Efficacy Of Restorative Classroom Practices Training On Secondary And Higher Secondary School Teachers Of Karachi, Pakistan: A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

School is the earliest institution in the lives of many people. It affects every psychological axis in an individual’s development, impacting not only the child but their families, schools and communities as well. The teachers in school are facilitators of these developments and lack of good teachers has been linked to academic difficulties; absenteeism; school dropout; school disengagement; attachment issues; and emotion regulation challenges. The present research aimed to explore the Efficacy of Restorative Classroom Practices Training on Secondary and Higher Secondary School Teachers of Karachi. Participants for this research were selected using purposive sampling from a population of private secondary and higher secondary school teachers with a minimum of two years of experience. A semi-structured interview was conducted to explore the existing practices of Classroom Restorative Practices. The interview was followed by training on Classroom Restorative Practices, and feedback was collected from the teachers for the same. The findings of this research revealed that Classroom Restorative Practices are not widely practiced in these schools even though some teachers are aware of them. The main reason for this was the lack of time, as teachers found themselves under pressure to complete the curriculum on time. Moreover, it was also found that the lack of resources and support from the management were also one of the reasons why teachers were not able to implement these practices. To explore the efficacy of the training the teachers were interviewed two weeks after the training. Majority of the teachers were in favor of Restorative Classroom Practices and were using different strategies in their classrooms and wanted to implement it fully if they were provided with training, resources and support from the school management. The present study highlighted the need for Restorative Classroom Practices to be implemented for better maintenance and management of discipline and any other issues that may be caused by the same.