Elevating education journalism in the UK
Sector(s):
Service(s):
The Change
282%
increase in FE Week subscriptions
230%
increase in Schools Week subscriptions
200% +
membership revenue growth across both platforms
The challenge
Schools Week and FE Week provide independent, in-depth journalism for the whole education sector in the UK. Both publications have strong reputations for delivering trusted stories and insights on the most important issues facing education.
However, the websites were more than five years old, and the reading experience did not match the quality of the reporting. They were hard to navigate, looked dated, and were difficult to use on a phone. Ads got in the way of reading for everyone, and subscribers saw little that free readers did not. There was almost no exclusivity, no sense of premium access, and nothing that made a subscription feel like a distinct offer. EducationScape, the company behind both publications, partnered with Be the Change Group to redesign and rebuild both websites from the ground up.
The solution
The collaborative process spanned eight months of discovery, research, iteration and validation. This included a workshop with the 17-person client team, cross-jurisdictional review of six global news sites, analysis of survey and audience data, and in-person presentation, iterative refinement, and final User Acceptance Testing with the internal team. The new sites have a clean, professional design, with editorial content prioritised throughout. They also have faster routes to key stories and article presentation and personalisation options that allow readers to prioritise the news that matters most to them.
Member's area
For members, the offering has significantly widened:
- Text-to-speech AI for articles, readers can now listen to articles while on the go
- Early and exclusive content access
- Reduced adverts
- A dedicated, customisable area based on their news preferences
- A modern, curated weekly edition, replacing a 15 year-old PDF format but maintaining our famous front pages that readers love
The rebuild features Datawrapper integration, enabling reporters to present complex education data clearly and interactively, raising the standard of specialist reporting. It also brings live blogging in-house, moving from social platforms to the sites themselves, keeping audiences on the platforms and building direct reader relationships around breaking news.
The change
In the first six weeks after launch, membership revenue grew by more than 200% across both platforms. The results showed that the audience was ready to invest when given a product that earned their trust.
For a specialist publisher operating with limited resources, that growth is significant. The rebuild has renewed the brand, strengthened the editorial offer, and created a more sustainable commercial foundation for the journalism its communities rely on.
It also safeguards the independence of both publications. High-quality specialist journalism needs investment. The new websites provide a stronger commercial platform while protecting editorial integrity.
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