Education Projects

Resources

All schools participating in Face to Faith undertake a short introduction which guides them through the principles and approaches of the programme and prepares students to engage in dialogue with those of different faiths. Thereafter, the programme is entirely flexible, currently offering three distinct yet complementary modules on the topics of:

• Charity, poverty and wealth

Students explore the different meanings of wealth and poverty - including spiritual and materialistic - and interpret what different faiths have to say about wealth and in turn charity. The video conference encounter is an opportunity for students to share their thoughts on what it means to be wealthy and how this links to notions of happiness. Click here to download sample resources

• Environment

Students investigate, co-operate, debate and think critically on a range of issues concerning the environment from ‘What does it mean to be at home?' to ‘How can people of different faiths come together to tackle issues such as global warming or sustainable development?' Students explore one another's beliefs and values seeking out commonalities and differences, and considering how faith can be a force for positive change.

• The Art of Expression

The Art of Expression module offers a creative exploration of truth and beauty in the world's religions, including their art, architecture, music and sacred scriptures. The module emphasises students' own skills of reflection and begins with critical examination of beauty in the arts, across human cultures, as well as in the natural world. The module also engages with some political themes, looking in particular at limits that religions may place - or be perceived as placing - on freedom of expression.

Programme Questions

Face to Faith is designed to encourage students to reflect, and share their views, on some big questions such as What does it mean to belong? When are ‘religion' and ‘belief' a force for good? Where do you go to feel close to God? What gives your life purpose? What does it mean to be ‘religious' or ‘spiritual'?

Programme Structure

Each module is offered as a full course, which requires an average of seven hours' class time, or as a short course, requiring approximately three hours' teaching time. There are also five short projects on subjects such as Human Rights, Disease and Hunger available for those schools which would like to try a one-hour taster session.

Each module is scaffolded by a series of lesson plans and suggested class activities. The aim is for schools to undertake sufficient in-class preparation prior to each video conference with a partner school in order to ensure that the encounter is meaningful and rewarding.

The video conferences between partner schools are a vital element of the Face to Faith programme. These vary in format and include:

0. Structured - students prepare their thoughts and ideas on a common issue, for example, the environment and present these to one another.
0. Guest speakers - students can pose questions to guests from a particular faith background - discussing how their faith informs what they think and how they act.
0. Semi-structured - in an open yet facilitated conversation, students discuss a current issue or latest news story and how it relates to religion.

Schools are encouraged to spend at least one lesson following each video conference to reflect on what has been learnt. The Face to Faith online community supports the sustained engagement between the schools between the video conference encounters.

Schools are also encouraged to design their own modules and share these with the Face to Faith community.