347

 BOOK REVIEW

2020 38(2): 347-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Published by the UFS
http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie

© Creative Commons  

With Attribution (CC-BY)

BOOK REVIEW
“RESTORATIVE SCHOOL 
DISCIPLINE: THE LAW AND 
PRACTICE” 
Editors: R. Reyneke and M. Reyneke.

When I received this book for review, I immediately realised 
it was a book of monumental proportions dealing with a 
comparatively new and previously much-neglected field of 
study and knowledge in South Africa. I also realised that 
doing justice to a review of a book of these proportions and 
such importance was going to be a massive challenge and 
was going to require a great deal of intensive critical reading 
and was going to consume a mammoth amount of time. 

My expectations of what was going to be required of me 
proved to be correct. I also found that doing this review was 
a very worthwhile exercise. Although the book is not perfect 
in all respects, I believe it has the potential to become the 
standard reference book for academics, educators and 
other practitioners and stakeholders as well as form the 
basis of a number of very important formal and non-formal 
training programmes, which seems to me to indicate the 
way the authors, readers and users need to use this book 
to maximise its effect.

Paragraphs 1–4 below contain some of my own views 
about the subject of this book and paragraph 5 and further 
will attempt to assess the book.

REVIEWER’S THOUGHTS ON 
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 
1 This book represents a welcome and very necessary 

addition to the literature on aspects of education and 
the law. Education Law is an under-researched field of 
academic knowledge and it is also neglected in the training 
of prospective teachers as well as in the professional 
development of educators operating at various levels in 
education. Very few South African institutions of higher 
education and learning employ academics with an interest 
in, and knowledge of, this developing field of enquiry. 

2 The book is a fine example of how people from various 
academic disciplines can work together to develop new 
fields of knowledge into fully-fledged disciplines, in this 

REVIEWER:
Prof J. Beckmann

DOI: http://dx.doi.
org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.
i2.23

e-ISSN 2519-593X

Perspectives in Education 

2020 38(2): 347-353

PUBLISHED:
04 December 2020

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23
http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11341
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23


3482020 38(2): 348-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Perspectives in Education 2020: 38(2)

case education law. Although the book deals with aspects of the law and education, it is set 
in an education environment where educationists are the protagonists assisted by a variety 
of interested people including members of other professions. Hopefully, this book will make 
a significant contribution to equip educators and other role-players in school discipline with 
knowledge of legal rules that will assist them in their disciplinary practice and help them avoid 
legal pitfalls.

3 The book addresses the matter of discipline in schools. This has been a hotly debated issue 
ever since corporal punishment was totally abolished in schools after 1994 ostensibly to counter 
the Apartheid culture of oppression and violence. After 1994, the concept of alternatives to 
corporal punishment (ATCP) became very fashionable and the idea of replacing punitive or 
retributive punishment with restorative school discipline started enjoying wide support. 

However, both ATCP and the then efforts to introduce and inculcate the notion of 
restorative school discipline did not seem to have much impact on disciplinary problems in 
schools which, if anything, became increasingly problematic. Both these concepts erroneously 
created the impression that corporal punishment was the only form of punishment practised 
in public schools before 1994 and ignored the real punishment policies and law in force then. 
Many educators felt that they were left powerless to exercise any discipline because corporal 
punishment had been removed from the options available to them. In addition, the idea that 
learners and other stakeholders such as parents had more rights under the 1996 Constitution 
than teachers made its appearance and was believed by a large proportion of the people 
of South Africa. ATCP gave rise to the idea that, if an alternative to punitive and retributive 
discipline was found, disciplinary problems in schools would disappear. 

4 Many papers have been read and many articles have been published on restorative school 
discipline but all of them seemed to have a very narrow focus. By and large they ignored 
the implementation challenges of restorative school discipline. Examples of factors that were 
ignored are the omission of religious and cultural angles and other objections to restorative 
discipline and the abolition of corporal punishment. 

AN ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE BOOK
5 The Preface to the book contains a very important reference to the fact that it was only in 

2009 that the authors realised that some of the school discipline practices used until then 
were counterproductive and that the root causes of misconduct were not addressed when 
learners were simply expelled or suspended. It also stresses the necessity of adopting a 
totally new mindset about discipline, which is “first and foremost a process of teaching socially 
acceptable behaviour” and not about identifying the offense and the perpetrator and meting 
out punishment and believing that every facet of the misconduct including the mindsets of the 
victims and perpetrators or offenders will be resolved that way.

