Conflict, Repair, and Mana

Overview

In lesson 4 of 8 in Mahitahi and Wellbeing, students examine conflict as manageable while distinguishing everyday harm from unsafe behaviour. They practise a calm, mana-enhancing repair pathway and identify when a trusted adult must intervene, building on previous learning about respectful relationships, wellbeing and boundaries.

Learning intentions

• WALT distinguish conflict, harm and unsafe behaviour, including bullying and power imbalance.
• WALT practise a safe process for repairing relationships.
• WALT use respectful communication, accountability and boundaries.
• WALT recognise when restorative conversation is not appropriate and seek adult support.

Success criteria

• I can identify whether a situation involves conflict, harm or unsafe behaviour.
• I can use the repair pathway: pause, describe impact, listen, acknowledge, agree and follow up.
• I can suggest a respectful next step without blaming or humiliating anyone.
• I can explain when I should involve a trusted adult because of safety, bullying or a power imbalance.

Curriculum links

• Health and PE — Relationships / Self and others: developing understanding of how relationships and social situations influence wellbeing.
• Health and PE — Self-care: building self-awareness and resilience when responding to challenging experiences and changing relationships.
• Health Education: practising cultural awareness, empathy and respectful communication.
• Key competencies: managing self; relating to others; participating and contributing.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Safe start and hook. Teacher welcomes students, reminds them not to share personal incidents publicly, and explains that restorative practice is a voluntary repair approach, not a compulsory cultural ritual or public apology. Open with the hook and safety slides and ask: “Can a relationship be repaired without pretending that harm did not happen?” Students silently consider the question, then share a general example or pass; establish the right to pause, leave a role-play or use a written response.

2. 7–17 min · Clarify key ideas. Teacher introduces rangimārie (peace), whakatika (put right/correct), hohou rongo (reconciliation), mana, accountability and boundaries. Explain that conflict involves a disagreement or clash between people; harm is behaviour that causes physical, emotional, social or digital impact; unsafe behaviour includes threats, repeated bullying, coercion, discrimination or situations with a significant power imbalance. Students sort teacher-provided examples verbally or on mini-whiteboards into “manageable conflict”, “harm needing repair” or “unsafe—get help”, explaining their reasoning.

3. 17–27 min · Model the repair pathway. Teacher displays the repair pathway slides and models a fictional group-work disagreement: pause and regulate; describe the impact without blame; listen; acknowledge; agree on next steps; follow up. Use a calm script such as, “When that happened, I felt excluded. Can we work out a fair way forward?” Explicitly distinguish accountability from forced forgiveness. Students annotate the repair pathway and decision worksheet with one useful sentence starter for each step and identify where boundaries may be needed.

4. 27–42 min · Scenario analysis. Teacher places students in groups of three or four and distributes the fictional scenarios in the scenario analysis section. Include situations involving group-work exclusion, an unkind online message, a disagreement during sport and repeated targeting by peers. Groups answer: What happened? Who may be affected? Is it conflict, harm or unsafe behaviour? What repair option is safe? Who could help? Students complete one scenario together, then independently decide on a second. They must identify safety concerns before suggesting a restorative conversation. Remind groups not to name real people or retell personal incidents.

5. 42–54 min · Optional role-play or storyboard. Teacher invites students to choose a non-speaking observer, reader, role-play, or written storyboard role. Open the role-play instructions and safety-script slides. Students practise one manageable scenario using the pathway, or write the conversation instead. Provide scripts: “I need a pause”; “I am not ready to talk”; “I want a trusted adult to help”; “This does not feel safe.” Students stop immediately if uncomfortable. Teacher circulates, checking that students listen, avoid public disclosure, acknowledge impact rather than defend intent, and agree to realistic next steps. Reinforce that restorative conversation is not suitable where there is ongoing bullying, threats, violence, coercion, fear, serious harm or a power imbalance.

6. 54–60 min · Decision check and exit reflection. Teacher uses the plenary and exit-question slides to revisit the hook. Students complete the decision slip on the private exit response: “One thing that helps repair is…” and “A situation where I would seek adult help is…” They may submit anonymously or privately. Students leave with the understanding that seeking help protects mana and wellbeing; the teacher reminds them of the school’s trusted adults and reporting pathways.

Resources

• the Conflict, Repair, and Mana teaching deck
• the repair pathway and decision worksheet
• Scenario cards or printed fictional scenarios
• Repair pathway poster or board display
• Emotion and regulation tools, such as breathing prompt cards or grounding objects
• Mini-whiteboards or paper for classification checks
• School safeguarding and bullying procedures
• Visible list of trusted adults and referral contacts
• Private box or envelope for anonymous responses

Assessment

• During classification and scenario analysis, check whether students distinguish conflict, harm and unsafe behaviour, and whether they identify bullying, safety concerns or power imbalance.
• During role-play or storyboard work, look for calm language, listening, acknowledgement, boundaries and realistic next steps.
• Review decision slips and anonymous responses. Follow up privately if a student indicates current risk, bullying, harm or a need for support, using school safeguarding procedures.

Differentiation

• Provide a visual flowchart, colour-coded pathway, graduated scenarios and sentence starters; read scenarios aloud and allow students to dictate or use speech-to-text.
• Offer private reflection, a non-speaking observer role, written storyboard or the option to pause or leave role-play without penalty.
• Support EAL learners with plain-language definitions, icons and paired rehearsal; explicitly model tone, body language and respectful disagreement.
• Extend confident students by analysing how consent, accountability, boundaries and follow-up affect whether a proposed repair is genuinely mana-enhancing.
• Never require a student to disclose, apologise publicly, forgive, face another student or participate in a restorative conversation where safety is uncertain.