Teacher Insights Into Restorative Justice for BIMSOC (Black, Indigenous, Mixed, Students of Color) and Disabled Students

• In Event: Building and Dreaming Intersectional Approaches to Restorative Justice: A Multi-Dimensional Examination

Abstract

Objectives
The disproportionate punishment of Black, Indigenous, Mixed, Students of Color (BIMSOC), as well as students with disabilities, is well-documented in the literature. RJ is one framework that has been put forth as a potential remedy to this disproportionality (Gonzalez, 2015; Heitzeg, 2009). I interviewed 12 teachers about their experiences with school discipline, racial disparities, and how RJ was implemented in their schools. In this paper, I examine teachers’ perceptions of students with oppressed identities and restorative justice implementation, asking: Who do teachers believe restorative justice works for?
Theoretical Framework
I employ two frameworks to direct this study: DisCrit and Foucauldian power theory. DisCrit provides a framework for examining race and ability intersectionality, and interrogating how this intersection is situated in exclusion from normalcy due to White supremacy and ableism (Annanama, et al., 2013). Foucault purports that power is exercised through action, and that individuals or systems do not possess power (Foucault, 1981). I rely on Foucault’s conceptualization of power because the objective is to break apart the forms of power that oppress, not to dismantle institutions or attack people. Thinking of power in this way, coupled with DisCrit, provides this study with a framework for examining teachers within institutions where power is diffuse, meaning all actors can employ power, while maintaining focus on the systematic oppression of students with oppressed identities.
Methods and Data Sources
This paper uses data from previous mixed-methods study to answer the research question. I use an interpretive phenomenological approach to explore each participants’ experience with power, ableism, race, and school discipline. Data was drawn from twelve semi-structured interviews conducted with public school teachers in grades pre-K-12.
Results
The majority of participants reported that RJ was beneficial to students, while some spoke of being burdened by their participation in RJ. While some participants believed that RJ worked best for students who did not have complicated home lives or extra support, others maintained that RJ was good for all students. Few participants spoke of students with disabilities in the context of school discipline, but several did speak of race and the potential of RJ to remedy racial discipline disparities in their school.
Scholarly Significance
In the literature exploring the use of RJ to remedy discipline disparities, little attention is given to teachers’ beliefs about who RJ is for. Additionally, research examining intersectional identities and school discipline is nascent. In this study, DisCrit provides a pathway for exploring how notions of normalcy and sanity are upheld by educators within schools that use restorative justice. Foucault's power theory provides openings for discussion about how educators can act out their power to support students with intersecting oppressed identities while interrogating the power over students that leads to oppression.

Author

• Ceema Samimi, University of Minnesota