The Preface also raises the critical point that restorative school discipline should be 
introduced gradually at every school’s own pace. South Africa’s education landscape is littered 
with policies that failed miserably because of poor implementation strategies and preparation 
of implementers-to-be and many initiatives have just disappeared into the sand. The authors 
realise that restorative school discipline should be implemented as it is in the best interests of 
“children, our communities and educators” and that it should contribute to the “importance of 
building relationships” and to “repair damaged relationships”. These aims of restorative school 
discipline all require the utmost care to be taken to prevent this form of discipline from failing. I 

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23


3492020 38(2): 349-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Beckmann “Restorative school discipline: The law and practice”

believe that the book viewed in its entirety might make a significant contribution to prevent this 
policy from failing.

The importance of restorative school discipline is further stressed in the Preface by the 
reference to the fact that “our society is increasingly becoming disconnected”, which implies an 
increase in disciplinary problems at schools if appropriate methods to teach acceptable social 
behaviour are not taught. 

6 This book presents restorative school discipline as a multifaceted phenomenon whose 
elements must all be borne in mind when considering its possible role in the alleviation 
and solution of disciplinary problems in schools. The various authors are all adamant that 
all legitimate relevant stakeholders must be involved in all the phases and manifestations of 
the process from policy making to restorative interventions. Misconduct should no longer be 
viewed as a phenomenon consisting of an offence or breaking of a rule, a victim, a perpetrator 
and an educator and, in exceptional cases of serious misconduct, a quasi-judicial disciplinary 
hearing and serious punishment such as suspension or expulsion.

The challenges associated with the implementation of restorative school discipline are 
explicitly acknowledged and the approach is not held up as a magic wand. Although the 
authors prefer restorative discipline to punitive discipline, they also point out that punitive 
discipline may in certain cases be allowed and indicated, which shows a realistic approach to 
school discipline problems.

7 The multifarious nature of the phenomenon is reflected in the choice of authors whose 
contributions all offer valuable and unique insights on aspects of this particular type of 
school discipline. The authors are all knowledgeable about the dimensions of restorative 
school discipline that they discuss and have experience in the practical implementation of 
restorative school discipline. Most importantly, a selection from the various applications and 
manifestations of restorative school discipline is discussed by a group of people who are 
passionate about education and about the role of positive discipline in the school and they 
include jurists, various academics, social work professionals, members of school governing 
body federations, comparative educationists, social work professionals, specialists in social 
justice education, practising educators in promotional posts, education philosophers, research 
specialists in policy development and officials at provincial education headquarters. 

The variety of authors must have presented a challenge to the editors to construct a 
cohesive book. As I will point out in the next paragraph, I believe that they have succeeded in 
this regard. I will make some suggestions for improvement in the next paragraphs.

8 The structure of the chapters of this book is informative. The first chapter contains a case study 
by an educator who has successfully implemented restorative school discipline in several 
schools. Normally, one would have expected an illustrative case study of the success of a 
theory at the end of a book in which a new theory has been set out and analysed. What has 
been done in this book is likely to allay fears of people who might expect to be overwhelmed 
and confused by a new approach to discipline and who might, therefore, choose not to read 
the work. This chapter will motivate a reader to at least continue reading the rest of the book.

Chapters 2 and 3 contain a theoretical introduction to the idea of restorative school 
discipline and bear testimony to the authors’ profound insight into the theory and practice 
of such discipline in education. Chapter 3, in particular, provides a thorough overview of 
restorative school discipline among other things by defining and clarifying restorative practices 
and other concepts, providing clear distinctions between concepts, announcing and discussing 
the basic features of the restorative approach to discipline and, very importantly, naming and 
discussing 8 misconceptions in regard to the restorative justice approach. The authors’ deep 
convictions about the value of restorative discipline approaches is illustrated by paragraph 7 

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23


3502020 38(2): 350-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Perspectives in Education 2020: 38(2)

of Chapter 3 where they do not shy away from the challenges in respect of this approach but, 
instead, discuss them in detail so that anybody interested in exploring the possible introduction 
and use of this approach will not be surprised by practical challenges that might arise from the 
introduction of the approach.

Chapter 4 presents the restorative discipline model. It should be extremely helpful as a 
reference for people who begin to explore the practice or are in the process of implementing it. 
It also creates a framework for the construction of the rest of the chapters.

Chapter 5 examines the relationship between social justice and discipline in South African 
education. It contains a definition of social justice, which is to be welcomed since the concept 
of social justice is not always well-defined in discussions of its applicability to various situations.

Chapter 6 analyses the various assumptions, values and norms underpinning restorative 
school discipline. It is an important chapter since restorative justice is a disciplinary approach 
that attempts to facilitate the promotion of social values and norms through education.

