Violence in Schools
This is a blog by our Restorative Justice Lead, Mark Hamill.
Last month, Mark attended an online meeting of the National Relational and Restorative Practice Network on the theme of Violence in Schools.
Dr Belinda Hopkins presented the findings of Why me?’s research into the impact of violence in the alternative provision sector. There were also presentations from Dr. Terence Bevington and Inger Brit Lowater.
Dr Hopkins updated that the fifteen Headteachers she interviewed did not see violence itself as an issue within their schools. Instead, they cited children’s unmet needs that triggered violence to be barriers to learning. The Heads firmly believed that the development of a whole-school relational and restorative culture was the best way to address these unmet needs and the violence that derives from them. Belinda’s full report can be read here.
Dr. Bevington framed his presentation around peace rather than violence, although he did refer to Johan Galtung’s definition of violence as ‘anything that gets in the way of a person achieving their potential’. Hence, violence can be both direct (physical, verbal, emotional) and indirect (structural and cultural). The opposite of peace is violence not conflict. Conflict often leads to violence but relational and restorative practice has the potential to prevent this from happening and to resolve and transform conflict into an opportunity for learning. Quoting Galtung again, Terence made a distinction between negative peace and positive peace. Negative peace is the absence of both direct violence and justice whereas positive peace combines the absence of direct violence with a striving for social justice. Peace building, Terence informed us, is radical. Terence’s book, co-authored with Hilary Cremin, on building a culture of peace in schools is available here.
Inger Brit Lowater, a former Why me? employee, is completing a PhD at Gloucestershire University, interviewing students on their Restorative Leaders Course. Three themes are emerging from her research. The first is around how leaders are modelling what they have learnt. For one Headteacher this meant that he allowed himself to be more vulnerable during a staff meeting at the start of term. The staff mirrored this vulnerability and, after a while, a different culture began to spread throughout the school. At the same time that this was happening, incidents of violence within the school began to decline sharply. The second theme echoed Terence’s view that conflict does not have to spiral into violence and can, instead, be an opportunity for learning. The final theme concerned a greater awareness of how time and space can both be used more productively to create more peaceful schools.
A fascinating discussion followed the presentations. Two participants expressed the view that, despite the quality of the education that they provide, Pupil Referral Units are an inherent expression of indirect violence as they stigmatize the children who attend. In their view, resources should be directed towards supporting highly vulnerable children in mainstream provision. We were reminded by Terence that with regards to Relational and Restorative Practice, ‘mindset is more important than skill set’. Terence encouraged us all by declaring that research in this field is very straight-forward. ‘All you have to do,’ he said, ‘is to ask people, “What’s it like working or studying here?”’
Why me? is working with Dr Belinda Hopkins on a three-year project looking at overcoming barriers to learning in Alternative provision through Relational and Restorative practice. As part of this, Belinda continues to train and support the Senior Leadership Team of a Pupil Referral Unit. In a recent conversation with the Head, she said, ‘Belinda is providing us with the foundations upon which we can build a restorative school’. You can read more about our project here : https://why-me.org/our-work/our-projects/restorative-justice-in-alternative-provision/
The next online meeting of the National Relational and Restorative Practice Network is on 10th June from 9:30 to 11:30 and is on the theme of SEND and RRP. The speakers will be Tom Procter-Legg, Frances Jessie and Chantel Yeates. You can attend this free event by following this link.