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ANNEX 1: THE LITERATURE REVIEW
About the review
1. The review was to be of published research literature that informed the body of knowledge internationally on commercial activities in schools. Opinion pieces in journals and newspapers ( e.g. the Times Educational Supplement) were also included where appropriate. The review considered key texts published since 1998, incorporating literature from the UK, Europe and OECD countries (an additional 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States ( US)).
2. Research was drawn from a range of different sociological and educational databases covering these countries, including: Australian Education Index ( AEI); British Education Index ( BEI); ChildData; and Educational Resources Information Centre ( ERIC). In addition, searches of the NFER Library's own internal bibliographic databases, including Current Educational Research in the UK ( CERUK), and of relevant websites on the Internet were conducted. Keywords applied in the searches included, for example, commercial activity, sponsorship, advertising, marketing, industry/education relationship, incentives, fund raising, educational economics.
3. It was apparent from the review that the bulk of the literature on the concept of commercial activity in schools originated from the US, where most of the larger-scale research studies of such activity have been conducted. However, in recent years within the UK, a significant amount of literature has originated relating to children's health and nutrition, and the influence of advertising on this.
Introduction
4. Although the US has a long history of business involvement in education (Clark, 2004), since the early 1990s, commercial activities in American schools have been rapidly increasing (Larson, 2002). In fact, Molnar and Reaves (cited in Larson, 2002) estimate that commercial activity in US schools has risen 473 per cent in that time. Molnar (2004) notes that, currently, in the US, almost every major corporation sponsors some type of project in school:
"… from advertising on school buses, on scoreboards and in lunchrooms, to the creation of curriculum materials for science, government, history, math and current events classes".
5. The growth of this activity is perhaps understandable, as from a school's perspective, it can appear an appealing means of addressing financial shortcomings at apparently little cost or effort. The reasons for corporate interest in school-aged children in America are believed to be clear (Molnar, 2004; Consumers Union, 1998). Essentially, they represent an accessible and rapidly growing population that spends at least 20 per cent of its time in school, a "captive audience" (Atherton and Wells, 1999). At the same time, in America today, elementary children are said to have "tremendous" spending power, not to mention the parental spending that they influence through the "nag factor" or "pester power" (Atherton and Wells, 1999; Story and French, 2004), while America's teenagers are acknowledged as having even greater "economic clout" (Consumers Union, 1998). Little wonder then, that it is estimated that over $1 billion is spent on media advertising to children with the aim of developing and building brand awareness and loyalty (Story and French, 2004). The increase in commercial activity in US schools has led to heated public debate, leading to a US General Accounting Office report ( GAO, 2000), as well as a series of regulatory efforts at district, state and federal levels (Larson, 2002).
6. In the UK, concern has been expressed in recent years that schools may be following a similar route to those in the US, with a concomitant increase in the amount of commercial activity taking place (Atherton and Wells, 1999; Rayner, 2001; Clark, 2004). Indeed, as Clark (2004) points out, the National Union of Teachers ( NUT) has estimated that advertisers within the UK now spend some £300 million a year targeting the classroom, while Atherton and Wells (1999) point to research within the marketing industry which indicated that 90 per cent of companies surveyed had been involved in some kind of marketing to schools.
7. Furthermore, the UK Government appears to be taking something of a "hands off approach" in England regarding commercial activities (Clark, 2004), with decisions as to whether to participate or not, in many cases, being left to the discretion of headteachers and boards of governors. Indeed, in some cases, it would appear to be positively encouraging certain forms of sponsorship, for example its endorsement of the Walker's "Free Books for Schools" campaign as "precisely the kind of initiative which companies in the private sector can foster, and from which children and schools can draw real help" (cited in Waller, 1999). More recently, it gave its backing to the Cadbury's "Get Active" campaign in which tokens from special bars of chocolate can be exchanged for sports equipment. At the same time, Clark (2004) notes that there appears to be no sign of England following the example of the Scottish and Welsh Executives, which have banned branding on vending machines.
Types of commercial activity in schools
8. Four main types or arenas of commercial activity in schools have been consistently identified within the literature:
- Arena 1: Product sales
- Arena 2: Direct advertising
- Arena 3: Indirect advertising
- Arena 4: Market research practices.
