Social Justice in Restorative Justice Practices Trainings in California K-12 Public Schools PDF Download

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Book Description
Many public urban K 12 schools are in neighborhoods that struggle with systemic social injustices that include poverty, racism, violence, and lack of meaningful opportunities. These realities threaten students' success in school and contribute to injustices in the school system, such as disproportionality in discipline for students of color. In California, legislators have responded to this disproportionality by instituting new policies designed to protect students from harsh zero tolerance practices such as suspensions and expulsions. This change leaves educators with a need for new tools to address discipline. One alternative to the punitive models used in K 12 public schools is restorative justice practices (RJP). A restorative approach addresses the root causes of community harm and focuses on strengthening relationships, interconnectedness, inclusion, respect and community accountability. The literature on restorative justice in schools emphasizes that professional development is needed for educators to make the shift from using punitive practices to delivering RJP with their peers and their students; however, there is currently a lack of research on the necessary RJP training content and processes needed to help educators address the underlying social justice issues that impact students. This dissertation contributes to this void by exploring the existing training content and processes used by a range of respected RJP trainers. A social constructionist theoretical framework was used to critique punitive discipline in public schools and to apply a social justice lens in RJP trainings with educators. The central research questions for this qualitative study were two fold: To what extent do RJP trainers in K 12 schools across California use a social justice lens in their trainings? and When using a social justice lens in RJP trainings, what social justice components are addressed and how are they applied in training? Semi structured interviews were used to gather data from 26 restorative trainers across California and thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis were used to examine the data. The data revealed in four main themes that, to a great extent, RJP trainers used a social justice lens in their training and demonstrated a wide range of social justice concepts and practices in their work. The first theme showed how RJP trainers recognized the importance of acknowledging the indigenous origins of restorative justice and addressing cultural appropriation of indigenous practices by contemporary RJP trainers. The second theme showed how RJP trainers identified how a dominant punitive discourse excludes students from the school community and has the potential to reinforce the school to prison pipeline. The third theme showed how RJP trainers cultivated a restorative mindset, which involved building community relationships, displaying empathy, and valuing collective wisdom. The final theme showed how RJP trainers exhibited five restorative capacities: vulnerability, empathy, humility, curiosity, and self reflection. Finally, the findings showed that without acknowledging the dominant punitive culture in schools and identifying restorative justice practices as an alternative culture to interrupt the criminalization and exclusion of students, restorative trainings are not actively working towards systemic change. The study concludes with a proposal that educational leaders identify and partner with social justice oriented restorative trainers to influence policy initiatives as funding and certifications are developed within the restorative field.