RJ World 2020 Schools Channel – Learn from 25 world leaders in school culture, transformation, communication, relationships, behaviour. Hear the latest research and case studies from Northern Europe, Australasia and the United States.
Tom Shaw
UK
BIO: My current role includes being a teacher, researcher and senior leader. I lead on developing character, restorative approaches and peace education at Carr Manor Community School in Leeds, UK. In addition I have recently been part of developing the www.restoreourschools.com project and also work with others schools in the UK to develop their relational and restorative practice.
TOPIC: Examples of embedded whole school restorative practice are not as common as they should. The model at Carr Manor Community School began 14 years ago with a commitment to zero permanent exclusions and to build community by creating circles of the smallest possible unit of children using all the adults in the organisation. This became an example of investing in peace building that delivers the best person-centred practices. 8 years ago restorative practices helped develop peace-making practices. Alongside this CMCS maintained its commitment to robustly challenge behaviours in order to maintain equal rights, social justice, safety and respect. CMCS now bucks several national and local trends. It has had zero permanent exclusions for 14 years, consistently has the lowest rate of fixed term exclusions in Leeds, high staff retention and the lowest staff absence for stress in Leeds. Pupils self-report higher than city-wide measures on the annual well-being survey.
Dr Angela Monell
United States
BIO: Dr. Angela Monell is a native of Prince George’s County Maryland and has resided in Winston Salem, NC for six years. As an educator, her passion for students is evident in her daily work as an Assistant Principal. She believes that when given the opportunity and coaching, students will gain invaluable skills in restoring, rebuilding, and effectively communicating. As she works with students on a secondary level, she believes this is a game-changer for students’ social-emotional growth.
TOPIC: Co-Presenter with Eric Rainey This dynamic session will detail the mindful and transformative process of moving from the traditional punitive In-School Suspension model to the powerful Restoration Station model. Dr. Angela C. Monell and International Institute of Restorative Practices trained Eric Rainey will lead you through the step by step process of re-imagining space for consequences to space for support and skill-building. Attendees will leave this session with a clear understanding of the educational, social, emotional, and psychological benefits of transitioning to this new model. Attendees will gain valuable insight from a school administrator’s perspective, understand the importance of human capital, social-emotional learning, and the many facets of restorative practices that are necessary within the daily wrap-around model to build the capacity of students beyond the classroom.
Lee Rush
United States of America
BIO: Lee Rush, M.Ed. Lee is the Executive Director of justCommunity, Inc. a non-profit organization based in Quakertown, PA. justCommunity provides training and consultation services to communities, schools and organizations in the area of youth development, community mobilization strategies, student assistance programs and restorative practices. Lee also serves as a consultant with Designed Learning, Inc. and has studied with Designed Learning’s founder Mr. Peter Block to learn facilitative skills using A Small Group methodology. Lee is also a certified trainer for
TOPIC: CHANGE THE CONVERSATION- CHANGE THE CULTURE- Based on Peter Block’s work, this presentation introduces critical essential conversations in creating restorative schools and communities. Areas covered are 1) the power of invitation and why choice always trumps mandates, 2) the power of possibility and why we need to stop worshiping at the alter of problems, 3) the power of refusal and to grasp the fact that if we cannot say no to something our yes means nothing and finally 4) the power of gifts and why when we start to focus on gifts rather than deficiencies everything changes. Termed “A Small Group”, this methodology has been used across the world in business sectors, restorative educational settings, faith community gatherings and recently in cities exploring the development of “economies of compassion”. My approach to building “restorative communities” is centered on the belief that global change occurs at the local level.
Kerri Quinn
United States
BIO: Trauma Responsive Restorative Communication: Understanding the impact of trauma and language when facilitating restorative practices./U.S./Colorado Restorative Justice
TOPIC: Trauma Responsive Restorative Communication: Understanding the impact of trauma and language when facilitating restorative practices.
Attendees will learn
– trauma responsive skills that can be used in the moment to create
safety and hold space for dialogue
– the dynamics of conflict
– specific language tools facilitators can use to deescalate tension,
encourage accountability and enhance listening
Kristy Elliot
Australia
BIO: Kristy Elliott holds a Bachelor of Teaching, is founder and director of Restorative Pathways and is currently working towards a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology. Kristy is a passionate, experienced and engaging presenter having worked with schools for two decades as a teacher, a consultant and trainer in field of restorative practice and more recently positive education and leadership.
