Writer in residence Hoang Viet Nguyen explores how Circles can incorporate restorative justice into classroom dynamics
This op-ed was written by Hoang Viet Nguyen, who was a writer in residence with the Salzburg Global Center for Education Transformation in April 2023.
During my four-week writing residency at Schloss Leopoldskron, I was intrigued by groups of tourists passing by the window daily. It did not take long for me to discover the fact that they were here for the Academy Award-winning movie “The Sound of Music”. As I delved deeper into the film, I was struck by the scene in which Maria taught the “Do Re Mi” song to the Von Trapp children on a hill. Seeing them grounding on grass, singing musical notes in turn, and finally joining together in a melody, I thought about “Lớp học Vòng tròn”, or The Classroom Circles, an educational project in Vietnam that I am involved in. The project aims to transform public school culture and climate through the introduction of restorative pedagogies. What are these Circles, and how could they transform the culture and climate of a school?
Starting from Indigenous roots
Originating from cultural practices of many Indigenous groups worldwide, in a Circle, community members come together to tell stories, listen actively to each other, collect ideas for crucial community decisions, resolve conflicts, and, more importantly, remind each other of their interconnectedness with other human beings and natural beings.
A Circle is comprised of three essential elements: the centerpiece, the talking piece, and the people. While the centerpiece transforms the space where people gather, the talking piece moderates the pace of conversation. In the educational context, a Circle becomes a very potent way to build up community and dismantle structural, systemic violence in schools. The next question to consider is how we, as educators, can use Circles in powerful ways.
Challenging colonial ideologies and power hierarchies in schools
Influenced deeply by colonial ideologies and historical collective traumas from many wars, the Vietnamese education system inadvertently reproduces violence and perpetuates social inequalities instead of promoting healing or nurturing social transformations. For so long, our schools have failed to rightfully name and handle the misconduct and misbehavior of students, as well as bullying, stereotypes, stigma, and other types of violence. Without understanding thoroughly the structural, institutional, or historical root of harm and violence, schools maintain non-tolerant punitive discipline policies which end up reproducing social inequities.
Many classroom discourses reflect power imbalances in teacher-student relationships in which teachers are usually positioned higher than students. In conventional classrooms, teachers mostly stand and students mostly sit, teachers look down on students from a higher concrete podium and students look up, teachers speak and students listen or repeat. To express their opinions, students have to raise their hands to be called on by teachers.
A Circle can change that power hierarchy by inviting everyone into a space where there are no physical barriers between people and everyone is seen and heard. The talking piece ensures the active participation of all members. Through fostering meaningful dialogues, mutual understanding, and community building, a Circle not only transforms the teacher-student relationship but also promotes collaborative knowledge production. A Circle can transform the one-way knowledge transmission into a “new” one in which teachers and students co-construct new knowledge together. “New” is in quotation marks as a reminder that it’s not a modern innovation but rooted in the Indigenous way of being and doing.
Integrating restorative practices into the (Vietnamese) school system
As Circles can be powerful in dismantling colonial discourses in schools, how do we integrate restorative practices into the Vietnamese school system?
As restorative justice entails a paradigm shift to see people as interconnected beings and view conflicts as opportunities for critical transformation, it can be a helpful approach in addressing school issues at different levels. Educators can consider applying it in schools through the following three tiers.
The first and most foundational tier is focused on community building and handling minor classroom-based conflicts. In this tier, a Circle could be a regular classroom practice in which students’ personal stories are shared and listened to. In case of conflict, the teacher could host a Circle with the participation of the student who caused harm, the student who was harmed, and other affected students. In this way, all students will be given a safe space for expressing their needs and a brave space for actively taking accountability for their mistakes.
The second tier targets examining and adjusting Vietnamese school disciplinary policies that rely intensely on punitive, non-tolerant, and even corporal methods. In this tier, the key is introducing the concept of the school-to-prison pipeline and whole-school change approach. Schools have to revise their discipline policies, which might be outlined in official documents such as the Student Code of Conduct, and evaluate all current policies in terms of collaborative decision-making, addressing harms and needs, and relational focusing. A policy is identified as “restorative” if it is made through a bottom-up approach that involves diverse stakeholders and invites collaboration.
The third tier concerns addressing systemic inequities in the education system. Under the oppression of institutional powers and discourses created by majority groups, they are underrepresented in curriculum and school policies but overrepresented in other dehumanizing, segregating settings like special education or the juvenile justice system. In this context, restorative justice philosophies and Circle practice could help educators recognize the multiple, intersectional oppressions that disempower minority students as well as our complex positionalities in interacting with students. The land acknowledgment, labor acknowledgment, and personal acknowledgment in hosting a Circle can be a powerful tool for teachers. Lastly, to sustain the practice, there is a need for teachers to come together as a professional learning community.
At the end of the day, transforming a school climate means confronting systemic, structural harm and violence inherent in the entire education system. No matter how challenging and painful the mission is, the community is always the cure.
Viet was a writer in residence at Schloss Leopoldskron in April 2023. He is a teacher, teacher educator, social justice advocate, restorative justice trainer, and a Fulbright scholar, who has spent over a decade working with children, youth, and teachers in Vietnam for the empowerment and liberation of individuals and communities. From 2015 to 2022, he was a founder of Dream&Do School for Future Changemakers, a non-formal education center that incubates young environmental and social enthusiasts and changemakers. Since 2022, he has joined a pioneering initiative in transforming the Vietnamese school climate named The Classroom Circles as a restorative justice training coordinator. He is involved with many other regional youth leaders via forums like YSEALI, and ASEAN Foundation Youth as a fellow, speaker, trainer, mentor, project coordinator, and volunteer. Viet is now pursuing his academic development as a graduate student majoring in Culturally Sustaining Education at the College of Education, University of Washington in Seattle, USA.
The Salzburg Global Center for Education Transformation offers three writing residencies per year to thought leaders and educationalists working to advance the agenda of education transformation. Our inspiring home at Schloss Leopoldskron provides the time and space for these individuals from across the globe to develop their work and creatively explore new ideas.
