Social justice
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain Christian and non-religious views on social justice and describe some responses to issues of inequality and injustice.
Key learning points
- Social justice aims to create a fair society by protecting human rights and addressing inequality
- Christian teachings inspire many Christians to work for social justice
- Non-religious groups also work for social justice based on reason, empathy, and shared humanity
- Social justice involves not just charity, but challenging unfair systems and structures that cause suffering
- Ways to tackle social injustice include campaigning for fair laws, supporting charities and protesting peacefully
Keywords
Inequality - When individuals or groups are treated differently and unfairly, often with less access to rights, resources, or opportunities.
Injustice - When people are treated unfairly or denied their rights and opportunities.
Social justice - The fair and equal distribution of wealth, opportunities, and rights within society, with special care for the vulnerable and oppressed.
Common misconception
Social justice is only about giving to charity
Social justice is about challenging and changing unfair systems e.g. campaigning for fair laws, fighting racism, or improving workers’ rights. Charity treats the symptoms; social justice works to fix the underlying problems.
Teacher tip
Use media clips of current real life examples of events highlighting issues related to social justice and responses to these issues
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights aim to do?
Q2.Which Christian teaching supports human rights?
Q3.Why is freedom of religious expression important?
Q4.What is a Christian response to restrictions on religious freedom?
Q5.What is the mistake in thinking rights matter more than responsibilities?
Q6.What is extremism?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Social justice aims to address unfair treatment and .
Q2.Christian is a charity that works to support social justice.
Q3.What does Luke 4:18 show about Jesus’ mission?
Q4.Which statement best describes a non-religious view of social justice?
Q5.Who was Jeremy Bentham?
Q6.What is a misconception about social justice?
To help you plan your 11 religious education lesson on: Social justice, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 religious education lesson on: Social justice, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 religious education lessons from the Religion, human rights and social justice unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.