Specialist education insight:

communications and research for education

Providing market and educational insight that answers your questions, communicates your impact and supports your customers.


  • Campaign plans
  • Case studies and evidenced impact reports
  • Customer journey maps
  • Focus groups, online surveys and interviews 
  • Live and virtual events
  • Pilot studies and user tests
  • Public relations
  • Research communication and reports
  • Secondary research and desk studies
  • Thought leadership content
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Research and Thought Leadership Icon of a green pin one one point of a three-point mapped out journey. The journey points are coloured pink

“Oriel Square were able to quickly grasp what we wanted to achieve, and then tailor the methodology and scale of approach to fit our budget, and then provide us with an objective view on the research topic.”

Educational Publisher

how we work

A holistic approach to educational products and services is the foundation for all our work. Our starting point is understanding why the topic is important to you and your audience.

From there, we work with field experts and education specialists to develop and conduct a bespoke research programme that answers your questions rigorously, and a campaign plan to effectively communicate your findings to expand knowledge within your organisation, as well as raise your profile externally as a thought leader in education.

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“The team worked quickly and efficiently within a short time scale and combined good publishing knowledge with sound market research and focus group experience.”

Head of Digital Project Management (ELT)

British Council exam mapping research and communications

Exam mapping research and communications to support the marketing and delivery of the British Council’s Secondary Plus course.

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research and communications

British Council exam mapping research and communications

We worked with the British Council to support the marketing and delivery of their Secondary Plus course and provided recommendations to inform work on subsequent editions.  

The British Council wanted to map the course to national and international examinations to help market the current edition and to support teachers in helping students prepare for these exams.

This included research to map the course content to exams in the British Council’s top markets, alongside international assessments; a report summarising the findings; exam advice added to the teaching guides for each of the 120 modules; and two marketing decks to communicate the work.

“What worked well on this project was having multiple people in the Oriel Square team working on different phases depending on their area of expertise. When I came in towards the end of the project to work on the marketing materials, I had a really clear brief and objective, and I was able to speak to others in the team to collate the information I needed and develop that into something suitable for the target audiences.”Keira Moulding, Communications Manager

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Off2Class white paper

Oriel Square worked with Off2Class to produce a report celebrating the successes of two initiatives delivering English lessons to learners in conflict zones, through research-based evidence.

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Research

Off2Class white paper

Oriel Square worked with Off2Class to produce a report that celebrated the successes of two ELT initiatives through research-based evidence, and highlighted where there was an opportunity to go further. Targeted at policy-makers, investors and the media, the report communicates the effectiveness of the English language learning programmes globally, including case studies from the US and from the Middle East.  

Off2Class is an EdTech platform which aims to provide high-quality ESL (English as a second language) digital content. The company partnered with the Ismaili Community on a successful pilot to deliver English lessons to learners in conflict zones and worked with Tulsa Public Schools in the US to deliver lesson content to refugee students. 

We put together the report content plan using interviews conducted by the client, and preliminary quantitative results from the programme in the three conflict zones. Our team then built on this earlier research by interviewing key stakeholders and analysing the full set of results from the programme coordinators to author the report. 

It was important that the human stories of the programmes shone through and that the report would generate interest and enthusiasm among policy-makers and investors. We worked with Off2Class, their partners, and key stakeholders for approval and feedback and our in-house design team created a final report that worked with the client’s existing branding. We also created an infographic and blog post to accompany the main report, which enabled Off2Class to present its findings to a wider audience. 

It was great to work with the Off2Class team who are passionate about learning and making a difference through English. We’re proud to have had our work on this project featured in the BESA and Educate Ventures report on the use of effective evidence in EdTech. 

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Bloomsbury Lit in Colour research and report

Together we can create change. That’s why we’re proud to have produced this important research report for Bloomsbury’s Lit in Colour campaign.

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Bloomsbury Lit in Colour research and report

As part of their commitment to the Lit in Colour initiative, Bloomsbury commissioned a report to put the spotlight on diversity in plays and drama and increase students’ access to plays by Global Majority writers. We worked with Bloomsbury to conduct research with key stakeholders from education, theatre and publishing to inform a set of recommendations, then took the report through the commissioning, writing, editorial and design stages.  

