Re-constructing Difficult Behaviour – a Role for Restorative Justice

Dr Victoria Harold Calderdale Educational Psychology Service

Outline of session Introduction and terminology

De-constructing difficult behaviour Discourses on behaviour and implications Underlying issues

Re-constructing difficult behaviour Social constructionism, Relationships and RJ Challenges & the future

Introduction

Behaviour and its management - a perennial preoccupation

Historically a priority for government

‘behaviour has long been a major concern for school staff and

parents alike’ (Education and Inspections Act, 2006 p.2)

Elton report (1989)

Steer reports (2005, 2009)

House of Commons Education Committee report (2011)

Considerable rise of behaviour concerns from schools.

Social Constructionism

Social Constructionism as an umbrella term: Critique of traditional psychology and taken for

granted 'truths' Knowledge and understanding is constructed within

the social, political, economical and historical context it resides

Including through social practice and discourse Way we describe and explain the world are

outcomes of relationships Reflection is vital – responsibility for considering the

pitfalls and promises of our traditions (Gergen, 2009)

Discourse

Fairclough (2001; 2005) Discourse as the broad sense of carrying meaning,

through language or visual means (semiosis) Discourse as a noun or 'category for depicting

particular ways of representing aspects of social life' (p. 12)

Discourses on behaviour

Behaviourism Zero tolerance The whole child The rise of difficult behaviour Role boundaries

Behaviourism

Dominance of Behaviourism Focus on observable; behaviour modification;

antecedents, behaviours and consequences; assertive discipline; consistency; clarity (e.g. Canter and Canter, 1992)

Sir Alan Steer (DfES, 2005, p.10) '...schools need to have positive strategies for managing pupil

behaviour that helps pupils understand their school's expectations, underpinned by a clear range of rewards and sanctions, which are applied fairly and consistently by all staff...good behaviour has to be learned...;

Behaviourism

However, behaviourism can... ...fragment behaviour; focus on control; and

individual responsibility; can be overly simplistic; and does not necessarily encourage internal motivation/reinforcement

...be overly relied upon by schools ...be too closely allied with zero tolerance

approaches (which draw heavily upon it)

And what do children ‘learn’ from it?

Zero tolerance

Rise of ZT (APA, 200) Based on inflexible application of

predetermined (often hierarchical) consequences; focus on punitive; presume removal of students will deter others; exclusion.

Ineffective; failure to address causal factors; inflexibility; capacity to alienate; impact on community; impact on minority groups.

'the bottom line is that the exclusionary fail to address the deeper issues, build understanding and foster responsibility' (Morrison, 2007, p. 58)

The Whole Child

Welcome move towards understanding the wider context.

Every Child Matters (DfES, 2004); SEAL (DfES, 2005) and focus on skills training.

Engages cognitive psychology and the concept of 'need' Deficit model Benign yet powerful – removes power from child Ecclestone's (2007) 'diminished self'

The Whole Child

'Intended to be helpful, to place emphasis on the child's difficulties rather than simply naming a supposed category of problems, the notion of need has instead some to point as emphatically as before at the child.' (Thomas, 2005, p.60)

'Rudimentary training and uncritical promotion of wellbeing lead to simplistic assumptions. Labels of “vulnerable learners”, “at-risk learners”, children with “fragile identities” and “low self-esteem” are commonplace in staffrooms and on school reports.' (Ecclestone, 2007)

The Rise of Difficult Behaviour

Each generation believes there to be an increase (Visser, 2005)

Reviews have not supported; Surveys inconclusive – issue of perceptions and influence of media, expectations and agendas on these perceptions

Role for SC – presume 'truth' behind nature and quantity of behaviour which may not exist

Presence of multiple discourses shows role of culture in shaping what we understand about behaviour

Behaviour as Socially Constructed

Pomerantz (2005) – meanings are socially constructed through language

'challenging behaviour is perceived to be constructed through the interaction that takes place between the pupil and the teacher in the classroom setting which in turn serves to reinforce its presentation' (p. 21)

Lloyd Bennett (2005) – behaviour is 'total response' of a person

'the organisation of schools requires rules and paradoxically obedience to rules also implies the possibility for disobedience' (p. 13)

Behaviour as Socially Constructed

Thomas (2005) – Schools' needs rather than individual needs have given rise to constructions of difficult behaviour – need to regulate time, body, speech and activity.

