Prevention and Early Intervention Programme - Swansea - · PDF file · 2014-09-182 Training Introduction FST Circle .. 11 ... formation of a Prevention & Early Intervention...

RESTORATIVE PRACTICE: THE SWANSEA GUIDE

Hilary Davies, RP Project Manager: ℡ 07919 626611 �: [email protected]

David Williams, RP Trainer: ℡ 07779 246345 �: [email protected]

‘A framework to build relationships’ and resolve conflict.

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Prevention and Early

Intervention Programme

Restorative Practice

Information Pack





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CONTENTS

PAGE NUMBER

1 1 Introduction to Restorative Practice in Swansea – The journey so far

• Use brief e.g. Article or shorter version

• Include 7 Steps diagram

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2 Main aims of the Project

• Half page include the 3 RA aims; Who we work with.

• Evaluation: Appendix 1

• Current status: Primary, Secondary, PRU’s, STF’s, Non school teams; Gwalia, HR

• Additionally : Pupil training; Parent training; refresher FLS, Governors

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3. Communications Website

Network events

Twitter

RP Week

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2 Training Introduction

FST

Circle

…..

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Questionnaires 15

Implementation pack RJ for schools:

Contracts, policies, behavioural policies,

Continuum of Need Affective statements

Affective questions etc.





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APPENDICES

1 Swansea Metropolitan University Independent Research

2 eForum Article





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1 Introduction to Restorative Practice in Swansea – The journey so far

Introduction

Swansea’s journey to becoming a restorative city began in March 2010 with the formation of a Prevention & Early Intervention board consisting of representatives from Education, Police, Social Services and the Voluntary Sector and Chaired by Richard Parry, Lead Director for Children and Young People. The board agreed to introduce Restorative Practice as there was a need for additional tools to help schools deal with behaviour issues. There were also a high number of referrals being received by our child and family services, which were mostly low level problems that were considered could be dealt with as they occurred, thereby preventing the escalation to other services. It was recognised that many of these were in relation to bad behaviour, and a decision was made by the Lead Director for Children & Young People to adopt the approach initially to schools in areas with the highest level of deprivation.

In addition, attendance in schools needed to be improved along with reducing the number of exclusions, as part of the Council’s Poverty agenda is to ensure pupils are in schools and learning to improve future work prospects, and we had seen how restorative practice had supported others to achieve this. We had also seen a significant improvement in our own Youth Offending Service with the reduction of re-offenders into the criminal system.

As the Project Manager I have led the work since the start and worked closely with the ‘International Institute of Restorative Practice UK & Europe’ during this time. The project has grown from strength to strength and by June 2013, 56% of all schools have been trained and approximately 4,500 staff trained across the authority from schools and supporting teams working with children and young people. We chose to use the International Institute of Restorative Practice, as we liked their sound theory based approach and their explicit model, and we were fortunate in having the experienced Police Officer and RP trainer David Williams working in the YOS team in Swansea, that the partnership allowed us to seconde to support our roll-out.

What we didn’t anticipate was the demand we experienced as it was recognised that there is enormous benefit that the approach provides in developing relationships, in every setting and with all ages. The project has developed significantly since the start, as we constantly re view and refine our model building on it’s success and identifying new ways of maintaining good practice and spreading into the community.

Some of the ways we have achieved this is by offering additional training opportunities. Initially we have a whole school approach for the core Introduction to RP training. We then offer advanced training and circle training to a selection of staff who become the Guiding Team and cascade this to other colleagues. Last year we started training pupils in the school to become RP Mentors and that has made a huge difference in helping schools embed the approach. To date there are approx 400 pupils trained across the schools with more training arranged for the next year. Children are aware of their rights as many of our schools are Rights Respecting and





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will respectfully challenge staff if RP is not used at the appropriate time. Both approaches support each other well, as restorative practice sits under Article 12 (right to be heard) and Article 19 (right to be safe).





