By Bruce J. Stewart

The author Robert J. Wicks in his book Seeds of Sensitivity writes, “For years, there has been a movement afoot in both psychology and spirituality to release people from the chains of unreasonable guilt and undeserved shame.  (Guilt is “I made a mistake.” Shame is “I am a mistake.” 1995)²   Shame has been both a deliberate and unintended consequence in many schools in the United States. 

The Restorative Practice philosophy believes in maintaining a person’s dignity and respect, always.  When educators treat students with dignity and respect at all times, even if they misbehave, a positive school culture is affirmed.  Students need boundaries, guidance, and opportunities for growth, especially when they misbehave. When students make restitution for their misbehavior, whether through the guidance of a teacher, or through self-reflection, they grow in self-control and self-confidence.

         RP teaches students to understand that their behavior choices have outcomes and consequences.  Emotionally immature students do not want to accept full responsibility for their actions.  However, when students admit that their behavior choices have outcomes and consequences, they learn the importance of resolving problems created by their poor decisions. 

The objective is to teach students that consequences of inappropriate behavior adversely affect the community in which they belong.  Accepting the responsibility to make restitution to restore the harm caused by their actions fosters emotional maturity.

         Simply stated, “Restorative Practice helps build character.”

Catholic School Principals:

Is professional development, focused on Restorative Practice, a part of your school improvement plan?  If not, here’s why it needs to be. 

by Bruce J. Stewart

Teacher professional development focused on Restorative Practice is an investment in your school’s vitality and mission.  Restorative Practice inspires and facilitates every student’s emotional growth, autonomy, and responsibility.  Here’s the outcome. Students learn self-control and initiative to become positive contributors to the class community. Student retention is maximized. New enrollment becomes a function of a positive, empathetic school culture that inspires families to share and broadcast gratitude for their children’s teachers.

When teachers use disciplinary practices that shame a student; or use punishment, instead of restitution; or attempt to control students instead of facilitating autonomy; the student feels unloved and resentful. Academic learning is compromised, if not negated.  However, the most significant harm is the emotional damage to the student’s self-esteem. Professional development, focused on Restorative Practice, inspires teachers to abandon traditional methods of discipline (i.e. punishment and shame) in favor of empathy and compassion. When teachers “seek first to understand”, they make an emotional connection with their students that leads to empathy and compassion. 

Thus, the value proposition of Catholic education becomes a broad-based, collaborative environment in which the teachers exemplify empathy and compassion to nurture the social-emotional growth of all students.  Love and forgiveness, the heart of the New Testament, truly becomes the soul of the ministry of teaching in Catholic education.

Moreover, the compound effect of all teachers sharing in the development of a student’s autonomy, initiative, and responsibility through Restorative Practice, nurtures students’ positive self-image and self-confidence.  A positive self-image protects a student from the negative effects of stress inflicted by social media, advertising, and peer pressure.

Yet, love and forgiveness should be the hallmark of all teachers.  Sadly, too many educational institutions stubbornly refuse to adopt the power of empathetic practices of compassion in favor of punishment.

Fr. Greg Boyle, the Jesuit priest whose ministry of working with former gang members in Los Angeles, demonstrates the transformative power of love and forgiveness.  Fr. Greg’s work which has been well documented in his two books, Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir, recount the transformative process of former gang members, who, when bestowed with unconditional love, are reborn. The Peace Prayer of St. Francis, succinctly states the philosophy of Restorative Practice at the heart of Fr. Greg’s Tattoos on the Heart — The Power of Boundless Compassion:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

To put it into today’s terms, Restorative Practice in education is the “game-changer” that inspires and nurtures the soul of all children and young adults – Be Boundless!