The Archbishop of Canterbury is launching a new education programme today to help secondary school students learn to “disagree well” in an increasingly “polarised world”.
Speaking at the Church of England’s national education conference today, Justin Welby is set to announce that the new Difference in Secondary Schools scheme will be rolled out this year.
The programme has been developed by the CofE Education Office and has been piloted in 10 schools. It will be available to any school that has completed the Church of England’s training.
The CofE said it will also be launching a similar programme for primary schools in 2025.
It is one of two education programmes the archbishop is announcing at the conference today.
The scheme is described as a free, six-session resource, which the archbishop will say “will equip students to cross divides, disagree well and grow flourishing school communities”.
The archbishop is expected to tell the conference that social media “has connected us in ways we never imagined possible” but warn that “it also works to drive us ever further apart”.
‘Growing political polarisation’
He will add: “We can become so immersed in echo chambers where we hear our own views affirmed, that other perspectives begin to feel frightening. In recent years we’ve seen growing political polarisation, alongside distrust of institutions and experts.”
Delegates at the conference in London will be told that the Difference programme is focused on “giving young people the tools to cross divides, navigate disagreement and pursue a just and flourishing world”.
The course also looks at “pursuing justice, practising forgiveness and belonging together”.
The archbishop is expected to highlight concerns raised by UN secretary general António Guterres, who said: “Our world is becoming unhinged. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Global challenges are mounting. And we seem incapable of coming together to respond.”
Disagreeing well
The archbishop will tell the conference that, “in this context, the question of how society shapes young lives, how we educate our children, could not be more urgent”.
Bradley Deysel, chaplain at the Holy Trinity Church of England secondary school in Crawley, which was involved in the pilot of the project, said: “The course materials facilitated quality discussion about pertinent topics.
“Students were challenged both by the course and by each other to think out of the box, listen to different and sometimes opposing opinions and, in some cases, to consider making changes to their own preconceptions.”
During his speech today, the archbishop will also announce that the CofE is launching a programme called Flourish, which is described as “creating a network of worshipping communities in schools”.
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