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2. Main aims of the Project:

1. To train schools and organisations that work with children and young people, on Restorative Practice and other related training (including Using Circles Effectively, Facilitator Skills Training and Pupil Training).

2. To support schools and organisations to embed the approach. 3. To deliver events on Restorative Practice in order to share best practice and

improve workforce development.

Restorative Practice is being seen as an excellent approach to support the various strategies and initiatives in schools. The strength of RP is that it can be used in any setting and with children, young people and adults across all establishments.

The project is fully supported by the Council and is being recognised by Estyn Inspectors as a valuable approach to support well-being in the schools.

Evaluation

A small scale evaluation was completed in May 2013, (see Appendix 1, page ?? for a summary).

The Better Swansea Partnership recommended an independent evaluation be carried out to identify any difference Restorative Practice had made.

The Swansea Metropolitan University of Wales offered to undertake this work and two schools were identified and interviews carried out with staff and pupils.

Current Status

The project has grown from strength to strength and by July 2013, 56% of all schools have been trained and approximately 4,500 staff trained across the authority from schools and supporting teams working with children and young people using a whole school or team approach. This ensures that every member of staff is trained which is the tried and tested model used in the founder organisation in America. Swansea have developed this to create a model appropriate for the city that is being regarded as good practice by the Institute of Restorative Practice (IIRP), and has generated interest not only in other authorities across the UK & Ireland, but also across the World. We chose to use the International Institute of Restorative Practice, as we liked their sound theory based approach and their explicit model, and we were fortunate in having the experienced Police Officer and RP trainer David Williams working in the





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YOS team in Swansea, that the partnership allowed us to second to support our roll-out. What we didn’t anticipate was the demand we experienced as it was recognised that there is enormous benefit that the approach provides in developing relationships, in every setting and with all ages. The project has developed significantly since the start, as we constantly re view and refine our model building on its success and identifying new ways of maintaining good practice and spreading into the community.

Some of the ways we have achieved this is by offering additional training opportunities. Initially we have a whole school approach for the core Introduction to RP training. We then offer advanced training and circle training to a selection of staff that become the Guiding Team and cascade this to other colleagues.

Additional features

In addition to the core training the project has held two RP weeks which have provided opportunities to share success across schools and organisations working with children and young people.

Pupil training

In 2012 the project started training pupils in the school to become RP Mentors. This was initially trialled with Secondary Primary School in July 2012 and then with Primary school children as part of RP week and following feedback from pupils the model was refined before further training took place.

Providing pupils with training has made a huge difference in helping schools embed the approach. To date there are approx 450 pupils trained across schools with more training arranged for the next year.

Children are aware of their rights as many of our schools are Rights Respecting and will respectfully challenge staff if RP is not used at the appropriate time. Both approaches support each other well, as restorative practice sits under Article 12 (right to be heard) and Article 19 (right to be safe).

Future events will include opportunities for RP pupils to contribute to on-going developments and further pupil training.

Parent Training

At the end of the course they all stated they enjoyed and looked forward to spreading RP with friends and family. They felt they now understood the principles and were able to explain these, which in their words would give them more confidence. They felt as if they could now support their child in school as they had a better understanding of the 4 Key Elements and how easy it was to use.





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HR Principal Officers

All staff are trained and were enthusiastic about having another tool to support staff in resolving issues. Further work is being planned to develop the use of RP between schools and HR.

Teacher Training

The Swansea Metropolitan University have supported including Restorative Practice in the teacher training programme for Primary and Secondary teaching students. The training will be particularly advantageous for students in placements in the city, as they will support the schools in using RP. It will also be advantageous for students who will find employment in other counties across Wales, as the approach is being rolled out across the Swamwac region. This will be developed over the next 12 months working closely with the University.

Governors

Governor awareness raising sessions have already taken place to update governors. A more detailed package is being prepared which involves training governors together in their clusters.

