End of Term: School Work Evolving

A Year of Faith & Belief in the Classroom: How Our Education Team is Supporting Schools with New Tools for a Changing World

Carrie Alderton, Interim CEO, Faith & Belief Forum

Over the past year, our Education & Learning team has done something remarkable.

Amid increasing pressures on teachers and schools—political polarisation, rising hate incidents, and the widening gap between young people’s lived experiences and what is reflected in classrooms—our team has listened, responded, and delivered. I’m incredibly proud to share how the Faith & Belief Forum (F&BF) has risen to the occasion, celebrate our successes from a very busy academic year, and the impact of the new online resources we’ve created to support schools across the UK.

Since February 2020, we’ve seen over 10,800 downloads of our teaching materials on the Times Educational Supplement and more than 3,000 resource views on our own website just this year. Behind each download is a teacher, a student, a conversation—about identity, difference, empathy, and how we live well together.

As a Sixth Form lead in London recently told us:

“Skills such as ‘The importance of shared spaces’, ‘Power Roles’, and the ‘Art of Asking and Reply’ are life skills essential for young people. The workshop plans online have enabled us to run a drop-down day with our sixth form students focusing specifically on these key skills that are not taught elsewhere in our curriculum.”

Responding to a Rapidly Changing Context

This year, we’ve launched four new resource packs, each developed in response to real requests from educators navigating real challenges. Each one reflects our belief in the power of values-led, interfaith education to build resilience, deepen understanding, and create inclusive classrooms.

1. Addressing Sensitive Issues in the Classroom

Read the resource →

Following the October 2023 escalation of conflict in the Middle East, the summer riots, and the troubling rise in division and hate speech in schools, we created a guide to help teachers handle controversial topics with care and confidence. It’s grounded in F&BF’s dialogue principles—like using “I statements” and setting shared ground rules—and complements the work of our partners at Solutions Not Sides and Facing History and Ourselves UK.

Teachers have told us how useful this has been for creating safer classrooms where young people feel able to express their thoughts, challenge prejudice, and explore identity without fear.

2. Belief and the Environment: KS3 Resource Pack

Explore the pack →

Launched just ahead of Earth Day 2025, this pack supports RE, citizenship and SMSC learning while empowering Key Stage 3 students to connect their beliefs and values to environmental action. Pupils are encouraged to co-create their own sustainability projects inspired by diverse perspectives on climate justice—making the learning not only reflective but practical.

Already accessed nearly 500 times in just three months, this resource is helping schools address the climate crisis in a values-led, interfaith way.

3. Citizenship, Interfaith and Social Action (in partnership with the National Citizen’s Service)

View the resource →

This three-part pack explores the links between identity, belief, community, and action. It includes lessons on understanding interfaith dialogue, the power of personal storytelling, and how shared values can bridge divides—especially powerful in today’s fragmented society.

To launch it, we hosted two national webinars:

• “Faith & Belief in Young People” focused on how to open space for curiosity, empathy and respectful dialogue in school settings, using our new resources.
• “Interfaith Understanding: Past, Present and Future” brought together academics and young leaders for an interactive, future-facing exploration of interfaith in education. One highlight was our partnership with Cambridge University’s Genizah Research Unit, using medieval fragments to show how interfaith co-existence thrived in the Middle East—a powerful example for today’s classrooms. We were delighted to welcome, and listen to the inspiring stories, of two of our Young Interfaith Leaders (who we worked with to articulate their lived experience of division and hate related to the conflict in the Middle East, build relationships and empathy for each other, and project their experiences to MPs and decision makers as a part of this project).

We also delivered a workshop at the NASACRE conference in June 2025, helping SACRE members explore how to create space for difficult conversations in RE and beyond.

4. Interfaith Week for Schools: A New National Initiative

Visit the hub →

November 2024 marked the launch of our first-ever Interfaith Week for Schools—a national collaboration with RE:Online, NATRE, NASACRE and more. With lesson plans, assemblies, CPD, and creative prompts all themed around “Telling My Story, Building Our Future”, the resources reached over 1,300 schools, helping students celebrate diversity, explore belief, and strengthen community.

The response was so positive, we’re already building a bigger and better version for Interfaith Week 2025—this time with tailored resources for both primary and secondary schools, student-led assemblies, and whole-school interfaith action projects.

Looking Ahead with Gratitude

Having recently stepped into the role of Interim CEO, I have continued to be deeply inspired by the dedication, creativity, and vision of our Education & Learning team. Their work is grounded in the belief that schools are not only places of learning, but of transformation.

I also want to express my sincere thanks to our funders, Dangoor Education and NCS, whose support makes all of this possible. Your investment in high-quality, inclusive, interfaith learning is making a real and lasting difference to thousands of young people across the UK.

To our partners—educators, schools, academics, interfaith and RE organisations—thank you for walking alongside us, co-creating content, and sharing our belief in a more understanding, connected world.

If you work with young people or support schools in any capacity, I invite you to explore and share our resources. You’ll find everything at faithbeliefforum.org/resources.

Together, we can continue to support the next generation to grow in confidence, curiosity, and compassion.