Relationships of control and relationships of engagement: how educator intentions intersect with student experiences of restorative justice

ABSTRACT

The practice and popularity of restorative justice (RJ) in education has been growing in recent years. RJ can be understood in dramatically different ways by those implementing it. For some, RJ is about creating an environment of and for student engagement that challenges traditional systems of discipline and facilitates learning. For others, RJ is simply another tool for solidifying compliance and meting out punishment, albeit in a kinder, gentler way. This comparative case study focused on the use of RJ in one school in Scotland and one in Canada, exploring the intersection between educator intentions and student experiences. I determined that the key element is not the implementation of RJ, but the school’s predominant relational objectives. In a school where relational objectives are of social control, RJ is utilized to strengthen that control. Where the relational objectives are of social engagement, RJ is utilized to strengthen that engagement. RJ in schools is a window into what is most fundamental to students: relationships. The study argues that RJ, by itself, does not guarantee certain qualities of relationship, but it does allow us to examine those qualities and ask questions of how school relationships are used to engage and/or control students.

KEYWORDS:

• Restorative justice
• relationship
• discipline
• social control
• school climate

Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge the generous support of a number of funders who made this research possible: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through both the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholarship and the Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement; IODE War Memorial Fund; and Ontario Graduate Scholarships. I also wish to acknowledge the student co-researchers in Scotland and in Alberta, and their parents, teachers and the school leadership teams who were all of great assistance in opening their schools and their lives for this study. Deep appreciation to Dr. Lorna McLean, University of Ottawa, my thesis supervisor, and to Dr. Gillean McCluskey, University of Edinburgh, for hosting the Scottish portion of this study. Sincere thanks also to the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript who provided constructive and substantive advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A note about language: pupils in Scotland are referred to as students in Canada; principals in Canada are referred to as head teachers in Scotland. I have chosen to use the term most common to the country to which I am referring. When writing about both cases or more generally, however, I default to the term most common to Canada.

2. Adult participants are identified with numbers; for example, Scottish Educator 1 (SE1), or Canadian Educator 1 (CE1).

3. All names are student-selected pseudonyms.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [767-2010-2652];

Notes on contributors

Kristin Elaine Reimer

Kristin Elaine Reimer is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Kristin’s research and teaching focus on educational access, relational pedagogy and restorative justice in education.