Rethinking how classrooms teach conflict

Educators across several regions are revisiting how conflict is presented in the classroom. Rather than framing disagreement as something to be avoided, a growing body of practice treats it as a competence to be developed deliberately.

The approach asks a simple question: what would it mean to teach children to disagree well? Advocates argue that the skills involved — listening, restating an opponent position accurately, distinguishing a claim from the person making it — transfer far beyond the classroom.

Critics caution that such programmes are difficult to assess and easy to reduce to slogans. The debate remains open.