Bullies to make amends

Children who bully others will be asked to make amends to their
victims under a new restorative justice scheme in Scottish
schools.

Under the scheme, in cases of bullying or a dispute between
pupils a trained pupil mediator will meet them, and help them agree
what has happened, what harm has been done and what can be done to
put things right.

In the case of serious or ongoing disputes, a trained adult
facilitator and the pupils’ parents and teachers will  also
involved. The emphasis is on a strategy to put the difficulty
behind them and can be used either to avoid exclusion or as a way
of re-integrating a pupil following exclusion.

The scheme is to be piloted in three regions.

Restorative conferencing is one of a series of measures being
implemented by the Scottish Executive to improve school discipline.
Others include the end of targets to reduce exclusions, good
practice seminars for head teachers, specialist working groups on
behaviour, a review of teacher training to ensure teachers are well
equipped to deal with behaviour problems and extra money for
councils to train behaviour coordinators.