Restorative Justice and Education

This study deals with the implementation of the restorative justice paradigm in São Paulo's public schools and is based on the perspective of the School and Community Mediator Teacher. The aim is to investigate and reflect on the public policy nature of this movement, how the PMEC understands this process from their own professional work and how they assess the receptiveness of the school community to a model of dealing with conflicts based on dialogue and co-responsibility as opposed to punitive methods and principles traditionally employed in schools. The research followed a qualitative methodology through semi-structured interviews in a priori categories, which revealed a high level of personal support and involvement on the part of the PMEC with the implementation of the restorative justice paradigm, as well as distrust and uncertainty regarding the continuity of this public policy on the part of the state government and the support of the school community as a whole. In the end, we came to the conclusion that, in fact, there is a movement towards discontinuity and de-characterisation of this public policy.