Gwalia

We have been involved in initial discussions with Gwalia housing association to promote the use of RP. The organisations are currently in negotiation with IIRP with plans to train staff all staff in the approach focussing initially on front-line staff in tenancy support and The Foyer. These teams work in areas were we have already trained schools and teams in RP, and this will further support the work with the consistent use of the language.





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3. Communications

Website

This is updated regularly. Discussions are in progress to develop further.

Network Events

Restorative Practice Pupil Conference The first ever Restorative Practice Pupil Conference took place on Tuesday 15th October 2013 at the Liberty Stadium . The event was the next training step for primary and secondary school restorative trained pupils, and an opportunity to network together, share their success and contribute to future development for Restorative Practice for pupils. The Children’s Commissioner Keith Towler, was present to support the event and demonstrate how RP connects to the Rights of the Child. International Institute for Restorative Practice UK & Ireland Conference The IIRP hosted its UK and Ireland conference in Swansea in November 2012 in recognition of the successful way Swansea is developing Restorative Practice (RP), in work with children and young people, and families. Over 200 delegates attended from across a range of organisations and across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The second annual Restorative Practice week took place on 22nd – 26th April 2013 and provided a programme of opportunities for sharing success across areas trained.

Restorative Practice Week

A week’s programme of activities providing opportunities for schools and organisations to share good practice, and visit other establishments. This takes place in Spring each year. Additional text required…..





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2. Restorative Practice Training in Swansea

1. Training Courses

Introduction to Restorative Practice Training

The purpose of this training is to gain an understanding of restorative concepts in order to build positive relationships. Participants will learn effective informal skills to manage inappropriate and harmful behaviour, encouraging people to take greater responsibility for their own actions.

Benefits:

• a stronger workplace community • positive relationships, even with challenging inappropriate behaviour • improved classroom/office climate • fewer disciplinary referrals • creating a safer and more creative work environment

The workshop is deliberately relaxed and interactive; however there are clear and focussed outputs and participants will take the following from the workshop:

• An understanding of the underlying concepts of restorative practices • Effective strategies for:

o Managing student/staff behaviour o Teaching students/staff to take responsibility for their actions o Engaging students and their parents/carers in their own behavioural

issues

The day will include discussion topics on:

• Participants’ experiences and struggles in school settings • Connectedness and relationships • Student/staff engagement





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Facilitator Skills Training Course:

This course prepares participants to run restorative conferences and to use restorative practices in their everyday roles.

Benefits of the Facilitator Skills training are that it:

• brings together all those affected by conflict • allows participants to come to a shared understanding • provides a safe environment for the expression of emotion • provides opportunities to rebuild damaged relationships • rebuilds relationships and strengthens communities • processes can be used proactively or reactively • can be used within existing systems • can go on to participate in a one-day ‘Advanced’ training • pursue personal accreditation

Over the three day training the focus will be on:

• Continuum of practice • How to deal restoratively with cases involving accepted responsibility • Using the restorative conferencing script • Preparation of participants • Practical relevant role-play opportunities • The role of the facilitator

This three-day course normally runs from 9.00am to 5.00pm, which is negotiable subject to minimum inputs and contents b eing delivered.





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Using Circles Effectively Training:

In this course you will learn the values and process of circles. The training will include practical and effective tools for creating a positive climate in with pupils and adults in any setting.

Benefits of using the training include:

Circles can be used, with a modest time investment to:

• Create a positive community at any key stage • Manage behaviour • Engage students in their education and improve academic achievement

Circles teach students:

• To motivate and build community • How to build trust • To support each other’s learning • To hold each other accountable

The workshop will be deliberately relaxed and interactive, however there is a focus on the following:

• Circle techniques and ideas • What circles can accomplish • How circles can be restorative • Using circles to stimulate learning and discussion

The training will include the following:

• Participatory exercises to o Practice using circles o Develop new circle applications and questions

• Discussion of key issues • Helpful materials to take home





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Pupil Mentor Training

The purpose of this training is for pupils to thoroughly understand restorative concepts, for use in both classrooms and play ground settings. On completion of the training pupils will be expected to use the Restorative approach to support pupils and their behaviour and work with them to take responsibility for their actions.

