Tell me the story: marginalisation, transformation, and school-based restorative practice

Proponents of restorative practice suggest that by offering pupils a chance totell the story,schools can transform the behaviour of pupils making them happier, and more productive.Yet, despite well-researched evidence about behaviour and disadvantage, less is known aboutthe marginalisation that pupils experience. The central concern of this article is to considerthe extent to which a turn to educational philosophy can offer a plausible response to thelimitations of a restorative approach. By providing a reading of Stanley Cavell’s auto-biographical memoir, and Cavell’s own exploration of Emerson and Thoreau, this paper ar-gues for a reconceptualisation of restorative practice that understands‘story’as a means to ametamorphosis, or re-creation, of the self.