Restorative Practice

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As an integral foundation of the Child and Youth Worker field, we will discuss four pillars: Restorative Practices, Human Rights and Diversity, Ecological Perspective and Resilience, that are designed to address the unique needs and strengths of children and youth, and the role of Child and Youth Workers in their participation within the spectrum of helping professions. Restorative practice is a unique approach to handling issues that may arise as a Child and Youth Worker (CYW). It is a non-punitive approach that focuses on “high levels of both control and support to encourage appropriate behaviour, and places responsibility on students themselves, using a collaborative response to wrongdoing” (Restorative practices eforum, 2007). The approach…show more content…
Working in the school system as a CYW, I see moments where they are starting to apply this system and it works. When someone is acting out or has done something wrong, the punitive approach fails to have the individual have a conversation with the victim and instead, tries to restore the damage that has been done. The student often would be suspended or sent to detention when something bad has occurred. The lack of acknowledgement of what the student had done and accountability of the action would lead to multiple transgressions and not help the student be successful. The restorative practice difference is about “positions of authority do things WITH them, than TO them or FOR them”. That being said, in the CYW field, the restorative approach allows Child and Youth workers to form relationships with children as the foundation of a life long process of reclaiming and restoration, allowing room for making choices, supporting emotional literacy and providing a voice (Risk to Resilience, PSY…show more content…
“Waterloo Region District School Board, in Ontario, implemented restorative conferencing, and sought that elementary suspension dropped 80 percent in under three years, and secondary school suspensions decreased 65 percent—which showed that, restorative practices represented a big part of the districts dramatic results” (Restorative practices eforum, 2007). The relevance of this is there has and is a big shift from the punitive system that does not work in all cases to a restorative method. Additionally, “incidents of disrespect to teachers feel from 71 to 21 percent” (Restorative practices eforum, 2007). A change in culture shifts the amount of respect for teachers because more respect is given to the student. Students start to treat each other better—“intimidating and threatening behaviours dropped from 56 to 24 percent” (Restorative practices eforum, 2007). A better community is a better learning environment for students. Students that are not fighting are much happier and report a high degree of

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