Futurelab

CHALLENGE

• To publicise Learning Spaces, Futurelab’s research into the changing ways that young people learn and the environments in which they learn.
• To communicate the message that new schools built with funding from the Government’s £9.3 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme should be flexible enough to exploit digital technologies, encourage collaboration and provide learners with the skills they require, both now and in the future.

TACTICS

• Launched Futurelab’s research report to kick-start the campaign: School’s Out – Timely Debate for BSF.
• Organised a tour of the national education media and secured high level interviews with the key journalists. 
• Publicised further research findings reinforcing the message that the school model is increasingly distanced from what is actually happening in the 21st century.
• Took Futurelab’s Learning Spaces campaign to BETT, the largest educational technology show in the world.

RESULTS

• Secured attendance of 20 top level journalists at Futurelab’s BETT Show Champagne Reception hosted by Lord Puttnam.
• Successfully communicated Futurelab’s messages and secured ongoing working relationships with:
• The National College for School Leadership on its leadership programme on BSF.
  Partnerships for Schools on a joint bid to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
• Local Authorities and teachers on their approach to BSF.

Secured significant media coverage with a value of £437,085 in:

• National media, e.g. The Guardian Link Supplement and TES
• Education trade media, e.g. SchoolsforLife, Building Schools Journal and SecEd
• Government media, e.g. eGov Monitor, PublicTechnology.net
• IT media, e.g. New Media Age, MacWorld, Electronics Weekly.
• For every £1 spent on PR over £58 of coverage was generated.
• Comment from Futurelab spokespeople is now actively sought by journalists for inclusion in articles on BSF. Examples include The Independent, TES and The Guardian and The Guardian’s BSF supplement.