“Train and Hope”: The Role of Restorative Justice Coordinators in Sustaining a Culture of Care in Schools

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of restorative justice coordinators in supporting teachers and schools in adopting a whole‐school approach to restorative justice in education. Coordinators are often tasked with implementing a train‐and‐hope model, in which they receive initial training in restorative justice but are largely left unsupported thereafter. School administrations tend to assume that preliminary training alone enables educators to integrate restorative approaches effectively. Drawing on the experiences of three restorative justice coordinators working across 12 schools within a publicly funded religious school board, the authors analyze the limitations of this model. They highlight how a lack of focus on relationality and contextualism in this initiative impeded the coordinators and educators from implementing restorative justice in education successfully. Such misimplementation risks overlooking the transformative potential of restorative justice in education and, in some cases, reinforces punitive and oppressive school structures. Further research is needed to equip school boards and educators with the tools necessary for implementing meaningful and sustained restorative justice in education.