This a series of posters of famous people who have studied Philosophy or Religious Studies at Degree level or higher. I'm using it as a display in my room to encourage students to think about taking RS/Philosophy at A Level. Updated Dec 13 - added a few new celebs, improved formatting, added link to supporting blog post.

These are a set of cards I came up with to stretch G&T students or those who finish a task early. The idea is that instead of giving students extra question to answer, you can plop one of these cards in front of them and ask them to reflect on one of their answers based on the question on the card. I found it to be a painless way to show differentiation in lessons.These were created for RS and Philosophy, but could be used / adapted for other subjects. Any comments or feedback welcome.

Based on a set of Socratic questions I found on the web, these are a set of questions I use, primarily as follow-up questions based on an initial answer. I have found them to be useful in prompting students to give a clearer answer and in challenging G&T students to think more deeply about ethical and philosophical questions. Any thoughts and feedback welcome. These were designed for RS and Philosphy but could be used / adapted for other subjects.

Play as Romans and get the chance to govern ancient Palestine. Students are given a number of scenarios and have to decide the best course of action. I used as group work for an observation lesson and it went down well with my year 7s. Serves as background for the life of Jesus and the Gospels. The scenarios are based on the historical Pilate and some of the decisions he had to make, so if you know the background you can explain what Pilate actually did and student can discuss whether he was a good or bad ruler.

I used this worksheet to introduce my Year 12s to the difference between religious and philosophical ideas of God - divided my class into two groups and after they'd each done their task got them to discuss the differences in how they described God.

These are a set of practice papers I created for my A and AS level classes, with predicted questions based on looking at previous years’ questions and what might come up this year. You can use them to help students focus their revision, prepare for the final exam or to set as mock/end of year exams. Just to make it double and triple clear - these aren’t exam board leaks, just my own guesswork :-)

This resource contains three modern 'Good Samaritan' stories taken from recent news items. I asked students to decide which story they thought best reflected the meaning of the original parable.

Key word pairs and key word 'articulate' games. I've found these useful as quick lesson starters to build and test topic vocabulary. If you don&'t know the games, instructions are on the document.

An interview lesson I did introducing the problem of evil and two religious perspectives on it. Lesson slides are in Smart Notebook format. I've also uploaded a pdf version, but can&'t currently export to Powerpoint.

Key word pairs and key word 'articulate' games for the AQA RS A2 Unit on Virtue Ethics. I've found these useful as quick lesson starters to build and test topic vocabulary. If you don&'t know the games, instructions are on the document.

Some Christian quotes on social drugs. Students cut and stick them on the worksheet according to whether they are for or against using social drugs.

This is a set of 300 practice questions for the Eduqas Short Course GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy and Ethics, Christian Beliefs and Buddhist Beliefs). Although it’s for Eduqas, I’m sure that many of the questions could be adapted for other boards. There are questions for all the topics in the specification i.e. Relationships Issues of Life and Death Beliefs in Britain Nature of God Creation Jesus Christ Salvation The Afterlife The Buddha The Dharma The Four Noble Truths Human Personality Human Destiny and Ethical Teaching The resource includes the following question types: 2 mark - Define 5 mark - Describe 8 mark - Explain 15 mark - Discuss Additionally there are some A level style questions, giving options to differentiate and stretch the most able students (or you can just use these as controversial statements for class discussion!)

This lesson introduces Socrates, giving some historical background to his life, and introduces some philosophical questions raised by his life and work including: What does it mean to give a good life? Why do people commit evil actions? Are moral virtues universal or relative? This lesson is part of a History of Philosophy in Fifty Questions scheme of work, which takes students from Thales and the origins of philosophy, right up to the 21st Century. Each lesson is based around an inquiry question, which links to the work of a key philosopher. Each lesson is a contained in single resource which includes: Vocabulary recap “settle down” starter Discussion based starter linking to the inquiry question for the lesson Glossary of key terms introduced in the lesson A key reading which supports the inquiry question Knowledge check questions to clarify student understanding of the reading Discussion and extended writing tasks A teacher page, giving suggested answers and discussion points for each of the tasks

