New Direction for Managing Conflict by Restorative Practice in Schools

Abstract

The restorative practice process which used to resolve conflicts in Thai schools has one key success factor: having young students to act as intermediaries as the "mediators" who mediate conflicts by means of restorative practice mechanisms. The students who act as the mediators must have the skills, knowledge, characteristics and expertise in the negotiation process through the training to bring restorative practice processes to manage conflicts in order to maneuver the effective methods. Factors that promote the success of a process are policies, forms, processes, concepts, and best practices in the implementation of restorative practice processes to manage the conflicts in schools consisting of various levels of severity through sharing personal story based on school experience. It has transpired that the main strength of such processes is an empathy which makes the conflict parties to accept and encouraged them to express their feelings and want to cooperate to resolve the conflicts that have occurred. The conflict management from school experiences can be utilized as a way to develop conflict management tools with peaceful methods suitable to the context of the conflicts arising in the schools. Restorative practices-based conflict management that students taking role as the mediators leads to the facts and  then the devise of the suitability in action. Each school should be strongly encouraged to use the restorative practice processes to manage the conflicts. It will also develop the attribute in the students to be able to bring such conflict management tools  to solve the problems with peace, restorative practices and forgiveness in society. Solving conflicts in schools using restorative practices with youth mediators is the best practice to manage conflicts and violence in schools that can be synthesized into lessons, success, and the limitations of the use of restorative practice processes to manage conflicts and violence in schools to create a model and the tools for the other schools.