TOPIC: Teachers make decisions about how best to respond to their students in the classroom minute by minute. Many disruptive or low-harming student behaviours are often unintentional or reactionary to the environment or learning activity. Low-level disruptive behaviour requires a low-level response, that is, one that promotes self-reflection, offers choice, and has minimal impact on the learning community. This presentation examines student behaviour in context to determine an appropriate response. Three levels of a response continuum will be explored including, positive corrections, affective statements and conversations, and individual restorative chats. An overarching concept of these responses is a strength-based approach to student management. Working with students to uncover their strengths and supporting them to use strengths successfully at school contributes to forming positive relationships. Strength overuse and underuse is examined as a contributor to negative behaviour and relationship outcomes.
Anna Gregory
United Kingdom
BIO: Anna is a Director at The Restorative Lab – a company at the forefront of conflict transformation research and restorative practice. Anna is a dynamic facilitator with on the ground experience of leading culture change programmes. Anna provides support, training and development to communities to promote the foundational skills needed for conflict transformation. Anna uses Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to explore how research can be more participatory, visual and creative.
Anna will share the results of her PhD research. Specifically, a participatory action research project underpinned by a restorative approach. Working with 12 child co-researchers Anna explored how we might better experience, know and transform conflict. Through a collaborative inquiry that sought transformative solutions to complex relational and systemic problems, the group co-created a more inclusive, just and peaceful research experience. In her work, Anna challenges the pathologizing of children and develops as egalitarian (as is possible) researcher relationships. This project used the philosophy of a restorative approach, the methodology of participatory action research and the methods of the Theatre of the Oppressed to produce unique and surprising findings.
Terence Bevington
United Kingdom
BIO: I am a restorative researcher and consultant based in the UK and working internationally, specialising in education and workplace settings.
TOPIC: My recently completed doctoral research explores what ‘everyday peace’ means to students and staff in English secondary schools. The findings from the study shine light on the ways in which a restorative approach in schools can help to promote personal, relational and institutional peace. I will share these hot-off-the-press findings by means of an Everyday Peace in Schools framework. Using this framework, schools will be able to map out how their restorative practice does and could contribute to building a culture of positive peace.
Anna Gregory
United Kingdom
BIO: Terence is Director of Conexus Conflict Consultancy, UK and is a critical and committed restorative trainer, consultant and researcher working with schools to develop their conflict competence and peace-building capacities. Anna is a Programme Director for Peacemakers – an educational charity in the UK. Anna provides support, training and development to school communities to promote the foundational skills needed for positive peace. Anna and Terence are both PhD candidates contributing to the fields of peace education in schools.
TOPIC: Restorative Practice as Peace Practice: How might peace be a useful lens from which to view restorative practice? Anna and Terence present their chapter in ‘Getting More Out Of Restorative Practices in Schools’. Their framework contributes to the work of Kathy Evans and Dorothy Vaandering’s who present a progression of restorative practice as something to help with behaviour management through to its potential to build culture. Anna and Terence expand the continuum to explore a transformational element when restorative is framed as peace. This conceptualisation of restorative work in schools is informed by their research and grounded in their practical engagement with peace education and restorative approaches in schools. Building on the work they’ve done in the UK and internationally to help them frame restorative-work as peace-work, Anna and Terence offer educators an expanded view of what’s possible when it comes to restorative approaches in schools.
Dr Belinda Hopkins
United Kingdom
BIO: I founded Transforming Conflict, National Centre for Restorative Approaches in Youth and Community Settings 25 years ago. I am a restorative practitioner, a trainer and consultant, and a published author. I pioneered the concept of a whole-school restorative approach across the UK in the early 2000’s. Transforming Conflict now also works with staff in children’s residential care, youth organisations and community care. I have been on the EFRJ Values and Principles Working Party and is currently on their Training Committee.
R.E.S.T.O.R.E. our schools Worldwide, school communities are facing a ‘new normal’ – after months of isolation TOPIC: and frightening news bulletins – returning to strange new environments facing guidelines that keep people at a distance, hidden behind masks, unable to socialise. There is huge pressure to make up for lost time academically. Schools may be tempted to become even more authoritarian to bring students back in line after months away from the routines and rhythms of their school community. Belinda Hopkins and Monica Alberti will present a package of resources designed by UK restorative practitioners to support the mental and emotional health of the whole school community at this time of crisis. (www.restoreourschools.com) Belinda was part of the original collective. Monica has been using the materials in Catalonia, working with the Catalan Department of Education to implement a restorative approach in schools not just as crisis intervention but for every day.