Arena 1: Product sales
9. Product sales represent the most common, and arguably the most lucrative, arena of commercial activity, involving contracts between schools and businesses to sell branded products in school. Such contracts usually involve the sale of food and drink, but may also include short-term fundraising sales by parent-teacher associations ( PTAs) or pupils of, for example, cards and/or gift wrap. The GAO report (2000) also identified contracts with photographers, school uniform suppliers, school year book companies and student planner distributors. In the US, soft drinks contracts have been reported to be the fastest growing activity of all product sales ( GAO, 2000) with a concomitant growth in fast food outlets and the sale of snack foods and sweets in school.
10. A review of research into the effects of food advertising on children conducted by the University of Strathclyde for the Food Standards Agency (Hastings et al., 2003), found that food was the main product category in which primary-aged school children exercised their "developing identity as consumers". At the same time, of equal concern, the review found that food is promoted to children "more than any other product, apart from toys (and then only at Christmas)". The researchers argued for schools to take a key role in creating an ethos that promotes the consumption of healthier foods whilst also discouraging the consumption of less healthy foods. This might not be such an easy decision to take when vending machines, often selling fizzy drinks, are reported to bring in between £2,000 and £10,000 a year for secondary schools of about 1,500 pupils (Nelson, 2001). However, in one mixed comprehensive school in the north west of England, after consultation with pupils through its pupil forum, cola machines were replaced with machines dispensing mineral water. Nelson (2001) reported that the school had lost £3,500 a year through the removal of the cola machines, and had yet to estimate the revenue from the water dispensers, but that the bottled water was "more popular with the students than was ever anticipated".
Arena 2: Direct advertising
11. This highly visible form of commercial activity involves companies advertising their product in schools by having their corporate logo visible, for example on vending machines, on sports strips through a sponsorship arrangement, or even in the school canteen. In the GAO report (2000), the most common forms of direct advertising reported were soft drink advertisements (particularly on vending machines) and corporate names and logos on scoreboards. Other forms of direct advertising highlighted in the literature include: advertisements in school planners; calendars and yearbooks (usually in an effort to offset production costs); on textbook covers; the side of school buses; bulletin boards in school corridors; screensavers; and media-based advertising through television and radio programmes.
12. The growing trend of marketers to ensure the visibility of their message in schools is believed to be of particular concern. For example, Clark (2004) noted that in 1998, more than half of all American students (25 million) received free book covers with advertisements for companies such as "Frosted Flakes" and "Lays Potato Chips". The GAO report (2000) found that the extent and type of direct advertising in schools had increased and changed within the last 10 years. For example, schools and districts themselves were reportedly becoming more "aggressive" in selling advertising space on school buses, or within school grounds ( e.g. on billboards and hoardings), in order to generate income.
Arena 3: Indirect advertising
13. Indirect advertising represents a less obvious, though no less influential, form of commercial activity in schools, often through the promotion of corporate sponsored education materials ( SEMs), such as multimedia teaching kits, software, workbooks, lesson plans or reproducible activity sheets. The GAO report (2000) found teachers now had access to a significant amount of corporate instructional materials through the Internet.
14. In Britain, as in the US, there is a tradition of corporate sponsorship of educational resources. A "bewildering array" (Slater and Henry, 2002) of SEMs is made available to schools from a whole variety of different companies including: science worksheets about skincare from the cosmetics industry; science videos and worksheets about energy from large corporations such as BP and Shell; environmental materials from British Nuclear Fuels; and even a programme on human rights from the army, based on soldiers' experiences in Kosovo. Slater and Henry (2002) note that many companies view SEMs as an opportunity to promote their marketing message, rather than any form of altruism, highlighting the example of posters distributed by fast food outlets, purportedly teaching the alphabet, where the M stands for McDonalds. However, the authors warn that the commercial messages inherent in many SEMs are often very subtle and thus difficult to identify, with the result that their educational content becomes equally difficult to evaluate.
