Understanding Humanism Teacher Training
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If you are an RE teacher, looking for support with teaching about non-religious worldviews, then this is the course for you!
Ideal for primary and secondary teachers new to teaching about non-religious worldviews, as well as RE leaders looking to introduce a unit of work on humanism. You’ll develop your subject knowledge and pick up practical ideas for the classroom.
Humanism is the prevalent non-religious worldview in the UK, with a long and rich history and a global presence. It addresses many of the questions explored in the RE classroom around beliefs, values, and practices. Teaching about it provides the best and easiest way to make your RE inclusive of non-religious worldviews.
We’ll break down the humanist approach to life into five core areas of knowledge to support your teaching and planning. Our content is designed to provide students with an understanding of how humanists respond to life’s big questions, giving them the tools to consider the humanist perspectives on many of themes and topics explored in RE.
Course content
- Introduction: A short introduction to humanism, an exploration of some of the other labels connected with being non-religious, and a quick guide to where the focus should be when presenting humanism in the classroom
- What is humanism? An explanation of the humanist worldview to support your subject knowledge. We break humanism down into five core features, explore the connections between them, and address some common misconceptions.
- Resources: An introduction to free resources available on the Understanding Humanism website that can support teaching about the humanist approach to life in the classroom.
- More on humanism: Answers to other common questions about humanism, including those about its history, global presence, and the activity of humanist organisations.
The course should take between 60-120 minutes, depending how much you want to cover and how deep you want to dig. You can follow the course through from start to finish or select the steps that are most appropriate to you. We’ll also provide links to where further information can be found so that, as a teacher, you can find everything you need to know to teach about humanism accurately and effectively.
Our education work
Understanding Humanism has been supporting teachers with their understanding of humanism and non-religious approaches to life for decades and has trained over 3000 teachers since 2021. We’ve been endorsed by OCN London, certifying the high quality of our training. This online course version of our teacher CPD is based on the model used in our highly-rated online webinars and in-person sessions.
‘Some of the most useful training I have ever been on. So many practical ideas.’
Samantha Kennedy, KS2 teacher and RE coordinator
‘Absolutely brilliant! Best training I’ve had. Extremely useful practical examples of use in the class with good age range and superb speaker.’
Anna Crosby, KS1/2 teacher and RE Curriculum Lead for North Lincolnshire
‘This session has been really fantastic, thank you! I feel I have come out understanding humanism a lot more as even I sometimes struggled to distinguish it from atheism.’
Helena Moore, KS3-5 RS teacher
All course content © Humanists UK 2026
