Restorative Practice Protocol Designer

What This Skill Does

Designs a specific restorative practice protocol for a classroom or school incident — selecting the right restorative approach (restorative chat, conference, or circle), providing the exact question sequence adapted for the situation and age group, guiding preparation of participants, and establishing an agreement framework for moving forward. The critical principle is that restorative practice is not the absence of consequences — it is a different KIND of consequence, one that requires the person who caused harm to understand the impact of their actions, take responsibility, and actively repair the damage. This is more demanding than a detention (which requires only that you sit in a room) and more effective (because it addresses the harm rather than just punishing the behaviour). The output is a ready-to-use protocol that a teacher or pastoral leader can follow step by step. AI is specifically valuable here because selecting the right restorative approach and calibrating the questions for the specific situation and age group requires both restorative justice expertise and practical school knowledge.

Evidence Foundation

Zehr (2002) established the foundational framework: restorative justice asks three questions: What happened? Who was harmed and how? What needs to happen to make it right? This contrasts with punitive justice, which asks: What rule was broken? Who broke it? What punishment do they deserve? Hopkins (2004) applied restorative principles to schools through the "Just Schools" model, showing that whole-school restorative approaches reduce exclusions, improve relationships, and create safer learning environments. Morrison (2007) demonstrated that restorative practice operates on three levels: primary (prevention — building relationships and community), secondary (intervention — addressing harm when it occurs), and tertiary (intensive — rebuilding relationships after serious harm). Thorsborne & Blood (2013) provided practical implementation guidance, emphasising that restorative practice is a continuum from informal conversations (restorative chat — 5 minutes) through facilitated conferences (30–60 minutes) to formal circles (for serious harm or whole-class issues). González (2015) reviewed evidence on restorative practices in schools and found reductions in exclusions, suspensions, and racial disparities in discipline — though implementation quality was the key predictor of success.

Input Schema

The teacher must provide:

• Incident description: What happened. e.g. "Two Year 9 students had a verbal argument in the corridor that escalated to pushing. Both are upset and blaming each other." / "A Year 7 student has been persistently making fun of another student's accent during group work." / "A Year 10 student swore at a teacher during a lesson after being asked to put their phone away."
• People involved: Who and what roles. e.g. "Student A (pushed first), Student B (pushed back), three witnesses" / "Student X (making comments), Student Y (target), several group members who laughed"
• Student level: Year group. e.g. "Year 9"

Optional (injected by context engine if available):

• Relationship context: The relationship between those involved