Yellowknife (Oct 29/04) - Teachers from across the NWT and Nunavut were talking about making restitution in Yellowknife over the weekend.

They came from the 10 Northern schools where the Restitution Peace Project is in place.

It's an unusual effort to create a new atmosphere in schools. The project began six years ago in Yellowknife's J. H. Sissons elementary school. Federal funding in the past three years has led to nine other schools joining up.

"We're finding that giving the responsibility back to the students is working very well," said Cindy Rempel, a teacher at Leo Ussak school in Rankin Inlet.

"The job of education is preparing people for real life," she said. "Giving them responsibility is genuinely preparing them to be well-rounded citizens."

Teachers and students discuss their roles and come up with lists of duties each can expect the other to perform -- a sort of job description. They also discuss questions such as what kind of environment they want the classroom to be.

"It's a social contract," said Rempel.

An important part of the program is the concept of restitution: "Acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes and we have to fix our mistakes," as Rempel puts it.

The project is in the third year of a four and a half year run.

"The philosophy of the schools has changed to be more restorative and less about punishing," said Lynn Taylor, the project co-ordinator.

She said she'd like to see the Restitution Peace strategy used in all NWT and Nunavut schools, with official support from the Department of Education.