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Parents, carers and the community can find out about restorative practices. Learn about the positive impact of restorative practices and how you can support these practices at home.
A restorative approach
A restorative approach that involves children and students is the best way for education and care settings to respond when things go wrong. For example, when bullying, harassment or violence happens.
A restorative approach helps to re-establish safety, rebuild relationships, and repair the harm caused.
Restorative practices can also help to prevent behaviours of concern from happening in the first place.
By helping children and students to take greater responsibility:
- they develop important life skills such as getting on with others and managing conflict
- the quality of education and care is improved.
What are restorative practices? (3 minutes)
Watch this video to learn more about restorative practices and how it works.
Benefits of restorative practices
Restorative practices help to create and maintain safe and supportive education and care environments.
Education and care settings that use a restorative approach to relationships and behaviour report improvements in:
- feelings of community, belonging and connectedness
- attendance
- positive and supportive relationships between children, students, staff, parents, carers and families
- wellbeing and behaviour
- social and emotional skills including conflict resolution, problem solving, empathy and accountability
- feeling that the education or care setting is supportive, fair, inclusive, respectful and safe
- learning and academic outcomes.
Education and care settings that use a restorative approach to relationships and behaviour report reductions in:
- behaviours of concern, for example, bullying, harassment and violence
- suspensions and exclusions
- absenteeism
- lost learning time.
The problem with punishment
Punishment does not work to change behaviour or make things safer. Research suggests that punishment can increase the risk of further behaviours of concern.
When children and students are punished, they:
- usually see themselves as being wronged
- might feel rejected and that they are a ‘bad’ person
- can dwell on their own feelings
- can’t see the harm they have caused to others
- avoid taking responsibility for what they have done.
Punishment, shame and humiliation negatively impact on relationships and engagement in education and care.
Restorative practices are not a soft option
The restorative approach helps children and students to learn.
Children and students get to understand the impact of their behaviour on others by hearing from other children, students, staff, parents, carers and families about how they have been affected by what happened.
Through the restorative process, children and students:
- face up to the consequences of their actions
- help repair the harm caused
- can be welcomed back into the education or care community
- are supported to understand what they need to do differently next time and develop the skills for safer and more respectful behaviour.
Doing things differently with restorative practices (1 minute)
Learn about how restorative practices can help schools do things differently in this short video.
Supporting restorative practice conversations at home
Restorative questions help children and young people to:
- think about what they did
- understand how their behaviour has impacted others
- take responsibility for their actions
- repair the harm caused.
You can use the restorative questions with your child when something has gone wrong at school, at childcare, at home or in the community.
It might feel a bit awkward when you first start using the questions. The more you and your child practice using the questions when things go wrong, the easier it will get.
Questions that can help when your child has done the wrong thing
- What happened?
- What were you thinking at the time?
- What have you thought about since?
- Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way?
- What do you think you need to do to make things right?
Questions that can help when your child has been harmed by someone’s behaviour
- What did you think when you realised what had happened?
- What impact has this incident had on you and others?
- What has been the hardest thing for you?
- What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
You can reword the questions to meet your child’s needs based on their age and stage of development.
Taking your child through these questions will help them to understand that even when things go wrong and relationships have been harmed, things can be put right.
Staff at your child’s school or childcare might be able to help you with using the restorative questions.
Policies and procedures
Behaviour Support Policy
The department’s behaviour support policy (PDF 165 KB) outlines how staff support safe and positive behaviour for children and young people in education and care settings.
Under this policy, responses to behaviour:
- are fair and reflect children’s and student’s individual needs
- help to repair and restore relationships that have been harmed.
Schools are required to have their own behaviour support policy or school behaviour code that is consistent with the department’s behaviour support policy (PDF 165 KB) .
Suspension, exclusion and expulsion of students procedure
The suspension, exclusion and expulsion of students procedure (PDF 4 MB) outlines how schools use take-home, suspension, exclusion and expulsion to support safe and positive behaviour. The procedure requires schools to take a restorative approach to repairing harm.