15. Other forms of indirect advertising include corporate-sponsored contests and incentives such as voucher schemes. The Consumers Union report (1998) found that some corporate-sponsored contests in America had a very low commercial content while others were quite obviously designed "to promote their sponsors' corporate images, products or services". Voucher schemes, such as the "Free Books for Schools" campaign run by Walker's crisps have been referred to as "cause-related marketing" ( CRM) - "a euphemism for boosting a company's image or products under the guise of 'doing good'" (Rayner, 2001). The scheme, in which tokens from packets of Walker's crisps were exchanged for books, aimed to provide schools with additional books, but the underlying intention for the company was believed to be, quite simply, to encourage consumers (namely parents) to buy more crisps. The scheme was widely criticised for its conflicting message that eating snacks was good for people (Massey-Davis, 2000). Slater and Henry (2002) noted that, in some cases, headteachers caught up in the potential benefits for the school became active salespeople for the product, quoting the example of a letter sent home by the headteacher of one school exhorting: "So it's crisps for breakfast, dinner and tea! Let's see how many new books we can collect this year". Another headteacher reportedly wrote in the school newsletter to parents: "Get munching" (Rayner, 2001).
16. Other voucher schemes highlighted within the UK literature include a campaign by Cadbury's for free school sports equipment, which was scrapped after it was revealed by the Food Commission that, in order to obtain a set of volleyball posts, pupils would have to eat some 5,440 chocolate bars "containing 33kg of fat and nearly 1.25 million calories" (Clark, 2004). Perhaps the best known and arguably the best received voucher scheme currently operating in the UK is Tesco's Computers for Schools scheme, which has been running for approximately 13 years and is reported to have provided "50,000 computers and more than 500,000 pieces of computer equipment to thousands of schools" in that time (Clark, 2004).
17. Another type of indirect advertising includes corporate donations or gifts. The GAO Report (2000) found that these were donated by both small and large companies and varied significantly, from, for example, the provision of free cakes for events organised by parent teacher associations ( PTAs) to computer suites for schools.
Arena 4: Market research practices
18. The least common form of commercial activity in schools is market research practices, which usually involve the use of questionnaires, focus groups, or the Internet to gather information about pupils' preferences and/or consumer habits, or to test new products and advertising strategies. The GAO report (2000) found that, although market research literature boasts of schools earning thousands of dollars, or gaining valuable equipment, through being involved in such activity, none of the schools in their study reported having been involved. At the same time, education officials interviewed were of the opinion that schools were not "appropriate venues" for market research. However, they warn that market research in schools is "a growing phenomenon" ( GAO, 2000).
Benefits associated with commercial activity in schools
19. A number of benefits for both schools and businesses have been highlighted in the literature.
Benefits for schools
20. In the face of increasing budget constraints, commercial activities can represent much needed resources and revenue for schools. For example, vending machines have proved to be "a lucrative resource" (Clark, 2004) for some larger schools whilst, at the same time, preventing students leaving the school premises to access the goods in local shops, a serious health and safety issue for many schools. Clearly, some commercial activities generate more revenue than others, with vending machines an example of more profitable activity and sales of school-related products (such as photographs or yearbooks) representing a much more modest profit ( GAO, 2000).
21. At the same time, the financial return on some activities can seem quite small in relation to the time and effort they incur, for example, some fundraising sales or vouchers schemes. The GAO report (2000) highlighted one voucher scheme where volunteers had spent vast amounts of time collecting proofs of purchase labels in exchange for one dictionary. The long-running Tesco Computers for Schools voucher scheme is reported to be popular because it provides schools with much needed computer equipment for relatively little effort on their part. Tesco is reported to have developed the scheme over time, in consultation with schools regarding their particular needs (Clark, 2004).
22. Other benefits for schools accruing through increased links with businesses include relating education more effectively to the world of work, resulting in students being better prepared, increased work experience opportunities for students and improved educational resource materials to support teachers' work in the classroom. Clark (2004) quotes the example of Edcoms (an educational marketing consultancy), which developed a resource for Weetabix, "Energy for Everyone", for use in primary schools. These packs, which received significant media coverage, provided schools with advice on planning a sports day, free sports equipment, information on involving the local press in the sports day and advice for parents on getting involved.
