Following the pilot launch of The Guardian Schools Guide, Old Salt carried out research with parents to uncover what’s most important to them when researching secondary schools, and the challenges they face in the decision-making process.

The Guardian Schools Guide has the dual purpose of assisting the parents of prospective secondary school children as they decide which schools to apply for and providing teaching staff with information to aid their search for a new job. Through this proposition The Guardian is seeking to establish itself as a thought leader in education and educational careers, which meant it was vital to gather early evidence of its usability and obtain clear recommendations to guide the development of the site going forwards.

With the help of a qual partner we completed depth interviews with 18 parents and 8 teachers, before surveying over 800 parents of 7-13 year olds, using a Max Diff exercise to rigorously rank the information most important to them. As well as presenting the findings to a senior audience within The Guardian, we supported a working session with the developers of The Schools Guide to agree a development roadmap for the next iteration of the site and provided a white paper for The Guardian to showcase their knowledge in this space.