The impact of restorative approaches on well‐being: An evaluation of happiness and engagement in schools

• Date: 01 March 2019
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Author: Heather Norris
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21242

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The impact of restorative approaches on well-being:

An evaluation of happiness and engagement

in schools

Heather Norris

Department of Law and Criminology,

Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

Correspondence

Heather Norris, Department of Law and

Criminology, Aberystwyth University, Hugh

Owen Building, Aberystwyth SY23 3DZ, UK.

Email: hnn1@aber.ac.uk

Advocates of restorative approaches (RA) often testify as to

the positive benefits associated with participants' well-being.

A major confounding issue is the ability to evaluate such

claims due to the flexibility of practices and delivery, thus

making firm conclusions regarding the impact of RA on well-

being particularly difficult. The current research evaluates the

potential effects on well-being, specifically, happiness and

school engagement. Three different RA models are evaluated

using standard psychometric measures to assess the impact

on the measured outcomes. Results indicate RA is likely to

influence outcomes measure only in very specific contexts.

1|INTRODUCTION

The use of Restorative Approaches (RA) in education is a rapidly expanding practice; its inception

began with a shift from using Restorative Justice (RJ) within the Criminal Justice System (CJS),

growing into schools in the early 1990s (Morrison, 2011). RA is generally defined as a form of con-

flict resolution by which the offender, victim, and other interested parties participate in a process to

resolve conflict (Morrison, 2002; United Nations, 2000), stressing the values of reparation (material

and psychological), and the importance of relationships and community (Pranis, 2011). For nearly a

decade, there has been an impetus to incorporate restorative processes across all youth offending

intervention strategies, including programs delivered in the education sector (Youth Justice Board,

2009). Hence, the current research will explore the implementation and delivery of restorative pro-

grams in three schools through the efforts of the local Youth Offending Teams (YOTs).

The implementation of RA has been widely accepted as a constructive measure toward increasing

positive behavior, reducing negative conduct, and thus preventing future conflict in school

(Gonzalez, 2012). Evaluations consistently point to a range of metrics, such as increased attendance,

Received: 26 August 2018 Revised: 6 November 2018 Accepted: 7 November 2018

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21242

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author Conflict Resolution Quarterly published by Association for Conflict Resolution and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2019;36:221–234. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq 221