The influence of research within religious education: the Westhill Seminars, RE professionals, pupils and schools

This article investigates the educational value of research studied by exploring the influence on a range of religious education professionals from a set of research seminars. The seminar series, sponsored by the Westhill Endowment Trust, has been running since 2004, bringing together teachers, advisors and higher education professionals working on religious education in UK schools and internationally. The seminars have been intended to develop the relationship between research and professionals, and they have generated a number of publications. Eleven seminars involving a total of 167 participants are analysed in terms of what participation in the seminars may have influenced (the professionals, pupils, schools), which aspects of the seminars were influential and why the seminars were influential. This article describes the process of developing appropriate methods to investigate both the influence of research seminars and the results of their use. The research includes a questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The most significant indications show that the seminars influenced pupils in schools and professionals; the publications from the seminars had a distinctive influence, and spending time to think and discuss about religious education was at least as influential as the presentations by researchers.