What is Restorative Practice? A Beginner's Guide for Educators

If you've heard the term "restorative practice" and found yourself nodding along without being entirely sure what it means, you're not alone.

It's one of those phrases that gets used in education a lot. In policy documents, in PD days, in conversations between school leaders who are looking for something better than what they've been doing. But what does it actually mean? And more importantly, what does it look like on a Friday morning when Year 8 is restless and two students have just had a serious falling out in the corridor?

That's what this post is for.

The Short Version

Restorative practice is a relational approach to building community and repairing harm. Rather than asking "What rule was broken and what's the punishment?" it asks "Who has been affected, and what do they need to put things right?"

It's a shift from reactive discipline to proactive connection. From compliance to accountability. From "What's wrong with you?" to "What's happening for you?"

And it's grounded in more than thirty years of research - in criminology, neuroscience, positive psychology, and education - showing that people are more likely to take genuine responsibility for their actions when they feel seen, valued, and part of a community that holds them accountable with care.

Where Did It Come From?

Restorative practice has its roots in restorative justice, a movement that emerged in the 1970s as an alternative to retributive criminal justice systems. Researchers and practitioners began noticing that punishment alone didn't lead to genuine accountability or healing for the person who caused harm or the person who experienced it.

In the 1990s, educators began adapting these principles for schools. The work of scholars like Howard Zehr, Ted Wachtel, and Brenda Morrison helped establish what we now understand as restorative practice in educational settings, a whole-school approach to relationships, community-building, and conflict resolution (Wachtel, 2013; Morrison, 2007).

What It Looks Like in Schools

Restorative practice in schools isn't just about what happens after something goes wrong. In fact, the most powerful restorative work happens before conflict arises.

It shows up in:

• The way a teacher opens a class with a circle check-in, giving every student a voice before the lesson begins

• The language a wellbeing leader uses when a student is sent to their office, not "What did you do?" but "Tell me what happened. Who was affected?"

• The way a school community comes together after a significant incident, not to assign blame, but to understand the harm and work together to repair it

• The way staff meetings are facilitated, with relational practices embedded in professional culture, not just student interactions

Restorative practice recognises that schools are communities, and that the health of a community depends on the quality of the relationships within it.

The Restorative Mindset

At the heart of restorative practice is a mindset shift. And this is where it gets both simple and profound.

The restorative mindset asks us to hold two things at once: high expectations AND high support. To believe that students (and staff, and families) are capable of accountability, and that they need to feel safe and connected to access it.

It's sometimes described as the difference between doing restorative practice and being restorative. The tools and processes matter, but they only work when they're grounded in a genuine orientation toward people, dignity, and relationship.

As Dr Ross Greene's research reminds us: "Kids do well if they can" (Greene, 2014). When students aren't doing well, the question isn't what's wrong with them, it's what's getting in the way.

That reframe is everything.

Is It Soft on Behaviour?

This is probably the most common question, and it's a fair one.

The short answer is no. Restorative practice isn't about letting things slide. It's about holding people accountable in a way that's more meaningful, and more likely to result in genuine change, than traditional punitive responses.

Research consistently shows that exclusion, detention, and shame-based consequences don't reduce the likelihood of behaviour being repeated. What does make a difference, according to self-determination theory and educational neuroscience, is when young people feel a sense of belonging, competence, and relatedness within their school community (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Restorative practice creates the conditions for that to happen. It doesn't remove accountability, it changes the shape of it.

Where to Start

If you're new to restorative practice, the most important first step is to start with yourself. Reflect on how you currently respond to unexpected behaviour. What's your default? What assumptions do you bring into difficult moments?

From there:

• Try using restorative language in low-stakes moments, curiosity over blame, questions over directives

• Experiment with a simple circle check-in with your class (even a one-question prompt changes the room)

• Explore the foundational concepts through professional reading or training

Our Introduction to Restorative Practices training is a full day of evidence-informed, practical learning designed specifically for educators. Upcoming sessions include Geelong (13 May), and online across three evenings in May.

Learn more and register here → https://restorativepathways.com.au/training

A Final Thought

Restorative practice is not a quick fix. It's a long game, a commitment to building the kind of school culture where every person feels safe enough to take responsibility, grow through difficulty, and contribute to something bigger than themselves.

And in my experience, when educators encounter it for the first time, many say the same thing: "This is what I always believed education should be. I just didn't have the language for it."

Maybe that's you. If so, welcome. 💗

References

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01

Greene, R. W. (2014). The Explosive Child (5th ed.). HarperCollins.

Morrison, B. (2007). Restoring Safe School Communities. Federation Press.

Wachtel, T. (2013). Defining Restorative. International Institute for Restorative Practices. https://www.iirp.edu/images/pdf/Defining-Restorative_Nov-2016.pdf

Zehr, H. (2015). The Little Book of Restorative Justice (revised ed.). Good Books.