do this by collaborating to improve their support for those who need it most. With luck, senior management will notice the improvements being achieved and incorporate the new practices of their respective organisations.

In this way the silos of education, welfare, health and justice are being broken down so that young people in need are receiving more effective support.

Restorative Pratices - where is your focus?

This week, as usual, I saw lots of headlines about schools reducing suspensions, having fewer problems... These messages seem to be mainly messages to the community about the school . Fair enough!! But one slightly different headline caught my eye - it was a message to students:

•    "We want you here!" (more)

Such schools are voicing a direct commitment to their students, all their students!! Not just those who arrive at school in reasonable shape and comply with the schools' expectations.

Many problematic students are not wanted anywhere else in our communities... school might be their only chance to be wanted in a healthy community, yet to belong is a basic human need we all share. This is fundamental to the success of Restorative Practices - that those who have done harm can still belong.

How clearly does your school communicate with the students that they are wanted?" 

Doubts about Restorative Practices

I am noticing more expressions of doubt about the efficacy of Restorative Practices (RPs).  

The implications are that we may need to communicate better with our 'constituents':

1. RPs are not a panacea - it is not always the only answer to the immediate problem
2. We don't use RPs as an either/or strategy - it is an important (but not the only) part of what we do to repair relationships and the harm done when things go wrong between people.
3. RPs are not just a form of high support - done properly they exert a high level of control and are also challenging to all concerned (ref. The Social Discipline Window)
4. RPs are not done TO or FOR 'offenders'.
5. Restorative Practices need to be done professionally - critics often see RPs as an amateurish activity, and perhaps that is what they have seen.

3 Tiers of Restorative practices

I came across this diagram explaining three levels of intervention as it applies to the use of Restorative Practices.

For those involved in School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support or PBIS, this diagram will be very familiar!!

It is really the same idea as the triangle of universal, secondary and tertiary SWPBS interventions.

In simple terms, the three ties of intervention using restorative practices are as follows:

• School-Wide Prevention Practices include the
  • use of affective statements
  • extensive use of circles for a wide range of everyday purposes
  • and all the SWPBS universal interventions
• Managing Difficulties includes
  • the use of the restorative questions
  • more use of circles focused on existing and/or emerging issues with selected students
  • restorative meetings
• Intense Intervention includes
  • restorative conferences

The diagram is from Restorative Justice - a working guide for our schools - a sound, easy-to-read guide to implementing what some call "restorative practices" at the school or school district level.

What is it that Restorative Practices actually restore?

Recently I have been pondering the question:

• What is it that restorative practices actually restore?

Obviously there are lots of possible answers to this question. For example, a school that was using Martin Seligman's approach to Well-Being would use restorative practices to restore the 5 main elements (PERMA) that contribute to success and well-being, namely,

1. Positive Emotions – experiencing joy and pleasure
   • While the outcomes of bad experiences are the opposites of joy or pleasure, it is important for people to ultimately feel more positive after dealing with the bad things that they have done, or have been done to them. 
   • Unfortunately, some traditional approaches leave people who have caused harm to others in the state of feeling bad (shamed) about what they have done as 'logical consequence'. However this is likely to result in on-going disengagement, resentment and other limiting factors.
   • Similarly, traditional approaches often fail to address the emotional needs of the person who has been harmed so that they continue to feel bad about what has been done to them
2. Engagement (or flow) – being consciously involved in our activities
   • Managed disengagement (isolation, suspension...) is also often seen as a 'logical consequence' of doing the wrong thing but this reduces the likelihood of productive  engagement
3. Relationships – having enjoyable and supportive interactions with others
   • Damaged relationships are very often a result of wrong doing. Failing to restore damaged relationships is likely to result in a long term state of reduced success and wellbeing
4. Meaning – creating a purposeful narrative about our lives; being engaged with or serving something larger than ourselves
   • Having been harmed, or having caused harm to others, changes our personal narratives for the worse. Experiencing restoration of positive emotions, engagement, relationships... helps to restore constructive meaning in our lives.
5. Accomplishments – completing our goals and following our core values.
   • Those who have been harmed, or caused harm, are likely to experience a sense of failure. If unresolved this is likely to reduce a person's subsequent capacity to achieve and act in ways that better match their own core values.

Clearly restorative practices provide rich ways of restoring each of the five elements of Well-Being.

What is your school's answer to this important question?

Well-being Theory - Positive Education

Authentic Happiness - revised

Martin Seligman has revised his Authentic Happiness theory (2002) on the basis that it over-emphasised feeling good.

In his latest book Flourish he has outlined his Well-Being Theory as follows

Well-being is a construct, and well-being (not happiness) is the topic of positive psychology.

There are five measurable elements (PERMA) that contribute towards well-being:

• Positive Emotions – experiencing joy and pleasure
• Engagement (or flow) – being consciously involved in our activities
• Relationships – having enjoyable and supportive interactions with others
• Meaning – creating a purposeful narrative about our lives; being engaged with or serving something larger than ourselves
• Accomplishments – completing our goals and following our core values.

Follow this link for more on Positive Education.


Exercises:

1. Consider three students with whom you work: one high status/high achiever; one average; one who is in difficulties. Rate each student on a scale of 1-10 for each of the measurable elements.  What common beliefs does this reveal, confirm, challenge?
2. Retiring? Returning to work or study? Changing employment? How are each of the PERMA elements likely to change? And what might you need to attend to?

And Martin Seligman introduces Positive Psychology in a TED Talk

Explicit teaching & positive reinforcement of expectations

One school's example

The expectations of Tasmania's Evandale Primary School are based on PURRing!!  Students are explicitly taught to P.U.R.R.

• Perseverance: 
• By always trying our best and taking pride in our achievement.  
• Learn all we can by listening, participating and completing work on time
• Understanding: 
• For each other, being courteous, cooperative and friendly
• Respect: 
• Our school - by keeping classrooms and grounds clean, tidy and free of litter, vandalism, graffiti.  
• Respect other people - their feelings, personal space and property
• Responsibility: 
• Care for our equipment.  
• Follow established classroom rules and routines.  
•  Work, move and play safely

Students receive recognition of positive behaviour with PURR points:

• 20 = icy pole; 
• 40 = classroom book; 
• 60 = small prize; 
• 80 = passport to help out in another class; 
• 100 = recognition morning tea.

This positive reinforcement scheme is a nice example of using "free and frequent" reinforcement to build a continuum of recognition.

Thanks to Deb Rigby at Evandale for sharing her school's great practice!