Benefits:

• a stronger school/classroom community • positive relationships • improved classroom climate • fewer disciplinary referrals • more instructional/staff/group time

Focus:

• underlying concepts of restorative practices • effective strategies for:

o managing student o teaching students to take responsibility for their actions o engaging students in their own behavioural issues

Agenda & Materials:

• exercises for practicing restorative techniques • videos of actual restorative practices in use • accounts from experienced restorative practitioners • helpful textbook/hand-outs

Discussion Topics:

• participants’ experiences and struggles in school/classrooms/playground • connectedness and relationships • student engagement • the mentors role





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2. Measuring the Impact Questionnaires are completed by staff and pupils prior to all training. A report is then produced and presented to the Headteacher/Manager. Questionnaires will be repeated annually to measure distance travelled. Boxhall Profile Data will be used for 2-3 measures in the Boxhall profile to identify any change. Case study’s All users are encouraged to capture case study’s and these will be shared via the website.





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APPENDIX 1

Background

The Better Swansea Partnership recommended an independent evaluation be carried out to identify

any difference Restorative Practice had made.

The Swansea Metropolitan University of Wales offered to undertake this work and two schools were

identified and interviews carried out with staff and pupils.

Summary

Restorative Practice has been a priority for the City and County of Swansea for the past three years,

following the successful use of Restorative Justice locally. Restorative Practice is seen as a way to

equip organisations working with children with prevention and early intervention tools, with a view

to reducing the number of referrals.

This report presents findings from a small-scale evaluation of practitioners and pupils which sought

to gain their perceptions of the Restorative Practice processes being used in their settings.

The report was commissioned by Swansea Council’s Prevention and Early Intervention Team and

undertaken by researchers at Swansea Metropolitan University of Wales Trinity St David.

The research looked at five key areas: training; experience and understanding; benefits and

challenges; processes used before Restorative Practice; and any changes they felt were needed to

the Restorative Practice processes used in their settings.

Adopting a qualitative approach the research methods consisted of six focus groups and eight semi-

structured interviews. Thirty-five participants (twenty-one pupils and fourteen practitioners) were

involved in either a focus group or semi-structured interview and a total of nine hours of audio

material was collected. Thematic analysis of transcriptions was focused around the five key areas

and the findings were presented under these headings.

The majority of key findings from practitioners were positive and included:

• an overwhelmingly positive response to the Restorative Practice training;

• a request for Top-up or on-going training;





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• recognition of the sense of calm Restorative Practice had developed within the children and

within the school environment;

• acknowledgement of pupil voice within the Restorative Practice process;

• identification of a reduction in the number of incidents in school;

• recognition of the fairness Restorative Practice brought to resolving conflict.

The majority of the key findings for pupils were positive and included:

• a request for specific Restorative Practice training to include materials to share with family

members;

• acknowledgement of the time Restorative Practice gave them to talk, be listened to, get to

know their peers and be treated fairly;

• recognition of the opportunity to ‘off load’ any worries they may have; to share how they

felt; and to gain understanding from their peers;

The biggest challenge highlighted by practitioners and pupils addressed similar concerns. The

majority of practitioners questioned how to engage pupils who don’t feel remorseful or who are

cynical about the Restorative Practice process. Similarly pupils discussed their frustration at other

pupils who would not engage with or who would laugh at the process.

The Prevention and Early Intervention team is already addressing a number of the key findings

identified in this report. To enable these findings to be considered alongside the areas currently

being addressed by the team, they have attached their action plan to this report.

