Restorative practices meet key competencies: Class meetings as pedagogy

New Zealand is going through a major educational shift. It has just brought in a new curriculum that focuses on students, rather than content, as the centre of learning. New Zealand has an increasingly multi-cultural and diverse population and this is reflected in some of the complexities confronting education. Suspensions and exclusions of young people escalated through the 1990s, prompting the Ministry of Education to put in a concerted effort to reduce these rates. At the same time, the country is striving to improve educational outcomes and build its population's capacity to learn and develop together in a peaceful and productive manner. But while it has a progressive and exciting new curriculum, it is questionable whether this can be implemented in what is best described as a traditional, at times punitive, education system. The study reported here suggests that there may be a place for restorative practice in the teaching of the new curriculum and, in fact, a key role in developing key competencies, which are a cornerstone of the new curriculum. If students have increased competency in relating to others and contributing and participating, the values of the new curriculum will become more of a reality. To achieve this educators must provide forums that will allow students to think, practise, develop opinions and, above all, care about these values themselves. This study has shown that it is possible to create the conditions where such social learning can occur through the use of intentionally shaped and focused class meetings. (Contains 4 notes and 3 tables.)