Foucault (1977) – punishment compares, hierarchizes, excludes and normalises.

Three underlying issues

• Within child thinking

• Accountability

• Responsibility

Within-Child Thinking

SEBD – language has potential to define and position

'those kids', 'behaviour kids' Deliberate nature to behaviour ('kids know') Avoiding versus establishing agency'The child is invariably seen as a free-standing isolable being who

moves through development as a complete individual. Other similarly self-contained people – parents, teachers – may influence the development of children, to be sure, but the proper unit of analysis and the proper unit of developmental study if the child alone.' (Kessen, 1979, p. 819)

Within-Child Thinking

Villification versus medicalisation Pastoral versus discipline Access to resources (Parsons, 1999)

Adults have the 'knowledge' and 'expertise' Who holds the power/has voice?

Accountability

Additional discourses Discourse around staff roles, boundaries & conflict Teaching staff and support staff self-preservation

Systems discourse Quasi-scientific 'data' Behaviour can only be dealt with/teachers

supported if logged Frustration and confusion

Accountability

Culture of accountability (network of practices) Curriculum Targets OFSTED Government policies School policies Parents media

Responsibility

Individualism/Individual responsibility underpinning all

Relational responsibility/collective responsibility (McNamee and Gergen, 1999)

continuous process of 'comprehending, adjudicating and adjusting within relationships' (p. 47)

'policy and practice which seek to exclude those very students who are in greatest need of social support and an education simply relocate the problem in time and space and may exacerbate it. (Cameron and Thorsborne, 2001, p. 189)

Relationships

Behaviour constructed in interactions Importance of language Historical agreement on importance of

relationships (Visser, 2005) Conflict/Difficult behaviour impacts on

relationships Wrongdoing is against person not rules

Restorative Justice

Needs and roles Accountability Reparation Victim, offender and wider community

Who has been hurt? What are their needs? Whose obligations are these? (Zehr, 2002)

RJ

Ancient Indigenous populations Multiple terms CJS, schools Varied field of practice

RJ

Wachtel and McCold (2001) – social discipline window

RJ

Wachtel and McCold (2001) – Restorative Practices Continuum

RJ

Morrison’s (2007) whole school model of RJ

RJ in schools

• Conferences

• Quick questions

• Open and closing circles

• Teaching in circles

• Conferencing following exclusion

• Peer mediation

• Staff circles

• mediation

RJ and theory

Reintegrative shaming (Braithwaite, 1989) Acknowledge shame, re-join community Intuitive, shame powerful Complex, can be negative, individualistic

Community psychology Social psychology

Procedural Justice

RJ and SC

Shotter (1995) – joint action Language and discourse focus Discursive Justice – justice as the product of

SC; language is cultural practice.

Cvetkovich and Earle (1994)'justice is constructed through discourse, interaction and

exchanges and it is through discourse that individuals come to understand certain actions as just or unjust.' (Harold, 2012, p. 65)

Why RJ

Addresses challenges to traditional discourses Focus on relationships is intuitive School community* Development of self-regulation (Morrison, 2007) Embraces breadth of human attributes we want

children to develop Evaluations favourable

Not new to schools

RJ in schools

• Lewisham

• Scotland

• Barnet

• Hull

• Youth Justice Board (2004) – 26 schools across England and Wales

Challenges

• Time

• Training

• Conferences

• Language

• Embedding RJ fully into culture

‘restorative justice is not a panacea for problems in schools, but if implemented correctly it can improve the school environment, enhance learning and encourage people to become more responsible and empathetic’ (Youth Justice Board, 2004, p. 13)

The Future

• Engaging people in the discourse and language of RJ

• ‘Reculturing’ (Hargreaves and Fuller, 1998)

• See RJ as an alternative – avoid polarisation

• Models of change – each school as individual

• Leadership commitment

• Some indications of openness to change

• ‘winning hearts and minds’

• Restorative staffroom??

The Future

‘conversational moves [which] may broaden and deepen our forms of discourse and enrich the range of reasonable actions in such a way that cultural participants are more fully (or less lethally) coordinated.’

(McNamee and Gergen, 1999, p. 19)

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