Relationships are of absolute primary importance for us as humans.

The essential element of every restorative journey is individuals engaging with core restorative principles. This begins the journey of personal growth and organisational transformation

We all have emotions and we recognise they impact us and our students, but there’s much more to understand about where they come from and what we can do to regulate ourselves and co-regulate others.

Attachment theory has become an important understanding in explaining the needs and responses of our students, and in explain much of our interrelationships with others in work and personal settings, as well as determining many aspects of our workplace habits and behaviours.

An understanding of trauma and it’s impacts on learning, capacity in relationships as well links to well-being is considered fundamental for modern educators, but is also essential understanding for all our relationships.

Guilt is a sense of failure in what we’ve done.

Shame is a sense of failure in who we are.

It’s important to understand the power and the risk involved with these powerful emotions as they are used as levers for change in RP.

We all develop in many ways as we transition through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood. Understanding social development can help enhance our understanding of ourselves, and our role as teachers which extends far beyond curriculum delivery.

We understand sometimes others don’t share our values. Unfortunately this has been described to us like something someone has or doesn’t have like a dichotomous choice, when values are more like a spectrum. That’s not to say all values are the same - or right.

If we have an understanding of the importance of values in our lives, then we have some chance of harnessing the potential for truly values driven education, and then a clear path to understand the place of goals and behaviour to humans as well.

Conflict can be destructive for any organisation, which is one of the reasons it’s avoided as a topic. Conflict is inevitable if we are doing anything truly meaningful with others.

If we are willing to understand it, to understand it’s causes, our role in it (even if we are on the sidelines), then there is the possibility of managing it differently than just hiding or avoiding it.

Motivation is a “holy grail” topic. Everyone wants it and wants to be able to harness it. An understanding of relational practice can assist us in understanding motivation and engagement, and apply it to out classrooms and workplaces.

What is a relationship? What makes a relationship “good”? What draws us closer, what see’s us drift apart? How do we maintain positive and proper relationships?

It’s not until we ask for an explanation of these ideas that we realise how much we take for granted. There’s nothing wrong with drawing on relational experience, but what might we be missing from a more explicit understanding?

RP has a special place in leadership. It can transform organisations, but only if it has transformed leaders and leadership first. Leaders who understand their role in leading people and supporting their team to develop into the best version of themselves is the beginning of unlocking the potential of individual leaders and their teams.

There are some profound connections between RP implementation and learning outcomes. Learning is the fundamental calling of educators and exploring this deep connection can help educators harness the benefits of an relational and restorative culture.

The biggest risk of social bias and favouritism is not that it might exist, rather it’s the fact it does exist but largely goes unspoken of, denied and ignored. Bringing this topic to the surface and understanding it disarms it’s destructive potential.

If the first step in the RP journey is to understand the core elements of a Relational and Restorative approach, then the ongoing work of RP is to unpack it and apply it to our daily life and work.

All the roles in a school are important to the proper function of the whole school community, so they all deserve the investment of time to unpack the significance of RP to their own context. Regardless of whether that’s executive leadership, middle management, classroom teaching, TA’s, administrative or non-teaching roles.