6. Recommendations for future research

Recommendations for future research:





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1. To include participants, both practitioners and pupils, who do not ‘buy into’ the Restorative

Practice processes to ensure a broad and balanced view of Restorative Practice across each

setting;

2. To consider attendance and exclusion data held at school and county level;

3. To involve a larger cohort of schools to gain a deeper understanding of Restorative Practices

across the county;

4. To incorporate the views of families and the wider community;

5. To consider the views of supporting agencies.

The main report can be found at:

http://www.cypswansea.co.uk/media/pdfwithtranslation/r/s/Restorative_Practice_Report_-

_Final_draft_with_Appendix.pdf





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APPENDIX 2: eForum article

Swansea, Wales, UK, on the path to becoming a restorative city

Posted by Joshua Wachtel on Sep 5, 2013 in Community, eForum News, Featured, Justice, Schools

Hilary Davies, the restorative practices project manager for the city and county of Swansea, Wales, UK, wrote the following post to discuss the region’s efforts to become a restorative city.

“It’ll change your life, it’ll change you!”

These are the opinions of Chelsea who was excluded from two comprehensive schools due to bad behaviour resulting in her being moved to a pupil referral unit. As the only girl out of 13 boys in the class, she found this tough, and there were times when she’d ‘kick off’ and retreat to the corner of the class. Following the training the staff received in Restorative Practice (RP), her form tutor, already passionate about using the approach, started using the question cards to deal with disputes in the class. Chelsea took to this immediately. Throughout the last few years, whenever there had been conflict in her mainstream school it had resulted in raised voices and anger between herself and staff, which achieved nothing more than her walking away frustrated about not being heard. Using RP and having an opportunity to talk about what happened has been a turning point in her attitude. She has consequently written to both headteachers of the schools she previously attended to apologise for her behaviour, describing how she now understands the impact her behaviour has had on others. Her story is very clear and sad, as she truly believes that if a restorative approach had been used in her mainstream schools she might still be there with her friends sitting exams and getting her qualifications, which is her desire but sadly not an option at present.





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Training the Pupil Referral Unit is part of the city and county of Swansea’s journey to becoming a restorative city. The work began in March 2010 with the formation of a Prevention & Early Intervention board consisting of representatives from Education, Police, Social Services and the Voluntary Sector, chaired by Richard Parry, Lead Director for Children and Young People. The board agreed to introduce Restorative Practice, as we needed additional tools to help schools deal with behaviour issues. There were also a high number of referrals being received by our child and family services, which were mostly low level problems that were considered could be dealt with as they occurred, thereby preventing the escalation to other services. It was recognised that many of these were in relation to bad behaviour, and a decision was made by the Lead Director for Children & Young People to adopt the approach initially to schools in areas with the highest level of deprivation.

In addition, we needed to improve our attendance in schools and reduce the number of exclusions. Part of the Council’s Poverty agenda is to ensure pupils are in schools and learning to improve future work prospects. We had seen how restorative practice had supported other areas to achieve this. We had also seen a significant improvement in our own Youth Offending Service, where restorative justice has reduced re-offending in the criminal system.

As the Project Manager I have led the work since the start and worked closely with the ‘ International Institute for Restorative Practices Europe’ (formerly IIRP UK & Ireland) during this time. Although initially engaging some heads to come on board was a challenge, the project has grown from strength to strength and by June 2013, 56% of all schools have been trained and approximately 4,500 staff trained across the authority in schools and supporting teams working with children and young people. We chose to use the International Institute for Restorative Practices, as we liked their sound theory-based approach and their explicit model, and we were fortunate in having the experienced Police Officer and RP trainer David Williams working in the YOS team in Swansea. That partnership has allowed us to seconde him to support our roll-out.





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Officer David Williams facilitating a restorative circle

What we didn’t anticipate was the demand we experienced for training. People recognised that there is enormous benefit with RP in developing relationships, in every setting and with all ages. The project has developed significantly since the start, as we constantly review and refine our model by building on its success, and identifying new ways of maintaining good practice and spreading into the community.