This is a set of over 500 practice questions for the Eduqas Full Course GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy and Ethics, Christian Beliefs and Buddhist Beliefs). Past paper questions are also included. Although it’s for Eduqas, I’m sure that many of the questions could be adapted for other boards. The questions are fairly complete for the syllabus, so could be used for exam preparation, in-class tasks, or creating mock exams. There are questions for all the topics in the specification i.e. Issues of Relationships Issues of Life and Death Issues of Good and Evil Human Rights Christian Beliefs Christian Practices Buddhist Beliefs Buddhist Practices The resource includes the following question types: 2 mark - Define 5 mark - Describe 8 mark - Explain 15 mark - Discuss There are some A level style questions, giving options to differentiate and stretch the most able students (or you can just use these as controversial statements for class discussion!) Finally, there are a model answers or paragraphs provided for a handful of the questions.

This is a set of scaffolded revision worksheets. There is an overall outline revision sheet on Situation Ethics, and then subsequent sheets take more and more information away for students to fill in. It also includes a few mnemonics to help students remember key information.

This is a set of three structured revision mats/worksheets for the GCSE Buddhism topic of Human Personality. It is for the Eduqas board, but could be used/adapted for other boards. There are sheets for the subtopics of Sunyata, The Five Aggregates, and Buddha Nature. The sheets are structured to support students in recalling and consolidating the knowledge and skills required to answer “define”, “describe”, “explain”, and “discuss” exam questions. They could also be used as lesson worksheets when first teaching these topics.

This is a set of three structured revision mats/worksheets for the GCSE Buddhism topic of the Dharma. It is for the Eduqas board, but could be used/adapted for other boards. There are sheets for the subtopics of Dependent Origination, Anicca, Anatta, and Dukkha. The sheets are structured to support students in recalling and consolidating the knowledge and skills required to answer “define”, “describe”, “explain”, and “discuss” exam questions. They could also be used as lesson worksheets when first teaching these topics.

This is a lesson I created on Buddhist chanting, for GCSE Religious Studies (Eduqas). I teach this as a flipped lesson, so I ask the students to watch and make notes on the longer youtube video for home learning and then start with a quiz on what they learned. However, you could easily “unflip” it by simply showing the video at the start of the lesson. The lesson builds towards answering a discussion/evaluation question, and the resource includes scaffolded answer sheets with sentence prompts.

This is a simple scaffolded paragraph structure to help students write discuss/evaluate questions for GCSE Religious Studies. The sheet includes prompts to help students ensure that paragraphs include evidence, counter-argument and evaluation . The sheet also has an unstructured side, so that students who feel more confident can write their answer without the prompts. Note that this is just a structure for one paragraph rather than a whole essay as in lessons I’m finding it easier to get students to plan the whole essay, but just write up one paragraph. You could just adapt the sheet if you want to use it for a whole essay. PS: If it’s not clear, you need to print the sheet double sided, then cut each sheet in half!

This lesson introduces Plato, giving some historical background to his life, and introduces some philosophical questions raised by his life and work including: What is reality? What is beauty? Does reason come from knowledge or the senses? This lesson is part of a History of Philosophy in Fifty Questions scheme of work, which takes students from Thales and the origins of philosophy, right up to the 21st Century. Each lesson is based around an inquiry question, which links to the work of a key philosopher. Each lesson is a contained in single resource which includes: Vocabulary recap “settle down” starter/bell task Discussion based starter linking to the inquiry question for the lesson Glossary of key terms introduced in the lesson A key reading which supports the inquiry question Knowledge check questions to clarify student understanding of the reading Discussion and extended writing tasks A teacher page, giving suggested answers and discussion points for each of the tasks, as well as ideas for stretch and challenge

This lesson introduces Aristotle, giving some historical background to his life, and introduces some philosophical questions raised by his life and work including: What is the best type of government? What are the problems with democracy? This lesson is part of a History of Philosophy in Fifty Questions scheme of work, which takes students from Thales and the origins of philosophy, right up to the 21st Century. Each lesson is based around an inquiry question, which links to the work of a key philosopher. Each lesson is a contained in single resource which includes: Vocabulary recap “settle down” starter Discussion based starter linking to the inquiry question for the lesson Glossary of key terms introduced in the lesson A key reading which supports the inquiry question Knowledge check questions to clarify student understanding of the reading Discussion and extended writing tasks A teacher page, giving suggested answers and discussion points for each of the tasks