Inspirational people can be named as such because of their actions, the effects they have had on their locality, people or the wider world, or just because of who they are. They are often motivated by beliefs, religious or otherwise. The people featured in this book are many and varied, religious and non-religious, contemporary and from long ago. When studying inspirational people we often look at three categories. We have included people from each of these categories in our book: Religious figures (leaders, messengers or prophets) connected with the origin of the religion, such as Jesus, Guru Nanak and the Prophet Muhammad. A religious leader – past or present, local, national or international, such as a local vicar, the Queen or Rabbi Julia Neuberger. People who put their beliefs into action in the way they live, from small things such as thanking God for sporting talent to letting those beliefs affect the direction their whole life has taken. In this category we have included vignettes of contemporary people such as Jo Cox, Christine Ohuruogu and Malala Yousafzai, and longer units on others such as Dr Hany El Banna, who began the British charity Islamic Aid. The units in this book provide resources for studying people from a range of religions and non-religious worldviews, with substantial teaching suggestions for work in teaching about Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Jewish people. In our new section ‘Ready Steady RE’ we offer some starters for teaching about inspirational people, and vignettes of a variety of people you may want to share with your pupils. At the end of the book we also suggest dos and don’ts when teaching about inspirational people. In putting together this book we have tried hard to show diversity in the people we have featured. Inevitably we have not managed to represent all groups, but it is important to look at the people you are suggesting who some find to be inspirational to ensure that they are not only old, white, male and dead! Please note that members can now download an electronic copy of each unit, allowing you to save it in year group or module files on your school’s internal electronic storage system

This is the second volume of this series to explore Muslim believing, expressing and living. As with the first volume, we aim to provide authentic, first-hand resources to use in the classroom. Our focus on ‘Muslims’ rather than ‘Islam’ seeks to avoid any essentialising of Muslim belief and practice, allowing for a close examination of particular beliefs (e.g. angels, pp. 12–13) and attitudes (e.g. towards animals, pp. 14–15), and also opening up something of the diversity of Muslim voices (e.g. of teenagers, pp. 8–11; on being Sufi, pp. 6–7; and the vibrant art of Teakster, pp. 32–33). We are aware that certain topics present difficulties for students as they face examination demands. One of these areas is on the relationship between Sunni and Shi’a Islam. In the first book of this series we produced a resource on what is held in common and what is distinctively Sunni and Shi’a. In this book we have opened up the origins of the divide, rooted in the succession to Prophet Muhammad (see pp. 4–5). Each resource page offers some suggestions to get your students thinking. Two longer articles give ideas for more sustained study: examining what goes on at the mosque (for 11–14s, pp. 18–23) and how Muslims practise charity (for 14–16s, pp. 25–29). Through engaging with and encountering Muslim voices, students can deepen their understanding of the world and reflect on how they make sense of their own place within it. This resource aims to enable personal reflection as well as to develop religious literacy

This book is the first in our new series of practical and ready-to-use resources for the secondary RE classroom. Its focus is on providing original source material and contemporary voices, while recognising and identifying diversity of views, controversies and complexity. The series intends to put lively, relevant, authoritative, insightful information about religions and beliefs into the hands of teachers and students, alongside thoughtful and imaginative ways of using the material in the classroom. The title indicates something of the approach: we are examining religion and belief by focusing on Muslims rather than on the religion of Islam. The emphasis is on lived faith and practice, with an eye on requirements for examination RS but not solely driven by them. We include case studies and interviews, use artwork and text, and explore data on Muslim living and believing in today’s world. Of course, we cannot hope to capture the full range of Muslim diversity but we have tried to indicate representative examples of Muslim ways of living, recognising that there are dissenting voices within and outside Islam. In general, we present ways of exploring Muslim insider views rather than outsider descriptions. This doesn’t mean that we don’t encourage students to raise difficult or critical questions; activities enable students to think for themselves, developing their knowledge and understanding as well as their abilities to analyse, appraise and evaluate ideas. Through engaging with and encountering Muslim voices, students can deepen their understanding of the world and reflect on how they make sense of their own place within it. This kind of RE aims to enable personal thinking as well as develop religious literacy

For many years, RE teachers have included non-religious voices within the classroom, not least because many of the students we teach have no particular religious background or affiliation. More recently, the need to see non-religious beliefs as a focus of study has increased. The wider context includes a significant increase of ‘nones’ (those identifying with no religion); the ‘spiritual but not religious’; those signing up as humanists; and those who are indifferent to religion. This book offers ways of examining non-religious beliefs in the classroom. The book reflects on ways in which atheism is delineated by things in which atheists do not believe (see pp. 18–29). While there have probably been sceptical, naturalistic attitudes to religious beliefs throughout history, this ‘negative atheism’ has largely arisen as a reaction against traditional Western theism. However, the book also explores some of the positive ways of living that are embraced by people living ‘post-Christian’ or post-religious lives, such as those who are active humanists (pp. 12–15). The borders between different voices are not clear, however (pp. 2–3 and 4–5). There are religious people who would see themselves as both secular (not wishing to see religious beliefs privileged in the public sphere) and humanist (valuing humanity, reason and making this life count). As research shows, there are many who identify themselves as atheists or non-religious who maintain beliefs that would usually be regarded as religious (e.g. in heaven or the soul). Doctor Lois Lee’s research project (see pp. 6–7) talks about ‘hybrid configurations’, where an individual holds a mixture of materialist, agnostic and religious views. Original source material and contemporary voices are accompanied by thoughtful and creative ways of using the material, in order to enable students to extend their knowledge and understanding and to reflect deeply on their own ideas and responses

