Restorative Justice Handbook

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Introduction
Just Schools: a whole school approach to Restorative Justice is a practical handbook that presents a whole school approach to repairing harm using a variety of means including peer mediation, circles, and restorative conferencing. The thesis of this book is that the key to successful teaching and learning is: working in an atmosphere where people care about each other, have good relationships, mutual respect, and a sense of belonging. The main argument is that when harmful behavior or conflict occurs the emphasis should be on repairing the damage caused to the relationship and on finding mutually acceptable ways forward. This mindset will hopefully change the way educators and members of the school community think, feel, and behave towards each other. The essential message of this book is that a ‘Just School’ “integrates restorative principles and practice into every policy, every lesson, every meeting, and every event in the school day (Hopkins, 2004, p13).”
Author
Belinda Hopkins comes from a teaching background. She was the force of implementing Restorative Justice (RJ) in the UK. She is also a director and lead trainer of transforming conflict, a center for restorative justice in education (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).
Her teaching style was informed by a desire to create a democratic classroom, which is now called classroom conferencing (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).
Just Schools: a whole school approach to restorative justice is often addressing three questions that differ from the traditional route of blame which is: what happened? Who is to blame? And what is the appropriate response and possible punishment for those at fault? RJ answers the questions: What’s happened? Who has been affected or harmed? ...

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...gs or circles. My philosophy is that in the long wrong RJ outweighs other forms of traditional conflict resolutions. It may take more time in the beginning, but the gains outweigh the negatives. Every morning I hold a 10 minute community circle with my 3rd graders while student teaching. With this we have built a stronger community and it is a way to solve disagreements or conflicts that come up during the year in a collaborative way. I believe this approach does not only solve the harm that comes with conflicts, but also gives students problem solving abilities and lifelong skills.

Works Cited

Hopkins, Belinda. Just Schools: a whole school approach to restorative justice. London: J. Kingsley Publishers, 2004. Print.
“Jessica Kingsley Publishers.” JKP blog RSS. N.p.,n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. http://www.jkp.com/blog/2009/08/exclusinterview-with-belinda-hopkins/.

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