[JUDGING] National Council for Special Education
Section: Social Media Strategy: Public Body
Organisation Name: National Council for Special Education
General Strategy Questions
Name Of Brand Client
National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The statutory body responsible for planning, coordinating, and delivering inclusive educational supports for students with special educational needs across Ireland.
Personpeople Who Led This Campaign
The National Council for Special Education’s External Communications Team, alongside key personnel from our Professional Learning & Development, Education & Curriculum, & Autism Behaviour teams.
Do You Use Alt Text In Your Images And Caption Your Videos
Yes. In accordance with EU Web Accessibility Directives and NDA standards, digital accessibility is embedded across our visual communications. Descriptive alt text is applied to primary campaign graphics and core visual assets to provide informational context for screen-reader users and visual assets are designed to meet WCAG 2.1 AA colour contrast standards. All of our captions and graphics also use 'Plain English' and avoid administrative jargon. Our video assets use on-screen text and closed captioning to ensure accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing stakeholders, as well as users viewing on mobile devices without audio.
What Objective For Campaign
The NCSE’s statutory remit is to ensure children with special educational needs achieve better educational outcomes. Previously, public notices relied primarily on circulars and static web notices. For the 2025/26 school year, we deployed a strategy to build direct, accessible communication pipelines with our key stakeholders. The core objectives were as follows:
Drive Educator Upskilling:
Establish a direct digital pipeline for Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) seminars (Primary Curriculum Framework, Updated SET Guidelines, Behaviour & Wellbeing, and Trauma-Informed Education), maximising course registrations and classroom impact.
Drive Public Engagement to Improve School Placement Planning:
Deliver high-impact public awareness for statutory 'Parents Notify' deadlines (by 1 Oct 2025), prompting parents to secure NCSE eligibility letters early and preventing placement delays.
Fill Specialised Frontline Vacancies:
Accelerate recruitment for clinical and advisory vacancies (Visiting Teachers, Special Educational Needs Organisers, Speech & Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists).
Improve access and knowledge of Special Education:
Communicate complex special education processes through clear visual infographics and streamlined mobile navigation to official ncse.ie application portals.
Outline Your Strategy For This Campaign
Our strategy segmented audiences across channels based on user demographics and platform strengths:
Instagram (@ncseirl) -Engaging Educators:
Reflecting teaching workforce demographics (82% female engagement), Instagram served as our primary channel for weekly TPL seminar announcements, visual guides, and seminar attendee support.
Facebook – Reaching Families:
Deployed as our primary avenue for reaching parents and guardians, driving mass reach (378.3k post reach) and high click-through volume (6.6k clicks) for statutory placement notices.
LinkedIn – Professional & Clinical Recruitment:
Leveraged for recruiting specialists (SENOs, Therapists, Advisors), sharing competition booklets, and highlighting NCSE research (5.1k clicks).
X & Bluesky:
Maintained for mass reach, real-time announcements, and education sector stakeholder engagement (5.5k clicks on X).
Design & Delivery:
1 - Hybrid Creative Model: TPL flyers were produced in-house via Canva, while a dedicated graphic designer was commissioned to create the flagship, multi-stage 'Parents Notify' visual suite.
2 - Improved Access & Frictionless Navigation: Standardised templates integrated QR codes, short URLs (orlo.uk/tinyurl), and bio links (Linktree).
3 - Strategic Paid Amplification: Organic community building was paired with targeted Meta campaigns optimising for landing page views
What Were The Outcomes For This Campaign Metrics Next Question
This strategy delivered significant operational impact:
Planning for National School Placements:
Our targeted 'Parents Notify' campaign acted as the digital catalyst ahead of statutory deadlines. Supported by an agile initial Meta investment of under €1,000 (€980), this outreach drove thousands of parents directly to the form, directly supporting over 3,300 verified eligibility notifications and enabling the state to forward-plan and sanction 400+ new special classes nationwide.
For more information on the 'Parents Notify NCSE Process' Please see our website here (Ongoing for this school year): https://www.ncse.ie/parents/current-application-processes/parents-notify-special-class-special-school-placement/
Educator Upskilling:
TPL posts established @ncseirl as a trusted source for upskilling. Teachers actively saved posts as classroom reference tools (801 saves), with positive educator feedback: "delighted to be involved with my own school and staff" (@teachleadthrive).
Clear Public Guidance:
The dedicated Parents Notify visual suite demystified complex administrative steps for families, earning direct public praise for clarity: "Great clear graphics and great to see social media use to reach more parents. Well done" (@fromtinyacorns).
Scaled National Impact: Achieved 2.7M aggregate impressions, 18.5k link clicks, and 7,680+ Linktree referral clicks across Ireland.
What Are Your Metrics For This Campaign Real Metrics Please
Data from our Social Media Management software - Orlo Analytics ( 2025– 2026 vs 2024– 2025), Meta Business Suite & Linktree(Used with our instagram):
• Cross-Platform Growth: Total audience grew +63.3% (+7.6k net new followers) from 12.0k to 19.6k.
• Web Traffic: 18,500 link clicks (81.6% domestic IE) + 7,680+ Linktree referral clicks via IG bio (96%+ IE traffic / 7,392 clicks, 119% CTR)
Channel Breakdown:
Instagram (@ncseirl): 4,400 followers (+300% YoY, +3.3k); 1.8M account impressions; 474.7k post impressions (+384.7k); 212.4k post reach; 801 saves (+578.8% YoY); 7,680+ Linktree clicks.
Facebook: 3,100 followers (+3,000% YoY, +3.0k); 573.6k post impressions (+538.8k); 378.3k post reach; 6,600 direct link clicks.
LinkedIn: 2,500 followers (+150% YoY, +1.5k); 204.5k post impressions; 5,100 link clicks; recruitment engagement up to 9.27%.
X: 9,600 followers; 101.1k post impressions; 5,500 link clicks; specialist recruitment engagement up to 21.41%.
• Video & Rich Media: 68.2k video views (+2,031% YoY) with 53.7k outbox reach.
• Publishing Output: 472 posts published across platforms (+234.8% YoY).
Strategic ROI & Delivery: 1.35M organic feed impressions scaled to 2.7M total brand impressions. Peak TPL adverts drove 2,553 Linktree clicks in 72h; €980 Meta ad spend supported 3,300+ statutory notifications
Is There Anything Else You Want To Add Be Brief
Special education is an essential public service. By pairing demographic insight with accessible visual design (combining in-house production with professional creative design and targeted amplification for key campaigns with statutory elements), this strategy transformed our digital presence into a practical, trusted bridge connecting schools, educators, and families with state supports.
This nomination demonstrates how an Irish public body can move beyond conventional broadcast communication to deliver transparent, measurable, and responsive public value that directly advances national educational inclusion.
