Does ‘restorative justice’ work in education? It does not
By an educator
The college system that was introduced in Malta in the first decade of the 21st century increased the expenditure of the education portfolio tremendously. New jobs were created. One of these positions provided for the services of a prefect of discipline who is responsible for overseeing that all students, from primary up to secondary in the college system, remain on the right track.
Prefects of discipline use restorative justice practices. They officially talk to students about what they have done wrong or infringed, thus trying to make them see what is not right and they are made aware that their behaviour and attitude are unacceptable. What the prefects of discipline do not know is that the students involved might listen to them at the moment they are being counselled but, when back in class, they still continue with their challenging behaviour. This is repeatedly taking place in all government schools.
Restorative justice is based on what are known as the 5 R’s. These are Relationship, Respect, Responsibility, Repair and Reintegration. What is not feasible and is being ignored by our education authorities is the fact that reintegration of these particular students into the school community is impossible. Reintegration does not work where there is not just one difficult pupil but a large number of students with challenging behaviour. Such students start forming gangs, terrorising everybody with impunity. Thus, it is imperative that a different approach is taken to remedy the situation to allow the school to operate normally. While inclusion is a popular word nowadays, school cannot tolerate students who run amok and disturb the harmonious running of the school.
These students should be tackled differently and with understanding. They should be made to realise that their entitlement to learn at school is not a privilege and that they can be obliged to undergo a special training programme so that they can learn self-discipline.
A military boot-camp is needed for such students as otherwise, if these students are allowed to continue behaving badly, the schools’ problems will compound.
The issue of unruly behaviour by students in schools stirs a universal debate throughout the globe and will continue to do so throughout the centuries. This debate has been going on since the early Greeks. According to Socrates (circa 470BC); “Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.”
With all due respect, basic research would have indicated that not all colleges have a prefect of discipline and the tremendous increase in expenditure definite is not attributed to a few who are still in the post today. Definitely, the problem related to misbehaviour is more serious and acute in Middle Schools and Secondary schools rather than in primary schools (although they too have some extremely serious cases). The root of the problem is not in the method adopted to tackle such cases but goes far deeper than that.
The lack of respect for the teaching profession is one of the main issues. Respect is indeed earned and it doesn’t come on a silver plate. Within the past decades, there have been sporadic initiatives to refer students to military boots camps and also to private initiatives but still, the problem related to extreme cases is far more articulated.
It would be a mistake to put all cases of unruly behaviour in our schools into one basket as the problem is multi-faceted. There are cases of students with issues related to mental health, others having particular medical conditions, others coming from violent environments, others suffering from neglect, others having SEBD issues, etc. Each case should be treated on its own merits.
Although there was an increase in the number of professionals and practitioners working with extreme cases, still the problem is an acute one.
The main issue is the one-size-fits-all issue. This has escalated within the past years with the introduction of particular initiatives, e.g. my journey. The rigid structure of the school, the curricula, and the lack of diversity in specialized schools are among the roots of the problem. Unmotivated students will lead to vent their frustration at school and give rise to unpleasant episodes. The system should embrace all streams of students with different learning styles and not abort segments from the cohort.