Chapter 7 deals with trauma-sensitive schools and presents an understanding of troubled 
learners through a neuroscience lens. The content of this chapter is likely to be completely new 
to some readers and they might find it challenging to understand and link the concepts to their 
disciplinary practices. Although it presents a neuroscience view on trauma sensitive schools, 
the link between such a view and restorative justice school discipline practices is clearly set out 
and will be to the advantage of educators who are serious about their role in school discipline 
practices. In fact, it could be assumed that dedicated professional educators should be abreast 
of knowledge about the neuroscience lens to discipline.

Chapter 8 introduces the concepts the circle of resilience and the circle of courage. Like 
social justice, the concept of resilience is often mentioned in educational writings but is seldom 
illuminated in the way it is done in this chapter. The circle of courage discusses a very practical 
way of dealing with disciplinary problems.

In Chapter 9 the role of the school governing body in disciplinary matters is discussed. 
It presents a convincing case for allocating a definite role to the school governing body in 
disciplinary matters although school governance may not seem like an issue that is inherently 
linked to a clearly professional educational issue namely school discipline. The treatment 
of the role of the school governing body in determining the values, assumptions and norms 
governing school discipline as well as its role in the formal intervention level of the restorative 
justice model is to be welcomed and provides well-argued and clear expositions of various 
aspects of these two roles of school governing bodies. All school governing bodies would 
do well to examine their codes of conduct for learners and their involvement in disciplinary 
hearings regarding serious misconduct considering that is presented in this chapter.

Some people might view Chapter 10 as unnecessary. It deals with the role of educators in 
school discipline and some people might assume that this role has been thoroughly explored 
in teachers’ pre-service and in-service training. However, research findings have revealed that 
that is not the case and this chapter could therefore be a most important source of knowledge 
for educators about an aspect of their work that could contribute to determining their level of job 
satisfaction and even whether they want to continue in the teaching profession.

Chapter 11 discusses the role of school social workers in school discipline. This is a well-
written chapter producing conclusive evidence of experience in disciplinary matters in schools 
and the possible role of social workers in them. 

The chapter does not support the general notion of the book that all role-players and all 
stakeholders in the disciplinary process should be involved in restorative school discipline 
practices. One could list some professionals who could, like social workers, contribute to the 

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23


3512020 38(2): 351-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Beckmann “Restorative school discipline: The law and practice”

success of school disciplinary practices. Although there is no evidence to this effect in this 
chapter, professionals other than educationists could, through displaying their professional 
and relevant knowledge regarding disciplinary practices, impact and even usurp the role of 
educators in the process. This is a possibility that should be avoided at all costs, as discipline 
is fundamentally an educational phenomenon. This does not imply that other professionals 
cannot positively contribute to a successful conversion to the implementation of a restorative 
discipline approach.

Chapter 12 examines the role of parents in school discipline. The incidents of misconduct 
and the disciplinary processes followed in each of them, as described in this book, clearly 
indicate why parents and all the other role players mentioned should be involved in school 
discipline. It also underlines the necessity of constant clear and purposeful communication 
between educators and parents and suggests to learners that education at home and in school 
are not two separate unconnected issues.

Chapter 13 raises an issue that is seldom connected to the matter of school disciplinary 
practices, namely the role of the Department of Basic Education and provincial education 
departments in school discipline. It is important that this chapter emphasises the role of 
education departments in building relationships at the prevention level and that it also examines 
the legal role of HODs of provincial departments in deciding regarding possible suspensions 
and expulsions of learners.

Chapter 14, like Chapter 12, recognises the role of stakeholders that are often overlooked, 
namely learners. The discussion in this chapter recognises the fact that learners at the various 
levels have many levels of contributions that they can make to the process. If the abilities of 
learners are recognised and used, the process could be made much more effective.

In Chapter 15 the book raises an issue that has been a bone of contention and has led to a 
number of courts, namely the relationship between school governing bodies and departments 
of education and disputes that may arise between these two bodies, also regarding school 
disciplinary practices. The book also highlights the absence of a dispute-resolution mechanism 
and the failure of the notion of cooperative governance to place the relationship between 
governing bodies and education departments on a sound footing. It also increases the number 
of disputes brought before the courts as there is as yet no alternative dispute resolution 
mechanism. If parts of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) become law, the 
situation might improve. 

Bullying and cyber bullying are dealt with in Chapter 16 and they are the only types of 
misconduct that are specifically treated in this book. The discussion in the chapter provides 
more than enough reason for choosing this issue for “special treatment” in the book. The book 
does not suggest that other forms of misconduct are not serious or can be overlooked or dealt 
with more easily, but it does suggest that future societal developments are most probably 
going to exacerbate problems regarding bullying and cyber bullying and that the law has not 
really crystallised definite guidelines for educators and other people involved in disciplinary 
practice in this regard. The fact that cyber bullying can even cause learners and educators to 
commit suicide, is heart-rending evidence of the seriousness of this offence.