It’s always a privilege to look a little more deeply into a tradition. As always, the more you look, the more you realise there is to know. Religious education is a multidisciplinary subject, with scope for looking at social, psychological, philosophical, theological, historical, ethical dimensions (just for starters). To begin to do that with the richness of ‘Sanatan Dharma’ is absorbing but also a huge challenge. To an extent, we are constrained in a brief publication like this: we have to ask what teachers are teaching and how we can help to support that with authentic, accurate, engaging sources and resources. Our emphasis on texts and philosophy, therefore, reflects the current syllabus and examination specification demands teachers face. We do approach these from the perspective of Hindu living and thinking, however. We hear from teenage Hindus from various traditions (pp. 4—7) and from young ISKCON devotees running a café in Cardiff (pp. 18—23). We outline key Hindu texts (pp. 8—9) before going more deeply into two that are important in the lives of many Hindus – the Ramayana (pp. 10—13) and chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita (pp. 14—15). We have included progressively detailed explorations of Hindu philosophy – examining ideas of rita (cosmic order), karma and samsara (pp. 18—23), before connecting these philosophies to two major schools of thought about the nature of God – Advaita and Dvaita Vedanta (pp. 24—29). We then dig a little deeper into this with case studies on Shankara and Ramanuja (pp. 30—31). As always, we look to engage students with a deeper encounter with Hindus and Hindu ideas, and to offer opportunities for them to use this encounter to reflect on their own ways of thinking and being

Welcome to the second book in our new curriculum series, Big Questions, Big Answers. This book focuses on worldviews. I first became aware of this term about five years ago and, a bit like when you buy a different car you suddenly see lots of people driving the same make, I now feel I hear the word more and more often. But what does this word mean and why might we use it with our pupils? The RE community is beginning to respond to the idea that the subject should examine worldviews, but already substantial reports from Theos and the RE Council point out the complexity of the concept. In this book we try to introduce some ways of thinking about worldviews as part of your RE or for some Religion and Worldviews lessons. We hope that the units and resources will prove practical and engaging in the classroom, increasing students’ knowledge and awareness of their own and others’ worldviews. Simple strategies have been used to increase pupil understanding of diversity within a worldview looking at celebration of Diwali, Eid-ulFitr and, later in the book, Christmas. We also look at how worldviews affect how you see things and, for many, how they choose to live their lives. Our two multidisciplinary units introduce sociology and religious studies, and relevant questions and methods, with our disciplinary experts Dr Rachael Shillitoe and Dr Chris Cotter. In these units pupils study the diversity of celebrations of Christmas and then what affects how people from different groups dress. We are really grateful to the teachers and pupils who trialled the disciplinary units in the book, and we have adapted these resources as a result of these classroom trials. We continue to expand the digital offerings for our books – do go to the website and look for the many extras.Finally, we would love to see examples of pupil work to share with others – do send us some examples

It is always both exciting and daunting when starting to plan one of these books. It gives us an opportunity to help teachers and students examine some fascinating content, but even with extensive online support resources one publication cannot cover everything. The RE community is beginning to respond to the idea that the subject should examine worldviews, but substantial reports from Theos and the RE Council have already pointed out the complexity of the concept (see p. 3 for details). As such, we recognise our limitations. We can only introduce some ways of thinking about worldviews, but we hope that these will prove practical and engaging in the classroom, increasing students’ knowledge and awareness of their own and others’ worldviews We spend some time on examining and applying James W. Sire’s model of worldview questions (pp. 4–11). This is a good starting point, as the questions are close to the kinds of things we often address in our subject. As always, we include voices from religious and non-religious perspectives (pp. 12–13), which indicate something of the complexity and fluidity of worldviews in people’s lives. As well as starting by asking people questions, we also start at the other end: we present case studies that look at people’s actions, and ask students to discern what these reveal about these activists’ worldviews (pp. 14–15) Our multidisciplinary approach introduces sociology and its questions and methods, with our disciplinary experts, Dr Rachael Shillitoe and Dr Chris Cotter. We have set it up so you can take students through different processes, including gathering data, analysing it and drawing conclusions. Having examined it though the sociological lens, there is an opportunity to apply a religious studies lens as well. There are opportunities to reflect on the potential of these disciplines for enriching an understanding of worldviews

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified THEMES: feeling ashamed; saying sorry; being forgiven; changed character

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: revelation; commitment; experiencing God; friendship

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: faithfulness; obedience; sacrifice

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, at a cost of just GBP1 per story. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified THEMES: hope

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: dedication; self-sacrifice; commitment

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: faith; prayer; turning point; Lailat al Miraj

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: loyalty; devotion; faith; evil; Holi

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: Allah’s wisdom; creation

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: God; Muhammad; respect; ritual

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: generosity; helping those in need

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: temptation; change; turning point

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: God; revelation; religious zeal

This story is one of a collection of stories from RE Today. Each story is available as a one-page pdf downloadable at the point of sale, free of charge. Each story is accompanied by Key Questions for pupils, or Activities for working with the story in the classroom; main themes covered by each story are identified. THEMES: The power of Islam to change people’s lives; courage to stand up against prejudice; the call to prayer; standing up for what you believe in