Responding To Cyber Risk With Restorative Practices: Perceptions And Experiences Of Canadian Educators

ABSTRACT

Restorative practices are gaining traction as alternative approaches to student conflict and harm in schools, potentially surpassing disciplinary methods in effectiveness. In the current article, we contribute to the evolving understanding of restorative practices in schools by examining qualitative responses from educators regarding restorative interventions for online-mediated conflict and harm, including cyberbullying and sexting. Participants include pre-service educators, as well as junior and senior teachers with varying levels of familiarity with restorative practices. Our findings highlight how educators who have implemented these practices largely hold positive perspectives of their effectiveness for resolving cyber conflicts and restoring a positive classroom environment. Educators emphasize the value of meaningful changes in student behaviour and acknowledge the potential of face-to-face mediation in mitigating online harm and promoting digital citizenship, though some educators raise questions about the appropriateness of restorative responses to serious incidents of online-mediated harm. This research offers fresh insights into the challenges and potential of restorative practices in schools, particularly in addressing cyber-based conflicts. We emphasize implementation challenges related to the distinct contexts in which schools operate and the influence of broader societal and systemic factors on the success of restorative practice initiatives.

Keywords:

• Cyberbullying
• restorative practices
• restorative justice
• cyber-risk and students
• schools and online conflict
• educators

7. Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

8. Ethics Approvals

This research has been approved by the Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board, University of Calgary.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council under Grant no. [435-2018-0132].