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Discourses on behaviour : a role for restorative justice?

journal contribution
posted on 2013-12-01, 00:00 authored by V Harold, Tim CorcoranTim Corcoran
The description and management of difficult behaviour in schools has interested educational practitioners and researchers worldwide, including in the UK. Concerns have been raised about the use and implications of more dominant discourses, namely those of behaviourism and zero tolerance, for understanding student behaviour. This article presents research, conducted in a secondary school in Northern England, exploring restorative justice as an alternative. Transcripts from a series of school staff focus groups and the school behaviour policy were analysed, using critical discourse analysis, in order to address two questions: (1) what are the dominant discourses on behaviour amongst school staff within the school? and (2) what spaces are available for the construction of alternative discourses regarding behaviour and relational action? The analysis confirms the predominance of behaviourist and zero-tolerance discourses and a reliance on individualistic explanations regarding difficult behaviour. However, the presence of a range of discursive resources within the staff focus groups suggests the viable use of an alternative discourse.

History

Journal

International journal on school disaffection

Volume

10

Pagination

45-61

Location

Staffordshire, Eng.

ISSN

1478-8497

eISSN

1747-9207

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Issue

2

Publisher

Trentham Books