Benefits for businesses
23. For many businesses, commercial activity in schools represents an opportunity to boost product sales and generate brand loyalty. As already highlighted, pupils in schools provide a susceptible "captive audience" (Atherton and Wells, 1999), as well as a means of targeting a much wider audience, i.e. parents. Even indirect advertising in schools ( e.g. through sponsorship of school events earning a mention in a school programme), which may appear to bring no tangible benefit, can represent a valuable PR opportunity.
24. Businesses can also enhance their corporate image through involvement with schools by being seen to give something back to the community ( GAO, 2000). Slater and Henry (2002) noted that business leaders have long complained that learning has been "divorced" from the real world. For businesses, creating materials to support teachers can better prepare students for the world of work, teaching much needed work-related skills, while company employees who give time to schools can benefit from a valuable staff development opportunity, thus broadening their experience and developing their confidence.
Costs or consequences associated with commercial activity in schools
25. Despite the fact that not all business support to schools is necessarily harmful (Rayner, 2001) as evidenced, for example, in the Scottish Executive's initiative to introduce free fruit for primary 1 and 2 pupils, there is concomitantly an increasing awareness of the associated costs, or consequences, of commercial activity. Concern is mounting that, with the education system becoming more and more dependent on private finance, schools are increasingly becoming compromised (Slater and Henry, 2002). Within the literature, costs or consequences tend to be described mainly in terms of health or ethical issues.
Health-related costs or consequences
26. The impact on children's diet through the promotion of unhealthy dietary habits is raised consistently within both the US and UK literature. The number of obese under-16-year-olds in England is reported to be over a million (Slater and Henry, 2002) and is believed to be increasing across the UK. The review carried out by the University of Strathclyde for the Food Standards Agency found that the majority of children aged between 4 and 18 eat higher than recommended levels of saturated fat, sugar and salt and registered the toll this is taking on their health (Hastings et al., 2003). Such concerns were highlighted in the report of the Expert Panel on School Meals, Hungry for Success, which noted that:
"Diet in childhood plays an essential role in growth and development, current wellbeing, educational performance and avoidance of chronic disease throughout life." (Scottish Executive, 2003b).
27. A review of the literature on advertising foods to children (Livingstone and Helsper, 2004) found that obesity is affected by multiple factors, including exercise levels of parents and their children, meal habits of parents and their children, and exposure to media advertising. Within the latter, television viewing, which particularly exposes children to advertisements for unhealthy foods, was correlated with obesity.
28. Yet, in spite of the above concerns and the growth in nutritional advice and healthy eating promotions, e.g. the Health Promoting Schools Awards programme, messages reinforcing unhealthy eating continue to proliferate in schools (Slater and Henry, 2002).
29. Equally disturbing was reported to be the fact that the Walker's crisps "Free Books for Schools" campaign was actively promoted by both the National Association of Head Teachers ( NAHT) and the UK Government as making a significant contribution to children's literacy needs. The campaign, however, relied on parents buying numerous packets of crisps, thus sending the subliminal message that "purchasing crisps benefits the school" (Rayner, 2001). The Walker's campaign was reported to frustrate the work of the Department of Health and the National Audit Office to try and halt the spread of obesity in Britain (Rayner, 2001).
30. It is also worth noting the time taken to cut out and sort the tokens from crisp packets and the disappointing return for that effort. Waller (1999) reported that, when staff and pupils calculated the number of packets of crisps needed to provide enough tokens for one book, this meant that each book acquired actually cost £67. The author goes on to cite Newman (1999) who points out that if, instead of buying the unhealthy crisps, the same people put the money directly into buying books for schools, there would be a vast amount of money immediately available to buy far more books, not to mention the health benefits for children from not eating the crisps.
31. A recent report published by Barnardo's found evidence that schools can take steps to ensure an environment that provides positive messages about food (Ludvigson and Sharma, 2004). The authors found that, when given the opportunity, pupils will make healthier choices and urged that involving them in decisions, for example about which products vending machines should stock, was the key to success. Many of the children they interviewed reported being influenced by the fact that junk food was so easily available in school. They quote an example of one 14-year-old girl who commented, "I eat about six bags of crisps a day just because they are there for us to eat and there is no healthy food and I'm not happy about it" (Ludvigson and Sharma, 2004).
