How to manage crisis communications in education contexts

By Anne Nicholls, Chair of the CIPR’s Education & Skills Sector Group

On 17 April the CIPR’s Not-for-Profit and Education & Skills sector groups invited two experts in crisis communications – Amanda Coleman and Emma Duke - to discuss how education organisations should prepare for and deal with crises. Anne Nicholls draws out the important messages for anyone working as a communicator..

Education organisations are never far away from crises. Whether it’s dealing with university students de-platforming a speaker, parents complaining of school closures, a college being accused of financial irregularities, a charity in breach of regulations, or an exam board in a clash with teachers, these kind of situations often land on the desk of the communications team who have to handle the fallout. On occasions, one unpredictable event can have a catastrophic effect on the reputation of an organisation. The suicide of teacher Ruth Perry after her school’s Ofsted inspection results is a classic and tragic case. 

Just a few years ago preparing for a potential crisis was a task that often slipped to the bottom of the priority list. Then the Covid pandemic caught everyone unawares. What it did was to highlight the pivotal role that professional communicators like ourselves have in managing relationships and the importance of building trust. Dealing with a crisis is much more than simply a tick box exercise with prepared media statements and guidance on operational issues; it involves dealing with emotions as well.

One person who understands this only too well is Amanda Coleman, who runs her own consultancy specialising in crisis communications. She honed her skills working for the Greater Manchester Police and was thrust into a key role during the Manchester Arena bombing of May 2017. Now she advises a wide range of organisations on crisis communications including schools, colleges and universities. 

Amanda’s advice is to nurture good stakeholder relations. Interconnectivity is well established in the emergency services with clear lines of communication between police,  fire and ambulance, so that when a crisis occurs everyone knows the procedures to follow and the people to contact. In the education sector this is not necessarily the case, so it is essential to think ahead.

“At some point most organisations will be caught up in a crisis that is impossible to predict,” says Emma Duke, an education PR consultant and coach.  “No-one could have anticipated the impact of Covid, particularly on young people. Teachers were saying that there was a mental health crisis in schools but the government was not listening. The best advice is always to have crisis plans in place, at the very least a risk register. Planning is important as you can’t do everything ‘on the fly’.”

A risk register sets out all the scenarios that could have a negative impact on an organisation. Obvious ones are financial insolvency, insufficient resources to carry out work and legal issues. But the unexpected is always just around the corner. Remember the RAAC crisis in 2022 when schools were closed because the ceilings had collapsed, or the exam results fiasco during the pandemic when the algorithm used for assessment had to be abandoned to be replaced by teachers’ predicted grades? In both cases it was the government that was in the firing line, but schools and colleges had to manage the impact on students, parents and teachers.

Dealing with misinformation and fake news is another aspect of our job. In a crisis people may go to dubious sources of information which then get circulated and amplified. Comedian Joe Lycett recently planted four fake stories in the media including a statue of H from the pop group Steps being erected in his home town of Cowbridge in Wales. And how many of you were taken in by the photo of the Pope in a white puffer jacket? 

“We are increasingly flooded with nonsense. Working on media literacy is the only way to address this,” says Emma. “Ask questions. Where is the information coming from? What do we think about it? What do they want me to do? Don’t forget the role of employees. Bear in mind that people are more likely to trust information from people they know rather than the CEO.”

What lessons can be learned that are relevant to the education sector? There are some general principles that apply to all organsations, but the sector has specific challenges as most people are involved with education in some form. Universities are often in the firing line but have (or should have) resources to deal with reputation crises. Schools on the other hand are unlikely to have access to expert advice, with the possible exception of large multi-academy trusts. Many are dealing with day-to-day issues such as teacher recruitment, student absentees and lack of funding – all potential crisis situations.

Crisis communications has now become something that should be in the toolkit of any professional communicator, says Amanda. “Over the past five years the world has changed dramatically. Things that were acceptable in 2019 are now seen to be massively out of touch. The world post-Covid is now very different for us all, and so it should be for the organisations and businesses that we support with communication. It becomes even more critical to have changed and adapted when you are facing a crisis. The way we communicate needs to be more honest, more human and more authentic than at any point   I can remember. 

Five key takeaways

Planning. Think through potential scenarios. You probably don’t need to plan for a meteor crashing into a building, but a ceiling collapsing or a CEO being found in breach of trust should be considered. Look back at the kind of media stories that have involved education organisations.

Risk register. Make sure you’re involved in putting together the risk register and keeping it updated.  The danger is that the focus will be on the reputation of business, not on the impact on people’s wellbeing. You may need to argue your case for a more people-centred approach,

Stakeholders. Draw up a list of people and organisations that you need to keep informed.. For schools this usually means students, parents, governors, the local community and other schools. For a charity stakeholders could include service users, donors, non-government organisations and suppliers. And don’t forget employees. Create a set of messages and share with everyone, even it the message is simply “We’re doing everything we can to resolve the situation and will keep you informed.”

Leadership. Decide who is responsible for what and test out decision making processes. Who is responsible for what? How can they be contacted in an emergency? How will decisions be made? The police force have a process called ‘defensible decision making’ that involves recording a clear rationale for all decisions and how they were reached. 

Emotions. Part of your role as a communicator is to be aware of the emotional impact that a crisis can have on people. Be reassuring, compassionate and truthful.
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