The Quantum Shift: Restorative Justice Education as Transformative Peace Pedagogy

This study examined the impact of a restorative justice education (RJE) graduate course at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The findings provide a foundation for advocating RJE's integration as a framework for peacebuilding and conflict management in school and civic settings. Employing narrative inquiry and autoethnographic methods, the research explored the lived experiences of five course participants. Thematic analysis revealed a profound paradigm shift in all participants' worldviews, moving from an individualistic, adversarial lens to a relational, interconnected one. This transformation was catalyzed by three key pedagogical elements: the circle dialogue process, which provided a safe space for truth-telling and connection; the facilitator’s leadership, which modeled the RJ ethos; and the course's philosophical grounding in relational ontology. The findings provide robust evidence that RJE is a reliable transformative pedagogy with significant implications for educational policy and peace education. The study concludes that RJE facilitates a 'quantum shift' in consciousness, offering a vital framework for repairing relational deficits and building a foundational mindset for lasting peace, which begins in the classroom and radiates outward to transform the wider community.Keywords: restorative justice in education (RJE), peacebuilding, transformative pedagogy, relational ontology, quantum shift.