How will these resources help you?

It can sometimes be challenging when teaching ethical themes within the RE GCSE specifications, as some topics (for example, ‘fair pay’, within AQA A Theme F) have to be taught well first before students can effectively apply religious beliefs to them. It may be tempting to teach a short Bible quote for students to use to back up their points. However, we could use the social teachings of the Catholic church to deepen students’ understanding of the topics, which will allow them to go further in their explanations and evaluations. Catholics have three sources of authority that guide their conscience: Scripture, tradition and magisterium. Catholic social teaching (CST) is the term for how the church applies scripture to the modern world, so studying these will help students to understand the social issues as well as how Catholics are guided to live in relation to them. By referring to more than short quotes from scripture, teachers will be able to present Catholicism more accurately, and to encourage valuable discussion among students.