But these patterns for teachers and students can be reversed, and it starts with a radically different approach to school discipline. It is called Restorative Discipline. Instead of asking: what rule was broken, who broke it and what should the punishment be, Restorative Discipline sees wrongdoing as a violation of relationship and asks: what happened, who has been affected, and what are we going to do to make things right?
Using a variety of techniques, Restorative Discipline brings together the key players in an incident to learn what happened, listen to each person’s perspective, discover the motivation for the harm, and work to identify appropriate and agreed upon actions by which the student who caused the harm takes responsibility and is accountable for the breach of trust.
The ultimate goal is to allow the responsible student, after making amends, to belong again as a welcomed, albeit chastened, member of the school community.