Pia Slögs
Finland
BIO: Lawyer Pia Slögs is the director of community mediation centre in Finland. She is a restorative trainer and mediator. She has completed her studies on restrorative justice at Univ Hull, UK. She has worked earlier at victim-offender mediation services for 15 years. Pia is a co-trainer in VERSO-programme especially in Swedish spoken schools in Finland.
TOPIC: Pia Slögs is a co-presenter with Maija Gellin. See the abstract in Maija Gellin’s application: How to create a restorative school culture.
Dr Maija Gellin
Finland
BIO: Dr Maija Gellin is the director of the programme for restorative approach in education and schools (VERSO-programme) in Finland. She has also worked as a mediation officer under the victim-offender mediation service. She is giving lectures on restorative approach at Univ Helsinki and Univ Lapland as well as in many institutions in Finland and other countries. She is a board member of Finnish Forum for Mediation and a member of Finnish women peace builder’s group and Nordic mediation researcher’s group.
TOPIC: How to create a restorative school culture
Restorative values such as respect, sense of community and participation as well as the rights of the child are more important than ever from the perspective of global health and well-being threats. Implementing the restorative approach in schools and day care is focusing not only giving restorative methods to school staff members but more to change the whole school culture to a restorative one. Based on 20 year experience in Finnish schools and the results of PhD research, this session is opening the key concepts of a restorative school community. Including restorative attitude, restorative participation and restorative mediation as basics for daily work in schools and kindergartens strengthens the positive identity of children as well as the wellbeing of whole school community and families. When the skill of restorative encounter is learned already in a school, this ability provides know-how throughout the life.
Gail Quigley
Australia
BIO: I am an experienced Principal of an elementary school based in Australia I have a passion for social justice and giving the child a voice in a mostly adult dominated environment based on behaviourism
TOPIC: I believe RJ is the golden ticket to overcoming inequality the world faces today. Schools are ideally placed the mould the development of our future citizens This presentation will cover how I have implemented RJ in a school both the successes and challenges Case studies showcasing a range of marginalised groups and the power of RJ in developing true understanding will be highlighted Target audience .. anyone working with or in schools
Adam Voigt
Australia
BIO: I’m a former School Principal who has spent the last 8 years as the CEO of Real Schools. I partner with schools to build strong, relational and sustainable cultures through Restorative Practices. I speak widely in the media and am the Education Expert for Channel 10’s ‘The Project’ and I’m a regular columnist for major newspapers in Australia. In just a few weeks, my book ‘Restoring Teaching’ will be released.
TOPIC: – The Restorative School Culture
Description – Almost everyone agrees that the culture of a school is important. And yet, almost nobody can define what culture really is, beyond a feeling or a vibe. It raises a critical question … ‘How do we work on the culture of a school if we’re not sure what it is?’
This presentation provides a roadmap for School Leaders and Teachers who see the potentials and benefits in theirs being a truly restorative one. Presented by somebody who has led this work in his own schools and in through countless consultative school partnerships, it highlights what works in restorative cultures, what the pitfalls are and what the boundless possibilities are.
This presentation is peppered with inspiring stories and case studies from schools who have already completed restorative transformations and are reaping the rewards of working in a connected and supportive community culture.
Eric Rainey
United States
BIO: After 21 years in education, training and coaching was a natural progression for Eric, combining the powerful concepts of restorative practices and his natural leadership ability has proven to be a dynamic and results driven endeavor. His training and coaching has been described as “powerful”, “insightful”, “passionate” “educational”, and “inspiring”. Eric’s sincere desire to serve others and positively impact those he encounters is refreshing and evident to those who experience him.
TOPIC: This dynamic session will detail the mindful and transformative process of moving from the traditional punitive In-School Suspension model to the powerful Restoration Station model. Dr. Angela C. Monell and International Institute of Restorative Practices trained Eric Rainey will lead you through the step by step process of TOPIC: re-imagining a space for consequences to a space for support and skill-building. Attendees will leave this session with a clear understanding of the educational, social, emotional, and psychological benefits of transitioning to this new model. Attendees will gain valuable insight from a school administrator perspective, understand the importance of human capital, social emotional learning and the many facets of restorative practices that are necessary within the daily wrap-around model to build the capacity of students beyond the classroom.
