Re Education : Are you in the 40% who won't read this ? I'd love to know !
A newsletter about international education development
(If this message does not format properly in your email - please click the “Read in App / View in Browser” above, top right).
It’s been a year since I launched Re Education. Below are a few reflections on what’s worked and what hasn’t - and a request to give me some feedback on a short, easy-to-answer form confidential to me only.
Reflections on a year of Re Education
Issue #13, just published, marked the 1st anniversary issue of Re Education. I set out to create a newsletter that would inform, stimulate discussion, and engage the education practitioner community. How has it worked out ?
The Intention …
The idea of this newsletter came from observing that, despite a wealth of information about international education development on social media, agency newsletters and organisational websites, there was a gap when it came to publications attempting to “curate” any of it. And, that gap was particularly noticeable when it came to the work of practitioners - those who spend much of their working lives getting stuff done, not talking or writing about it.
Academics have their vehicles : publication, journals, conferences etc. but, practitioners tend to have only a few products, ranging from the terminally dull to the evidently over-hyped e.g. project reports, marketing materials or social media posts.
I hope I have not added to either of those categories, but, in a small way, filled a gap.
..The results
So, what’s the evidence of “success” ?
In terms of subscribers, the newsletter has gone from about 100 in Issue #1 to 650+ now (the crème de la crème, of course !). Every subscriber is a little token of trust for which I am always grateful, and I hope to keep producing material that’s worth the commitment of readers’ time.
The only data I have on subscribers is an email address, so I don’t how many subscribers are from different groups, like donor agencies, contractors, universities, NGOs etc., what I do know is… only just over half the subscribers read the newsletter, and no one wants to discuss it ! !
The average opening rate of the newsletter is about 60%. (most likely a different 60% each issue).
The most popular issue was Issue #7 on education and the movies
Engagement, in terms of comments, discussions etc. is very low
The Lessons
I said I set out to inform, stimulate discussion and engage. The metrics above suggest I might have achieved the first (even 60% of 650 reading is three times higher than I started with) but, failed poorly on the second and third.
But, of course, when we equate evidence with data we sometimes miss important results – and, as all good practitioners and researchers know, you need to define terms.
The lack of engagement (if defined by comments / discussion) does not necessarily mean people don’t read or feel engaged by Re Education. I read many newsletters / blogs and either don’t, or only occasionally, comment. Nevertheless, I will find myself influenced by them in my thinking or writing.
But, digging a bit deeper, the seeming lack of engagement is intriguing. Naturally, some topics will just be uninteresting to some people. Some people have told me they don’t comment for fear of annoying their corporate masters, or funders they rely on, with off-message opinions. For others engagement in a peer community, in writing, online, can be daunting – and tends to favour the overly opinionated. Perhaps for most, they are just too busy.
Of course, sometimes engagement is taking place – but just in different ways than I can measure. I was told someone used my summary of Luis Crouch and Deborah Spindelman’s paper (Issue #3) in a workshop instead of the paper itself ! Several people have said they’ve circulated Re Education among colleagues, and some have used it as a prompt for internal discussions. The Bangladeshi newspaper, Daily Star, reprinted the main article from issue #12. I’m sure there are other examples, if you know, please share with me, it helps to round out the picture.
What worked ?
From a personal perspective I have felt some of my guest pieces have been topical and of high quality – and those from war zones have come from remarkably courageous people. I feel I’ve been able to provide a reasonable variety of both features and News / Voices from the Front / Rear. Several people have been very complimentary in person and via email, which is always very encouraging.
Most importantly, for me, I really enjoy putting each issue together.
What didn’t ?
The Notes and Chat functions on Substack are clunky and not used. Unfortunately, I can’t anonymise comments, so I can’t find any way to generate a discussion that doesn’t identify people, which seems a shame. If anyone has a bright suggestion for how to solve this, I’m eager to hear. People do write to me directly and I can anonymise those comments and re-post (as I’ve done with the latest issue).
It’s also been much harder to get practitioners to write or even be interviewed than I expected from a community that lives by the spoken and written word… a certain amount of arm-twisting has gone on ! If you have suggestions for people I could approach, please help me out 🙏🙏
Finally, I have not been as brave as I’d intended. There are realities in education development work which we all speak about privately. Conflicts of interest ; politics not evidence that drive decision-making ; personalities who drive ineffective or wasted investment ; people and organisations who withhold information that should be shared ; governments that simply pay lip service to improving education services ; educators whose only thought is self-interest etc. These are sensitive topics, but they are also the realities many of us work with. I hope to find ways to do more on this in the coming year.
Give me feedback – please !
For me, this has been a very rewarding first year – and I hope my readers have felt the same. But, I am not complacent, and would like to get feedback on where I can improve Re Education.
Clicking the button below will take you to a survey with just 5 questions. Please do take a couple of minutes to complete it. Only I can see the results, so please write freely ! I hope I can give a precis of the feedback in the next issue, but anything quoted will be anonymous.
Finally, a big THANKYOU ! 💓💓 to all my subscribers, I hope to continue to repay your trust with interesting, fresh and stimulating material - with or without comment or feedback !
Andy Brock November 2024