I have seen many headlines that highlight so-called "restorative justice" or "restorative practices" that induce me to express my frustration - "that is certainly not restorative practice!"
A recent example was an article that describes a situation where a 10-year-old boy with special educational needs was "forced by staff to listen to classmates listing the reasons they didn't like him. He then had to write these on a hand-drawn poster that was then stuck on his classroom wall".
According to the article, parents had been told by the head teacher that this was "restorative justice".
Misinterpretation
This made me consider the reasons behind this misinterpretation of restorative justice and the need for clear definitions and communication about what is and isn't "restorative".
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