This qualitative case study explores the implementation of restorative justice within one Ontario Public School. Restorative justice is a philosophy and a process for dealing with harmful behaviour, viewing such behaviour as a violation of relationships, not rules. My research seeks to present how restorative justice has been implemented in one…

This article documents the work of parent-driven research teams in two school boards in the Greater Toronto Area. Motivated by a desire to move beyond a school-centred/family-centred dichotomy, this parent-lead project explores a middle space for collective learning among multiple stakeholders in publicly-funded schooling. Drawing on participatory…

This article examines teachers' views of their management styles, classified as either "coercive" or "relationship"-based, for 145 primary and 363 secondary school teachers in Victoria, Australia. It finds that management that combines punishment with aggressive and hostile behaviour can exacerbate misbehaviour and increase…

Researchers have identified a civilising mission in elementary schools in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century, particularly in poor urban areas. School log books from the 14 schools in Birmingham and Leicester, supplemented by other primary and secondary sources, are examined for insights into how headteachers perceived, and acted…

In contemporary South Africa, the abolition of corporal punishment symbolizes a break with the previous schooling system. A qualitative study in four formerly segregated schools south of Johannesburg showcases different realities and discourses on corporal punishment. The practices vary from its total abolition to its continued maintenance. Most…

Today, in parallel with the increase of technology use, cyberbullying becomes one of the major issues in schools affecting students' lives negatively similar to bullying. To minimize the negative effects of cyberbullying and to get preservice teachers ready for managing cyberbullying, it is necessary to examine preservice teachers' perception…

This case study worked with 80 lecturers drawn from Israeli teachers' colleges who reported that they face relatively few discipline problems; most appeared to be related to low motivation and/or dishonest behaviour. They treated each case in an ad hoc way, responded mildly and avoided imposing sanctions. It is argued that the student teachers'…

The current emergence of a human rights culture in South African educational practice has direct bearing on the approach to learner misconduct in public schools. A variety of landmark court cases are discussed here that deal with, inter alia, the school governing body's right to delegate certain powers, the occasional withdrawal of learners'…

In the context of institutional concern with academic misconduct by university students, this paper reports on research into disciplinary decision making by universities in respect of students. Through semi-structured interviews with student advocacy staff, the paper explores experiences of the quality and approach of university disciplinary…

School rules are usually associated with classroom management and school discipline. However, rules also define ways of thinking about oneself and the world. Rules are guidelines for actions and for the evaluation of actions in terms of good and bad, or right and wrong, and therefore a part of moral or values education in school. This study is a…

This article represents one orientation to postcritical ethnography. Framing research with Burundian children and their teachers in a small city in Appalachia, the author shares the ways postcritical ethnography informed the process and representations of her work. After introducing postcritical ethnography and early beginnings to the research,…

This article analyses the impact of competitive arenas on schools' logics of action in six local European contexts (London, Paris, Lille, Charleroi, Budapest and Lisbon). It first examines how competitive processes affect different schools' activities (recruitment, provision of options, promotion, tracking, provision for children with special…

While it is generally agreed that students responsible for misbehavior should be held accountable, the meaning of accountability and how it might best be achieved appear to remain ill-defined. In this article, we propose that accountability can be operationalized as a fourfold process. Based on related literature, experience, and empirical…

Surveys were carried out to assess the UK government's anti-bullying pack "Don't suffer in silence" in 1996 (after the first edition) and 2002 (after the second edition), to investigate what schools are doing about bullying, and the effect of anti-bullying policies becoming a legal requirement. Schools in England were approached,…

Indiscipline in schools in the UK continues to be the subject of fierce debate. The views of young people as pupils in these schools continue to be marginalised despite their centrality to this debate and their ability to offer a unique set of perspectives. An exploration of the views of a generality of pupils suggests the need to challenge many…