29/06/2016
Statement from the Rev Nigel Genders, Church of England's Chief Education Officer on work of the Education Office on Living Well Together:
"Living well together is not the same as living comfortably together. It's not about sweeping difference under the carpet or trying to confine it to the private sphere, but rather celebrating diversity and living with difference. Learning to disagree well is key to that. We do not all believe the same things, and must model in our schools and universities, as well as in society at large, how to disagree well about matters we hold very dearly. This means we must be able to engage in loving, honest, faithful disagreement, where we do not shy away from difference but neither do we make differences a reason to not work together. And in order to do that, we need to provide a language and understanding that enables people to disagree well and to navigate, with respect, the diverse world in which we live."
"The Church of England's Education Office held a conference in December 2015 at which other faiths, leaders in education and Department for Education officials contributed along with students from a wide range of schools. View a video of the day here."
"We will be publishing shortly guidance for schools to host a similar day locally. This has been trialed in schools with positive results. We are also developing a model for deeper engagement where 6th formers can engage with the issue of religiously motivated violence by looking at some texts from Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith which are often misunderstood. This will be piloted in Leicester in November."