Some of the ways we have achieved this is by offering additional training opportunities. We begin with a whole school approach using the basic “Introduction to RP” training. We then offer advanced and circle training to a selection of staff who become the Guiding Team and cascade this to other colleagues. Last year we started training pupils in the school to become RP Mentors and that has made a huge difference in helping schools embed the approach. To date there are approx 400 pupils trained across the schools with more training arranged for the next year. Children are aware of their rights as many of our schools are Rights Respecting and will respectfully challenge staff if RP is not used at the appropriate time. Both approaches support each other well, as restorative practice sits under Article 12 (right to be heard) and Article 19 (right to be safe).

We have also developed a robust support model, which we feel is critical. This is a significant change programme for some, although the majority of people working with children and young people are already working in a restorative way. Our approach includes supporting schools prior to training to ensure that they understand what’s involved and that staff and pupils are aware of what’s being introduced. During training we ensure that role plays are pertinent to the audience, which helps them put what’s learnt into practice immediately. Following training, we re-visit at different stages to provide advice and look at how it’s being implemented and communicated, and we discuss further training opportunities.

In the schools we are witnessing quieter classes, staff who feel more engaged and a reduction in parents visiting the Headteacher with complaints in relation to pupils interacting with their





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children. Hearing the pupils talk openly about their problems and seeing how empathetic they are with each other has been really emotional at times, but enormously rewarding. Schools using RP have a different atmosphere now, children are calmer and happier and enjoy coming to school and this has contributed to improved attendance in schools trained in the first phase.

Some of our more recent work has been about raising awareness that RP is not just for schools that have bad behaviour or issues. We have many establishments with excellent well-being already in place, and RP has further enhanced that and again ensured consistency across staff. We’re delighted that Estyn (the Office for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education & Training in Wales) is recognising the value of using RP in many of our schools, and one of our comprehensive schools was recently seen as sector leading in using RP to support well-being. We also hold network events that provide opportunities to promote RP and for people to share good practice. On 15th October, 2013, we are holding the first RP Pupil Conference, where trained children and young people will come together from primary and secondary schools to share how RP has benefited them. The event will also provide opportunities for the youth to contribute to future pupil training development and the formation of an RP Pupil consultation group.

Though our initial focus was on schools, since we started our roll-out we have always provided training opportunities for other teams who work with children and young people. This has supported the consistency in language and behaviour, along with people working more with each other across sectors. Teams are using restorative approaches as part of their regular meetings, particularly the problem-solving techniques, and staff in schools and non-schools check-in just like the pupils, which has contributed to improved relationships. The majority of people working with children and young people are already working in a restorative way but sometimes the consistency is lacking and restorative practice provides the framework for improving that.

The continuation for developing RP in Swansea is limitless. We have already trained hundreds in the community and this will continue. We are working closely with Swansea Metropolitan University to include RP in the teacher training programme for Primary and Secondary students, which will mean that the newly qualified teachers would be going into schools with this added skillset to manage behaviour.

We have just begun trialling training for parents in one of our communities and this will be continued across all areas, along with more Governors training and awareness raising. Already these parents feel more confident and their self esteem has improved; they are keen to undertake the advanced training. We also aim to have restorative practice included in all job descriptions and to become a core training requirement for those working with children and young people.

We believe that a major factor in our success is in having the support for RP at the top of our organisation, by our chief executive, cabinet members, director and heads of service. Similarly, in the most successful schools the headteacher and senior management teams are the drivers. They constantly champion the approach and include it in other aspects of school life, such as lesson planning.





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A few years on, we are being asked to share our journey and work with others, which is rewarding, as we are passionate about sharing RP across Wales and beyond. A film capturing some of our journey will be released mid-October and will be available to purchase through the IIRP. With the focus on Poverty and Prevention, and the use of Restorative Practice and inclusive tools such as Family Learning Signature to support this work, the prospects for change are good.

We hope that Restorative Practice will make a difference for everyone in some way. For those who have more significant life challenges, we hope it will make all the difference and contribute to giving them a better quality of life.

Prevention and Early Intervention Programme - Swansea - · PDF file · 2014-09-182 Training Introduction FST Circle .. 11 ... formation of a Prevention & Early Intervention...

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