Abstract

Narrow approaches to school coexistence often involve a problematic understanding of school conflicts, typically leading to punitive disciplinary actions. Research on punitive discipline highlights a blending of these approaches with more formative strategies. However, few studies specifically characterize formative approaches to school conflict management. This study, designed as a case study with a quasi-ethnographic approach, aimed to characterize the formative methods employed by an educational institution with low levels of punitive disciplinary practices. Persistent observations, analysis of institutional documents, and in-depth interviews with students, education assistants, teachers, and administrative staff were conducted. The findings highlight formative practices associated with various preventive dialogic actions that place students at the center of educational processes. The school is portrayed as being in transition toward a formative approach to conflict management, focusing on preventing conflict situations. The implications of these results for adopting a formative approach to school conflict management are discussed.