Contact in the Classroom: School Linking: A Research Evaluation Report

This report presents doctoral research conducted by Lucy Peacock between October 2016 and April 2020 at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University. The research arose from a studentship designed in partnership between CTPSR and the Faith & Belief Forum (F&BF), advertised in early 2016. Its purpose was to evaluate how F&BF’s School Linking programme fosters interfaith relations between young people in schools through academic research. This report introduces the School Linking programme, the importance of the research and its underlying methodology, and the key research findings in six stages. The first two stages relate to statistical analysis conducted on almost 1,500 student surveys completed in the 2016-17 academic year. The following three stages present thematic qualitative findings from in-depth research with School Linking teachers, as well as classes from four schools. Whilst the qualitative findings are not representative of all School Linking students, the provide a more detailed picture of the processes underlying how relationships are formed between young people taking part in School Linking. The final stage recaps the key findings.