Ethical costs or consequences
32. Critics of commercial activity in schools have argued that such practices exploit children and undermine the ability of schools "to teach children essential skills such as critical discernment, healthful (sic) eating habits, and safe behaviour on the Internet" (Larson, 2002). Furthermore, as Atherton and Wells (1999) point out, the presentation of commercial messages within an educational setting "may have the effect of increasing [a product's] credibility" and thus be seen as an endorsement. The Consumers Union report (1998) quotes the following message from one company to potential producers of SEMs:
"Through these materials, your product or point of view becomes the focus of discussions in the classroom … the centrepiece in a dynamic process that generates long-term awareness and lasting attitudinal change".
33. The report goes on to state that, as such, SEMs can become propaganda for the company and lead to "distorted lessons" (Consumers Union, 1998). It was found that 80 per cent of more than 200 SEMs analysed contained "biased or incomplete" information that promoted the product or standpoint of the companies involved. This, the report warns, is not the purpose of education. Of equal concern is the fact that the SEMs that are sent free to schools often come through "the back door" (Consumers Union, 1998), rather than through the more formal curriculum review processes designed to evaluate educational materials and protect students from overt commercialism or biased content.
34. Where companies provide schools with Internet access or conduct market research in schools, concerns have been expressed about students' privacy ( GAO, 2000). Such organisations have the ability to gather personal information about students, often without parental consent. The GAO report (2000) notes that a survey in 1999 of commercial websites found that 95 per cent of them collected personal data when students logged onto their sites. Sometimes, information could be collected without the students' knowledge through "sophisticated" tracking equipment ( GAO, 2000).
Policy and guidance on commercial activity in schools
35. Given the concerns outlined above, it is perhaps not surprising that campaigners have called for some controls over the type of commercial activities in which schools become involved, as well as over the quality of educational materials and activities produced.
36. In the US, commercial activities are said to be subject to the general federal and state laws applying to any business and to those governing school finance ( GAO, 2000). In addition, the GAO report (2000) identified 19 states nationally with statutes or regulations specifically targeting commercial activities in schools, although the specifics of these varied, with some being more comprehensive than others. Molnar (2004) reports that some local school boards in the US have started "reining in" commercial activities in schools, through the restriction of advertising and the development of voluntary guidelines to determine which SEMs, if any, might be worth considering.
37 Atherton and Wells (1999) note that as far back as 1989, the National Consumer Council ( NCC) recognised the dangers of commercial activities and produced a set of guidelines on commercially sponsored materials. These were substantially revised and reproduced in 1996. More recently, guidance was issued by the Department for Education and Skills ( DfES) in conjunction with the Consumers' Association and the advertisers' association ISBA ( DfES, 2001) which build upon those produced in 1996. The guidance, which takes the form of best practice principles, applies to sponsored resources ( e.g. teaching materials), sponsored activities ( e.g. competitions and projects) and collector schemes ( e.g. of vouchers or tokens), but not to exclusive licensing agreements, school broadcasting or market research. The principles purport to be of help to both schools and governors and include checklists for use by both parties.
38. However, Slater and Henry (2002) quote the view of an organisation called Baby Milk Action which campaigns against "inappropriate" commercial activities in schools, which believes that the 2001 guidance has "watered down" the messages in the NCC version of 1996. For example, the 1996 advice on branding warned that it should be used "solely for sponsor identification", whereas the 2001 version only requires that it "should be appropriate to the level of activity" (cited in Slater and Henry, 2002), thus placing the ball firmly in the court of businesses. The Scottish Consumer Council is currently carrying out a consultation on sponsorship in schools in order to update the NCC guidelines for the Scottish context.
