Title: Improving student's engagement - changing classroom discourse using teacher restorative professional development

Authors: Craig Rofe; Mark Stewart; Matt Wood

Addresses: Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand ' Restorative Solutions Limited, 38 Haronga Road, Gisborne, New Zealand ' Restorative Solutions Limited, 38 Haronga Road, Gisborne, New Zealand

Abstract: This paper introduces the concept of restorative teaching practice and argues that application of a restorative approach in teacher professional development may have positive outcomes for teachers and students' engagement. The majority of teachers exhibited a facilitator type role where less instructional discourse was observed with more positive feed forward discourse also observed. The majority of students were found to be more engaged with the changes in class discourse even when the students reported that the apparent level of task difficulty had been increased. The professional development's two staged approach ensured that the school was left with a sustainable process that could be utilised using internal staff.

Keywords: restorative teaching practice; teacher professional development; teacher discourse; student engagement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTCS.2016.080933

International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 2016 Vol.7 No.3/4, pp.223 - 239

Received: 08 Mar 2016
Accepted: 14 Jun 2016

Published online: 12 Dec 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article