Independent Thinking on Restorative Practice: Building relationships, improving behaviour and creating stronger communities (Independent Thinking On ... series)

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There needs to be a clear vision, extensive communication with staff and a clear training plan matched to an outcomes framework. When a student is misbehaving it can be frustrating, however, seek to understand why, and keep your frustrations inside- you can vent them later to friends or fellow teachers. High support and low challenge– the FOR box, is where a teacher does things for students, turning a page because a student is on the wrong page. In short, anyone interested in the power of human relationships to enable change to happen will find material in this book to help them. Thank you to Carr Manor Community School in Leeds, where they have used restorative practice for years and I first worked with it.

In this episode, we are joined by Mark Finnis from L30 Relational Systems and Ros Allen, Executive Headteacher at Rosebery School to explore the pressing question of whether behaviour approaches and policies are fit for purpose in our post-COVID world.What is more, relationships are both simple and hard in equal measure, so it is easy to direct our focus onto the more tangible areas of school life – such as results – and, in doing so, fall into the trap of forgetting that not everything we count counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

Mark Finnis is an Independent Thinking Associate and one of the UK's leading exponents of restorative practice. In education this is providing new language and technique for a practice of inclusion over exclusion, and that sets and resets the conditions for relationships to work, one to one, one to thirty, across whole schools and trusts. Mark is a visionary, a peacemaker and an idealist who wants to change both school and societal culture to become more caring, compassionate and emotionally intelligent.

I am directly applying ideas from this book to my practice in social work, school leadership and as a parent. Please contact the Community Care Inform helpdesk or phone 020 3915 9444 if you require support or assistance or are unsure if you have a subscription. Drawing on his many years’ experience working with schools, social services and local governments across the country, Mark shares all you need to know about what restorative practice is, how it works, where to start and the many benefits of embedding a relational approach into any educational organisation that genuinely has people at its heart. To achieve this, it’s simply a question of relooking at the school timetable with a will to making, as the phrase goes, ‘the main thing, the main thing’.

I’m not offended by your decision, it’s because you care about them, and a relationship already exists. Restorative and relational based practice describe a way of being, an underpinning ethos, which enables us to build and maintain healthy relationships, resolve difficulties and repair harm when relationships breakdown. Restorative justice is used when resolving conflict and repairing harm, whereas restorative practice is an underpinning ethos that builds and maintains healthy relationships.Carlie has worked and amongst her training role, continues to work as a mediator trained in Interpersonal Mediation, as a Restorative Justice Coordinator working with Adults and Young People and as a Family Group Conference Coordinator, she is also trained in a variety of other relational based models. For those educators who are uncomfortable with the punitive world of zero tolerance, isolation booths and school exclusions, Mark Finnis - one of the UK's leading restorative practice experts - is here to show you that there is another way. As teachers, we shouldn’t feel surprised that a 14 year old student doesn’t turn around in front of all their friends and say ‘thanks for humiliating me, and telling me off in front of everyone.

The approach fosters better relationships, which, in turn, lead to better behaviour, but some students will need restorative conversations once an incident has happened. Paul has worked extensively with schools, care homes, social care services and the secure environment to successfully implement tailored restorative approaches. Greet students with a smile and, having learned their names, use their names, make every student feel that they belong in your class, you want them there and you are pleased to see them.

By answering it for at least one of your pieces of CPD, you will meet Social Work England's requirements to record one piece of CPD with a peer reflection during the registration year. After all, it is said often enough that the quality of a student’s learning cannot exceed the quality of their teachers.