Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to encourage a rapprochement between scholarship on children’s socio-moral development and the implementation of restorative initiatives in schools. To this end, we first review psychological research on children’s developing capacities that bear on their participation in restorative processes. We then review scholarship that may illuminate the potential benefits of youths’ participation in restorative initiatives towards intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of peace education. This chapter underscores children’s early receptivity to restorative justice as well as significant age-related developments in their perspectives on harm and needs, judgments of accountability, and viewpoints on the roles of authority figures and students in addressing harms. Scholarship also emphasizes that children simultaneously show orientations towards both restoration and retribution. In turn, research suggests various means whereby participation in restorative initiatives may meaningfully support children’s socio-moral development. We outline a variety of ways in which scholarship on socio-moral development can inform the design and implementation of restorative initiatives in schools, including careful attention to the context specificity of harms, as well as how children’s participation may need to be scaffolded in age-appropriate ways. Inasmuch as children are crucial actors and agents in the school community, it is important to consider the developmental capacities that may frame their engagement with restorative initiatives. In this respect, drawing on psychological scholarship can help support developmentally sensitive and child-centred approaches to restorative justice and peace education in schools.
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Recchia, H., Wainryb, C., Pareja Conto, L. (2022). Taking a Developmental Perspective on Restorative Justice in Schools. In: Velez, G., Gavrielides, T. (eds) Restorative Justice: Promoting Peace and Wellbeing. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13101-1_2
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