Chapter 17 deals with school discipline and crime and makes useful distinctions between 
crime and delict their possible consequences. Most importantly, it gives educators clear 
guidelines on how to deal with incidents of crime.

Annexure A provides particularly useful information for people tasked with designing or 
reviewing school discipline policies. It stresses again that all stakeholders should be involved 

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23


3522020 38(2): 352-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Perspectives in Education 2020: 38(2)

in disciplinary processes and that all stakeholders should be prepared (trained for) for the roles 
they must play.

9 The content of the book is professionally researched, using data from national and international 
literature and from research projects. This fact supports the notion that this book could and 
perhaps should become the standard reference work regarding restorative justice practices in 
education. Some of the sources may seem somewhat old but this fact emphasises the need 
for more new researchers to enter this field of research.

The authors of the book point out that the concept of restorative justice is difficult to 
define clearly. They have, however, certainly done their utmost to counter this problem by 
presenting guidelines for implementation (as opposed to models, which would in my opinion 
be inappropriate at this stage), examples of misconduct and disciplinary interventions by 
educators and, importantly, figures that portray the relationship between the various parts of 
restorative discipline as well as the various levels and steps that make up this approach. The 
way every chapter links back to the models and figures should contribute to the accessibility of 
the content of this book for all readers. 

10 The authors all seem to be competent, experienced and respected writers from various 
disciplines sharing an obvious and almost tangible passion for education and the psychophysical 
well-being of all learners and our entire society. It is noticeable that a fair number of them have 
a history of being involved in exploring the relationship and intersection of education and law in 
the subject education law through participating in and leading professional associations, doing 
and supervising research and teaching relevant subjects.

11 The title of the book makes it clear that it will deal with the legal and educational angles of 
disciplinary practices. This proved to be the case throughout the book and the educational 
angle has been given enough prominence so as not to disappear among the legal provisions. 
There is a balance between the legal and educational angles and the emphasis seems, quite 
correctly, to be on the educational implications of the restorative justice approach to discipline. 

12 I have already referred to the fact that the book provides definitions and distinctions that are 
going to be useful for the readers of the book in this regard. The emphasis on values and ethics 
is to be welcomed. Hopefully, this will lead to values, norms and ethics being restored to their 
rightful place in the education process.

13 The book provides a thorough legal and policy framework for considering the possible value of 
restorative discipline in education. If one could level criticism against the book, it would be that 
the legal and policy framework is repeated unnecessarily in most chapters, as are definitions 
of concepts such as discipline, restorative justice and values. I believe one chapter dedicated 
to the definition of the legal and policy framework and relevant concepts could be a useful 
idea if it makes it possible for chapter authors not to have to write a specific legal and policy 
framework for each chapter. This makes the book unnecessarily long. It does not rule out the 
inclusion of legal and policy provisions that are specific to a particular chapter added to the 
general outline of the legal and policy framework in a separate chapter.

14 The readability of the content might be a problem for some of the likely readers. Some 
paragraphs are exceptionally long and contain as many as three or four key ideas that should 
be dealt with in separate paragraphs. In a book like this, there is always the danger that the use 
of subject related academic language could cause problems for readers who are not familiar 
with the specific disciplines. In this book, I believe the problem has largely been avoided.

15 I need to point out that the book contains some language and factual errors that could have 
been avoided. It is, for instance, not true that the Abolition of Corporal Punishment Act abolished 
corporal punishment in schools as it only applied to punishment imposed by the courts. There 

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23


3532020 38(2): 353-353 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

Beckmann “Restorative school discipline: The law and practice”

are also some differences between the dates of promulgation of certain laws and the dates of 
commencement that have not been handled correctly.

As far as language errors are concerned, there are many examples of mother tongue 
interference in the use of the English language; for example, no plurals of acronyms and 
abbreviations should contain apostrophes. There are also several examples of concord errors, 
wrong tenses used, words not spelt correctly and the present participle not used consistently 
and correctly in bulleted lists. It needs to be stressed that the quality of the language differs 
from chapter to chapter.

CONCLUSION
My overall impression is that this book should become the standard reference work on 
restorative school discipline. It highlights in no uncertain terms the need for training of all 
stakeholders at all levels of education to ensure the successful and impactful introduction 
and cultivating of a restorative discipline approach in schools. It also holds the promise of a 
significant improvement in school discipline, school climate and performance of the whole 
education system to the benefit of the entire country.

I would be disappointed not to see this book forming the basis of several important 
blended learning programmes. I would be even more disappointed if such programmes are 
not supported fully by everyone associated with school discipline practices.

I commend the authors and the editors on this outstanding work and trust that it will have 
the effect that they had in mind when they planned it.

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.23

	BOOK REVIEW