The academisation of schools and the PR opportunity?

George Osborne has big plans for the Academisation of schools. In the last budget statement he announced that he wanted all schools in England to commit to becoming Academies by 2022. This would essentially sever the ties between local authorities and educational establishments which have been in place since 1902.

The topic is certainly a divisive one with parents, teachers, unions, local authorities, industry and government all at loggerheads about the proposal.

One of the government’s biggest arguments for the case (and we won’t be taking sides, for or against, on this blog) is the freedom Academy status gives to head teachers to run their schools the way they like them to be run without interference from the local authority.

This impacts on a number of things such as the schools admission policy, the curriculum they teach, the length of school day and term times, teachers pay, etc. It also changes the way Academies engage with the outside world, including with the media.

In the past, any PR issues (outside of the usual school sports day or nativity play coverage) would be handled by a PR representative of the local authority.  As Academies no longer have this resource to fall back on they must either handle any issues themselves or employ outside help.

With nearly 25,000 schools in England to either benefit from or be threatened with (depending on your point of view) Academy status – this must represent a huge opportunity for the PR industry. With some of the biggest Academy Trusts operating more than 50 schools and managing budgets worth hundreds of millions of pounds – these accounts are potentially huge.

So how will the PR industry react?

Is education set to become an increasingly burgeoning sector within the PR industry? Moreover, how will the public and press react to an educational landscape embroiled in the roughhousing of PR and spin?