Restorative Schools: Building a Culture of Inclusion and Caring – Community-Based Evaluation Research, Waterloo Catholic District School Board

Role: Principal Investigator

I am currently working on this project with my SDS colleague, Professor Kristina Llewellyn, who is a Co-Investigator on this evaluative research study in twelve schools in the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. We are working with Community Justice Initiative (CJI) and elementary and secondary school teachers (Grades 1-12) who are integrating restorative justice education in Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) schools during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. CJI is implementing a board-wide program in the WCDSB to train teachers and administrators to use a restorative approach in their schools. We are studying the professional development workshops offered by CJI facilitators, and interviewing school administrators, teachers and students in selected schools, in addition to conducting a survey of all teachers that are trained by CJI in the Board. Our overall focus for this research is to consider how CJI’s training in restorative approaches (RA) facilitate a caring and inclusive schools. In doing so we will consider how school members’ (teachers, administrators, staff, and students) understand a RA to support a culture of inclusion and well-being. The study also intends to better understand how restorative training (e.g., participation in circle training or restorative justice training, coaching, etc.) influences school-based practices. Our primary contribution to educational knowledge is documenting the growth of RA to education in addition to illustrating the direct impact of integrating inclusion and well-being into school culture. As a result of this study, we will also develop a contextually-specific method of evaluation to study the effectiveness of RA. By analyzing student, teacher, staff, and administrator perspectives on RA this study will contribute to understanding how educators take up RA and how it contributes to school safety and a culture of respect and inclusion.