How has the Covid-19 crisis affected the education and skills sector and what should communicators be doing?

At the start of the year no-one could have predicted that in March schools, colleges and universities would close their doors to virtually all students. During lockdown many parents have had to juggle home schooling at the same time as working from home themselves and coping with job insecurities. Elsewhere across the not-for-profit sector charities, social enterprises, awarding bodies and public sector organisations are adapting to conducting their business online. Many will be worried about survival. Staff are looking to communications professionals – those working in marketing, public relations or stakeholder engagement – to provide them with advice on what to do.

Some organisations have crisis plans in place for scenarios such as a financial scandal, racist allegations or violence on campus. But the current pandemic has caught everyone off guard.

So what should communications professionals be doing to help organisations through current crisis?  

We are awash with advice coming from all quarters about how to handle communications, so I have gathered together guidance from different sources with a helpful checklist

Education organisations have a civic duty to provide information and guidance about Covid-19. This means making sure that messages from the government are cascaded to staff, students, volunteers and other stakeholders. If you are in a communications role you need to make this happens, but it needs to be done in the right way with an appropriate tone of voice. This is not the time to be creating whacky slogans and flashy Instagram posts. You may have nothing concrete to say. That doesn’t matter. No-one has all the answers. What people need are messages that are clear, credible, calm and unambiguous, delivered in an authoritative but reassuring tone of voice. Getting the frequency of messages right is tricky. You need to avoid information overload as much as a communication vacuum. 

“Communications must be fast and frequent with clear and consistent messages. You can’t wait until you have all the answers,” says crisis communications specialist Chris Tucker. “In a crisis we often believe the first message we hear, so it is crucial this the right one. But it does not end there as these messages have to change as the crisis unfolds. Any change in message needs to be very carefully thought through and consistent across all channels and spokespeople.”

Thankfully, amidst all the doom and gloom there are opportunities for good news stories. Universities are leading research to find a vaccine. Schools and colleges are using their 3D printers to produce plastic face shields. Training organisations are moving seamlessly to online learning. Charities are finding different ways of keeping in touch with volunteers and beneficiaries who may not be online. All these offer rich material for media outlets and as website content.

My focus has been mainly on external communications, but engaging with staff is equally important. They may be worried about their job security, resistant to home working and anxious about their own health, both mental and physical. Internal communications may come into the job description of the communications team or individual, or it may be part of the HR function. Either way, the same rules about communication, particularly tone of voice, apply. 

What the pandemic is showing is the vital role that reputation management plays in managing a crisis and the crucial role of communications professionals. Too often their function is seen as just providing publicity. In these uncertain times their wise counsel is essential to the smooth running of organisations.

Checklist

• You need to produce a communications plan. This should list the audiences you need to communicate with, the best channels to use and the most appropriate messages. 
• Use all appropriate channels, both inbound and outbound, to communicate with your audiences. Ensure that you are engaging with students/pupils, trainees/apprentices, parents, governors/trustees, funders, beneficiaries, the local community, employees, contractors, volunteers and others. You will probably need newsletters for different group.
• Don’t assume that everyone is online. Sometimes just picking up the phone is enough to reassure people and keep communication channels open.
• An information vacuum is the worst thing. Say something even if you don’t have all the answers, but avoid information overload.
• Keep messages simple and unambiguous. Stick to the facts but show compassion and concern. Don’t engage in speculation or debate. Don’t politicise the issue.
• Check that you are using the right tone of voice and avoid ‘officialise’. You may need to adapt the language from government guidelines to sound more friendly.
• Tell people what they need to be doing so they have a role to play. That helps them feel more in control of events. 
• Your website should have a dedicated section – accessible from the home page – with advice, resources, policies, FAQs and people’s contact details.
• Have you provided clear information about building closures? Have you told students and parents how teaching will continue (if you are a school, college university or training centre)? What about assessment? How will students who would have taken exams this summer be assessed?
• What safety and social distancing measures are you putting in place for staff returning to work or students returning to full-time education?
• Check all your automated communications including telephone voice messages. You don’t want people to be told that the building is open when it’s not. Nor do you want to be promoting new courses or products that people can’t access.
• Check all your social media channels to make sure the content is appropriate. Monitor conversations. Respond to concerns promptly. Rebut fake news and rumours.
• You may be worried that your organisation or business will not survive. Ask your decision-makers what the worst-case scenario looks like. What is the most probable scenario? Review all the different scenarios and identify the features that would make a coronavirus crisis well managed. Then, act and implement your plan of action. 

Useful resources and information sources

Advice to further education colleges from the Association of Colleges

Advice to higher education institutions from Universities UK.

Advice to schools from the Government.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ Influence magazine has a number of articles.