Working with the National Theatre and Open Drama UK, we conducted independent research with teachers, publishers, awarding bodies, theatre organisations, practitioners, authors and playwrights. The resulting research report drew on multiple sources: a quantitative survey, in-depth interviews, roundtable discussion and desk research. 

After conducting the research, we took the report through the commissioning, writing, editorial and design stages. Our in-house Design Manager created the cover design and report branding for use across Bloomsbury’s Lit in Colour campaign and the report’s launch.

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Oxford Language Report front cover

Oxford University Press Oxford Language Report

We were delighted to work with Oxford University Press (OUP) to produce the first Oxford Language Report.

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Oxford University Press Oxford Language Report

We worked with Oxford University Press (OUP) to produce the first Oxford Language Report which examined the causes and impact of the “word gap” on young pupils, and sought to understand how to support schools to narrow and ultimately close the word gap. The teams at OUP and Oriel Square were delighted with the result: widespread coverage in the media of this important issue, and engagement from education policy-makers and influencers keen to help.

Applying Oriel Square’s expertise in educational publishing, we guided the project from its development stages through to completion. We facilitated OUP’s project discussions by chairing meetings, allowing the team to develop the report’s narrative and concluding position with efficiency. We then oversaw the publishing process, taking it through editorial and design and delivering in time for OUP’s award-winning publicity campaign.

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Oxford Language Report front cover
A Guiding Hand computing report

2Simple thought leadership report

We worked with 2Simple to produce a report on the ways that the Purple Mash computing curriculum improves teaching and learning.

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2Simple thought leadership report

We worked with 2Simple to produce A guiding hand: the journey to confidence, competence and an engaging curriculum, looking at the last decade of computing teaching and the ways that Purple Mash and their computing curriculum improve computing teaching and learning. The report launched at BETT 2022 and was picked up by DfE officials at the show.

Applying Oriel Square’s expertise in research and educational publishing, we developed the report structure and content, working alongside stakeholders and contributors within the 2Simple team. We conducted interviews with Purple Mash users to uncover and demonstrate best practices, and then oversaw the report publishing process, taking it through editorial and design.

A Guiding Hand computing report

FFT’s The Apex Project report

Oriel Square produced a research report for FFT looking at the elimination of avoidable early literacy failure.

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FFT’s The Apex Project report

Oriel Square produced a research report for FFT looking at the elimination of avoidable early literacy failure. FFT wanted support from Oriel Square to launch their findings on early literacy failure and promote The Apex Project as a possible solution. 

Improving early literacy is key to transforming education outcomes. This project examined the effects of early literacy failure (where students are significantly behind where they are expected to be by the end of KS1) on attainment outcomes for students across England.  Intended for ministers, special advisors and key stakeholders, the aim of the report was  to raise the profile of early literacy failure as an issue and The Apex Project as an effective solution. The report outlines the aims of The Apex Project, its key findings so far, and its plans for the future. 

We ran a workshop with key internal stakeholders at FFT to fully understand their purpose and ambitions, and grow ideas about the campaign. From this, we created a guiding policy and set of recommendations for the campaign, which included the launch of a report. For this, we: 

– worked collaboratively with the FFT team to develop their manuscript and highlight how the report’s findings are supported by the government’s own research and other case studies;

– created a newly branded design for the report, which has since been used in other related FFT reports;

– took the finalised manuscript though editorial stages and typesetting.

We’re proud that our work on this project has supported FFT to improve early literacy outcomes. 

“FFT has worked with Oriel Square on several projects to support the foundation’s work. We’ve been impressed by the range of services they offer and the consistently high-quality output. … They helped our team to deliver compelling thought leadership content to raise FFT’s profile and credibility through a research report looking at early literacy failure as part of The Apex Project.” — Paul Charman, Managing Director, FFT

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Strategic planning

Working with you and your team to identify, research and develop opportunities for new or adapted products, services or markets.

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communications

Providing market and educational insight that answers your questions, communicates your impact and supports your customers.

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implementation

Creating the best educational products and services to deliver transformation through education.

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