A Practical Introduction to Restorative Practice in Schools

A Practical Introduction to Restorative Practice in Schools. 
Theory, Skills and Guidance by Bill Hansberry - Jessica Kingsley Publishing (2016)
 
Restorative Practices are not for the faint hearted. They demand that our work in schools be less political and more human. This demands that when things go wrong in schools that we empathise with students (and those who love them) and move into emotional spaces with them that we may not have occupied previously. 
 
Restorative practices are not discipline from a distance. They are up close, personal and at times confronting, which is at odds with the direction that many schools are taking their discipline systems. As communities become increasingly disconnected and fearful of one another, responses to conflict, harm and wrongdoing that bring people and their difficult emotions face to face can seem too risky for many, yet schools who have bravely embraced restorative practices have found that this is a risk well worth taking.
 
In writing a book that asks teachers and school leaders to swim against the tide and take the risk of becoming more human in their work, the onus is the author to be real with them. Being real is exactly what Bill has done in this book. This book is an account of Restorative Practices in schools that allows the reader inside the lives of young people, their teachers and parents through a series of case studies based on real events and real people.
 
A Practical Introduction to Restorative Practice in Schools: Theory, Skills and Guidance is set out in four sections:
1. Thinking Restoratively (mindsets),
2. Feeling Restoratively (understanding the emotions involved),
3. Working Restoratively (practice along the restorative continuum from preventative to responsive), and finally
4. Ending Restoratively (the work that doesn’t finish once the meeting or circle is done).