Mark Goodwin
United Kingdom
BIO: I am a UK freelance teacher, trainer & coach with 20 years experience working across phases in a number of schools. I currently work in Alternative Provision with kids who are permanently excluded from school or at risk of exclusion, delivering a solutions focused coaching programme alongside key curriculum. I also work to prevent kids being excluded by training staff in restorative and relational teaching approaches. My work has been published in the TES & the Chartered College Impact magazine.
TOPIC: Reconnecting with young people after Covid
After recent events there will be hundreds of kids who feel disconnected from school, learning and even themselves. This will most keenly be felt by those who are already disadvantaged and marginalised. Drawing on my experience and expertise in reconnecting excluded kids to learning, I will present what is needed in the coming weeks and months to support a successful reconnection….the mindset teachers need; the learning kids can do; the relationships that will be needed to be built. I will explain my approaches – Meet the kids where they are; Throw a wide circle; I see you; See the Best Part and Check Yourself. The talk is full of practical advice and approaches that anybody working with young people can take away and use.
Anooj Bhandari
United States
BIO: Anooj Bhandari is a transformative justice practitioner focusing on the relationship between the intimacy of creative expression in communities and the abolition of retributive tactics across and between boundaries and borders. His work is largely based in the United States but has worked on Restorative Justice related projects around the globe, including youth justice programs in India and Thailand. He has worked as the Restorative Justice Coordinator with Make the Road NY, and is a performer with the NY Neo-Futurists.
TOPIC: I am interested in exploring youth justice, particularly what it means to create spaces of education through a Restorative Justice lens that is alternative to traditional classroom and pedagogically didactic spaces. This session will explore personal shifts from Retributive to Restorative to Transformative Justice through a creative arts lens, and will imagine community education spaces as microcosm for larger society as we explore how our intimate relationships can shape how we view the structure of spaces in which we seek to carry out Restorative Justice. This session will be oriented towards community educators of all kind who are interested in Restorative Justice as praxis, and working on RJ from a framework of transformative systems change for cultivating a more liberatory future for youth.
Graeme George
Australia
BIO: A teacher of 38 years; 18 years in school leadership; restorative practitioner, trainer, facilitator for 16 years, I am currently again a classroom teacher in Brisbane, Australia. I run www.rpforschools.net
TOPIC: Many schools become interested in RP initially as a ‘behaviour management’ tool, but my own experience in the classroom, and my work with many schools and teachers over the past decade confirm that the true power of restorative work in schools can best be seen through the local development of a relational pedagogy that infuses and informs all aspects of a school’s operation. Through developing a truly relational pedagogy around the school values, the community’s guiding values can be brought to life – and to bear – in the students’ and teachers’ lived experience. This presentation explores the development of such a relational pedagogy in order to integrate practice in the classroom more fully with the mission and vision of a school.
Dr Lindsey Pointer & Kathleen McGoey
United States
BIO: Dr. Lindsey Pointer is an internationally recognized expert in restorative practices education and implementation. She has a PhD in Restorative Justice from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, where she designed and implemented the Restorative University initiative. She is a former Fulbright Fellow and Rotary Global Grant recipient and has completed extensive research on restorative justice best practices. She is passionate about building more connected and caring communities. She currently lives in Colorado.
TOPIC: Grounded in an understanding of restorative pedagogy, a paradigm of teaching in alignment with restorative values and principles, this presentation will share games and activities for teaching restorative practices. Games and activities provide a way for learners to experience and more deeply understand restorative practices while building relationships and skills. These games can be used in facilitator or community trainings, with youth in schools, or in the classroom to develop and encourage skills and principles related to restorative practices. In addition to being fun and decreasing resistance to new ideas, game-based learning allows a safe environment to test out new skills, make mistakes, or create a microcosm of a larger social issue. Teaching in a restorative way also redistributes power and truly honors learners’ voices, experiences and perspectives. This presentation will introduce participants to games and activities to take back to their organizations, classrooms, or trainings.
David Vinegrad
Australia
BIO: I work mostly as a trainer and conference facilitator in teacher education in a wide range of Australian and International Schools.
TOPIC: Random acts of Restorative Practices – Developing an integrated model of behaviour management in schools.
