ALT Annual Conference Speaker Abstracts

Parallel Session 3 - Session D

Possible Applications of Restorative Justice Practices in UK Law Schools Dr Adeniyi Olayode, Queen’s University Belfast

Within any Law School, one would ideally prefer the existence of a harmonious relationship between the different associations within that community. However, the reality is conflicts exist between the members of any working community and a Law School is not any different. An example of such conflicts are misconducts which result in some harm (bullying, harassment, etc) and the usual response is an institutionalized procedure created to address such incidences. However, like the normal court process, such inquiries could be viewed as being a retributive response to incidences of rule breaking and conflict (Song and Swearer, 2016). Such processes could have negative impacts on not only the main key participants of the conflict but also, the wider School community. For example, participants may even end up ‘.….defining(e) themselves in terms of anti-institutional identities’ that will reduces the probability of successful reintegration for such members who may be forever associated with the stigma (Morrison et al., 2005). This paper would explore an alternative response – Restorative Justice (RJ). This is because it proffers a response that not only encourages those responsible for the conflict to accept responsibility for their actions and to make amends but also provides a ‘voice’ for those harmed in the process. Not only does this process aim to meet the needs of those directly involved as well as the larger School community, but it also aims to avoid the ‘counterproductive labelling and outcasting of offenders’ (Karp and Frank, 2016). This paper will also explore the potential application of the use of RJ in other instances to improve relationships between staff and students. For example, at Student and Staff Consultative meetings to repair strained relationships between staff and students over a contested school policy or issues arising from a module evaluation where non-academic related complaints are raised by students. WhatsApp! Refreshes the Students Other Peers Couldn’t Reach! Carol Edwards, Assistant Head of Student Experience (Retention) and Senior Lecturer, Mrs Kate Ritchie, and Mrs Elizabeth Hardie, The Open University Many Higher Education Institutions offer peer mentoring to new students and, for both mentors and mentees, this can result in a positive impact. In the post Covid-19 environment, however, students are increasingly working remotely and this presents challenges for institutions in ensuring the provision of effective peer mentoring support and facilitating the development of flourishing communities of practice online. In this interactive presentation we will share our experiences of collaborating with students in the setting up of an online peer mentoring programme. Based on our mixed method evaluation we will explore some of the challenges and opportunities online mentoring presents. This will highlight a number of themes including outcomes, engagement, wellbeing, resilience, developing a community online and the development by mentors of key employability skills. The final iteration of the programme used WhatsApp as a tool for mentoring and we will share our highs and lows of this method of working. Students’ voices will be heard outlining their contributions to the project, through video clips during the presentation. The audience will be invited to participate in online activities and the session will conclude by discussing how WhatsApp can be incorporated into the legal learning environment.

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