39. Closely linked, though not overtly, to policy and guidance on commercial activities in schools is the Determined to Succeed (DtS) strategy. This is a strategic initiative which aims to make a major contribution to the creation of an enterprise culture and economic growth in Scotland, through preparing young people more effectively for the world of work. Following the recommendations of the Review of Education for Work and Enterprise set up in September 2001 to "enable young people to develop positive, enterprising attitudes" (Scottish Executive, 2002), the Scottish Executive set out its DtS: Enterprise in Education (EiE) strategy (Scottish Executive, 2003a) to which it has committed £86 million over 4 years. DtS encourages the expansion of the involvement of organisations in schools, proposing that all schools develop partnership agreements with local businesses and other suitable organisations.
40. Of the four arenas consistently highlighted within the literature, DtS activities would appear to be most closely linked to Arena 3: Indirect advertising, where companies come into school to work with pupils to promote business skills or awareness, e.g. the catering or banking industries. The DtS website and accompanying literature contain useful information and case studies of DtS activities which stress the benefits of enterprise activity, particularly for businesses, however, potential costs or consequences are less evident. All 32 Scottish local authorities have developed delivery plans for DtS activity in conjunction with the Scottish Executive's DtS team. Local authority development officers will, in turn, provide guidance, resources and training for teachers.
41. Following the report of the Expert Panel on School Meals, Hungry for Success (Scottish Executive, 2003b), the Scottish Executive committed to examining sponsorship and advertising in schools. It set out its expectations for the removal of all overt advertising and branding from school dining rooms by 2006. The report also identified that less healthy options provided by school tuckshops and vending machines could potentially hinder the effective implementation of the panel's recommendations and called for national guidance in these areas "with the objective of promoting healthier choices and improved diet" (Scottish Executive, 2003b). At the same time, it warned against the "over branding" by school caterers prevalent in some schools and argued that there should be no "active marketing" of foods high in fat and sugar, such as crisps and sweets (Scottish Executive, 2003b).
42. A number of other organisations are involved in campaigning against commercial marketing in schools. Clark (2004) references the recent Commons Health Select Committee report on obesity which "condemns" schemes that provide schools with sports equipment or books in exchange for coupons from crisp packets or chocolate bars. In 2003, the NUT passed a resolution to campaign against commercial activities in schools (including producing guidance for teachers on how far to engage commercial companies) and has since focused its efforts on examining the advertising of foods high in fat, sugar and salt (Clark, 2004).
43. In light of the review it commissioned of research on food promotion to children (Hastings et al., 2003), the Food Standards Agency believes that children are particularly susceptible to messages that promote high fat, sugar and salt foods and has agreed a set of recommendations to improve the way that food choices are promoted to them. Atherton and Wells (1999) believe that parents should be "key partners" in any debate about the extent of business involvement in schools. They report that a recent survey of parents showed that the majority assumed there was some external control over this and, on finding this was often left to the discretion of the school, thought it very important that some form of external control was imposed in order to "protect the welfare of children" (Atherton and Wells, 1999).
Concluding comments
44. This small-scale review of the literature on commercial activities in school cannot be considered exhaustive. Nevertheless, it does present a flavour of the most influential themes and issues arising from the literature. What is immediately apparent is that commercialism in schools appears to be on the increase. Within this, there are clearly significant benefits for the institutions involved, i.e. schools and businesses, whilst the costs or consequences tend to be borne more by individuals, i.e. pupils, parents and teachers. This is perhaps not surprising given that, in business terms, it would be considered important that any form of investment bring in some return. Equally, within the pressurised environment (in terms of time and budgets) in which schools currently operate, additional activity would need to benefit the school at very little cost.
45. The literature has also stressed the importance of weighing up the implications of involvement carefully and the need for clear policies and guidance so that the interests of children are put before those of commercial organisations. As the Consumers Union report points out, businesses and schools need to work in partnership "to preserve the integrity and effectiveness of our educational system" (Consumers Union, 1998).
46. Finally, as the review shows, several sources have highlighted budget constraints as a major reason for schools becoming more involved with commercial organisations, particularly in the US. A number have offered the view that more public funding of education is required in order to avoid schools' over-reliance on commercialism with the concomitant costs that have been outlined here. As a result of research conducted in the US, the Consumers Union (1998) goes so far as to state that it believes the current debate over the suitability of commercial activities in schools would not even exist "if schools weren't chronically under funded and forced to accept help from companies willing to give it".
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