Reducing conflicts in school environments using restorative practices: A systematic review

Abstract

Restorative practices (RP) aim to repair the harm caused by conflicts and could thus offer an alternative to ‘traditional’ retributive interventions. In recent years, RP have been increasingly used with the aim of reducing conflicts in school settings. This systematic review examines the effectiveness of RP in school environments in reducing conflicts. We searched PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ASSIA, Social Science Citation Index, and ERIC, for articles which measure the outcome of RP in school settings that met the following inclusion criteria: (1) participants could be students or teachers from primary, middle or secondary schools, (2) study designs delivered quantitative outcome data, (3) peer-reviewed publication. Reference lists and citations of included full-text articles were checked for further studies. There were no limits regarding publication date, language or study design. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts, and in a second step all identified full-text articles. Information on the authors, year of publication, country, study design, participants, outcomes and results of the study conducted were extracted. The database search yielded 600 studies, of which 17 articles met the inclusion criteria. Several studies demonstrated a decrease in student suspensions and behaviour referrals. Some studies suggest that the use of RP in schools might improve bullying and student-teacher relationships, although evidence remains limited. The studies included in this review were mostly correlational and non-experimental designs, which limits drawing conclusions regarding causality and generalisability. Research studies with robust study designs, such as randomised controlled trials, are urgently needed.