Restoring Justice

Nova Scotia’s Restorative
Approach in Schools Project
“A restorative approach in schools is founded on the belief that in order to build safe and healthy school communities,
we must strengthen and support our social relationships through community participation, respectful dialogue and
sustainable processes that build and strengthen relationships. In this way, opportunities can develop for all school
community members to feel empowered and engaged and hence to participate meaningfully.”
— Emma Halpern, Building School Communities of Attachment and Relationship – A Restorative Approach to Schools in Nova Scotia
Since September 2012, Nova Scotia’s Restorative Approach in
Schools Project (RAISP) has provided interested schools in
Nova Scotia with the tools, resources and ongoing professional
development necessary to adopt a restorative approach. The project is
a collaboration of the Departments of Justice and Education & Early
Childhood Development.
Taking a restorative approach in schools means looking at all aspects
(activities, procedures, traditions) of a school’s day-to-day functioning
through a lens that examines their relational impact on the students
in the building. When developing procedures, policies and activities,
asking relational questions like “What is our goal?” and “Who will
be affected and how by the way in which we go about achieving
that goal?” increases the potential for every student to feel like they
belong, like they are valued, and that their teachers and their peers
care about them.
Adopting a restorative approach in schools helps educators figure out
new ways, and enhance the things they are already doing, in order to
“make room” for every student.
In an earlier pilot project that was a precursor to the RAISP, one
school that had adopted a
restorative approach over a
five-year period reported a
closing of the achievement
Richard Derible
School Administration Supervisor
Halifax Regional School Board
gap that had been a feature of the school: overall student achievement
on external assessments climbed from a 60 per cent success rate to
success rates in the 90 per cent range. This school also saw a dramatic
decline in disruptive behaviour.
So far, more than 100 schools have signed on to the RAISP, joining a
growing list of schools in the province that see a restorative approach
as a game changer, a way to improve school culture, boost student
achievement and create caring and safe schools.
Already, taking a restorative approach to education has delivered
on this promise, with teachers reporting calmer classrooms, more
engaged learners and more time on task; principals are reporting a
decrease in disruptive behaviour, increased staff morale and better
school attachment for students.
To date, almost a thousand teachers and more than 150 school-based
administrators from across the province have received restorative
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