Margaret Thorsborne
Australia
BIO: Marg, Sue and Bev are the Ready4RP team. They are based in Australia and have a long and varied history implementing and supporting RP across a variety of settings and countries including Australia, US, UK, SE Asia and NZ. This has led them to develop a framework which can maximise the likelihood of implementation success.
TOPIC: Leading Restorative Culture Change: a relational approach to assessing and supporting implementation of Restorative Practices in organisations such as schools, government departments, NGO’S, the Not for Profit sector and community groups.
The session will cover:
* The complex issues of deep culture change
* Assessing readiness using a relational approach
* Key findings from our experiences supporting a variety of organisations in their efforts to implement RP
Tonya Covington
United States
BIO: I have been doing RJ for 30 years and in particular working and teaching people of color
TOPIC: I will present about a recent experience of training a group of young men of color in Restorative Justice and the unique experiences they bring to the work.
Chris Straker
England
BIO: I co-founded the Hull Centre for Restorative Practice in 2007. I offer consultancy to all agencies working with young people, families and communities across the UK. I have drawn on my experience to develop training in restorative approaches to strategic leadership; I have also worked with cities on strategic, city-wide, implementation. I wrote two chapters for the recent publication by EFRJ on restorative cities. I have been a speaker at national conferences across the UK; and internationally.
TOPIC: Exploring the myths behind the restorative city concept. Christopher Straker will use the UK as a backdrop for participants to explore their own ideas on what a restorative city means for them. Context is everything but there are some models Chris will use to create the opportunity for dialogue. Is the restorative city concept a move towards a new paradigm or just Emperor’s new clothes? This workshop explores the concept of right relationships (between professionals and professionals, and the professional and families they work with) and how best to develop these by an explicit dialogue; not only around our areas of agreement, but also our areas of difference. The workshop will look to see how restorative processes can be used to deepen relationships at a city-wide level. by an explicit and shared understanding of behaviours and language. Sometimes our best intentions and goals are undermined by the methods chosen to
Laura Mooiman
Netherlands
BIO: An American based in The Netherlands, Laura is an international educational consultant specializing in school culture, safety, and student behavior. Most recently she was the Project Director for the Wellness Program and PBIS at Napa Valley Unified School District for 10 years where all 30 schools in the district achieved the highest school climate scores in the state after implementing Restorative Practices and PBIS. www.lauramooiman.com/about
TOPIC: Integrating Restorative Practices and Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS): How to Create Safe, Positive, and Restorative School Culture That Stustains
Laura will share lessons learned in her 10 years implementing PBIS and Restorative Practices in all 30 Napa Valley TOPIC: schools which required all schools to build restorative systems to build community, address student behavior and to respond to school and community crises including earthquake, multiple student suicides, Napa wildfires, and student protests. PBIS is foundational to creating systems and structures to prevent problem behavior, make students and staff feel safe, and shift staff mindset toward positive approaches to managing student behavior. Without PBIS schools often do not have the capacity to manage all the restoration that would be required in a reactive mode. Restorative Practices provides tools for staff to create community and work meaningfully with students to repair harm.
Michelle Stowe
Ireland
BIO: I taught Eng & Span for 16 years and am still a teacher at heart; and now a restorative practitioner, lecturer, trainer, consultant and director of Connect RP. I support organisations and schools eager to realise their potential individually and as a community to grow restorative school communities. I facilitate on-site training and have developed a restorative e-learning platform called, Ubuntu Learning. I am passionate about moving conversations beyond ‘behaviour management’ and towards growing relational learning communities.
TOPIC: RESTORATIVE ME; CONNECT, REFLECT & MODEL
My presentation will focus on RP from the perspective of the internal landscape, exploring the concept of leadership as modelling; informing how we think, speak, share, listen, ask and show up, all day every day in our classrooms and beyond! I am passionate about moving conversations in schools beyond ‘behaviour management’ and towards creating restorative classrooms and pedagogy. Connecting to the principles of this philosophy, reflecting on how this informs our own values and teaching practice, and identifying ways to model our values in our everyday teaching. This can be especially necessary in times of challenge when we can armour up. Our workshop seeks to identify success criteria not as conformity ‘do what `I say but I’ll as you nicely’ as sometimes RP can be misidentified as, but instead that I like who I am. My TEDX 2017 offers a taster Watch now
