GO! is the Flemish public education network comprising of more than 700 schools, 300.000 students and teachers. Within the framework agreement for reputation management and crisis communication, GO! contacted RCA to anchor ‘crisis communication’ in a consistent and uniform manner, and to implement central and sharable methodologies, procedures and instruments.
RCA developed a general communications plan/guideline on how schools can prepare themselves for crises. In close co-operation with the central communications department and other experts, 13 concrete realistic crisis scenarios were introduced, which can help schools communicate properly in case a crisis occurs. All this information will be posted on a digital platform designed by RCA, yet developed within the existing software programme already in use by GO!. Finally, RCA will organise a train-the-trainers programme to inform all schools about the existing materials. The 13 cases tackle following issues:
For each theme, a concrete scenario was drawn up, based on an incident that actually occurred. These themes were further elaborated in detail, with a step-by-step approach as to what to do in such a crisis. We provided practical templates, with additional information on each step, and examples of communication materials (e.g. press release, letter to staff, letter to parents, etc.) Furthermore, RCA wrote a strategic note explaining how a digital platform crisis within the existing Smart School environment can be built, filled out and what features it should have. RCA also gave advice on an ad hoc crisis communications.
The idea is that everyone in GO! Can easily and readily access a set of guidelines on how to prepare their institution for a crisis. It is also intended that they can rely on existing, centrally prepared material to guide them them, providing information on what to do in case of specific crises.
