Context
When researching the needs of larger providers, we found they struggled to maintain an accurate list of schools in Publish, with some providers having to manage over 500 schools on their account.
Pain points
They found managing their schools challenging because they:
- need to paginate to check if a school exists, which is time consuming
- must click a school to remove the school from their account
- cannot remove a school if it has courses attached
- cannot see what courses are attached to a school
User need
Providers need a way to easily check if a school is in their account, see what courses are attached, and remove schools from their account, so they can accurately communicate to candidates what schools they partner with, and where in England they can offer teacher training.
What we did
Finding schools
We improved how providers could view their list of schools and find a school in the list by:
- removing URN and school codes
- adding school addresses to identify schools
- adding ability to search for a school in the list
- moving guidance to the bottom of the page
Viewing courses attached to schools
We improved how providers could see what courses are attached to schools by:
- adding a column displaying the number of courses attached to each school in the list
- listing the courses attached to a school when the provider clicks on a school
Updating courses attached to schools
To improve how providers could update what courses are attached to schools, we originally tested a design where providers could detach courses one-by-one on the school’s page.
When we tested this with providers, we found they wanted:
- the ability to attach courses as well
- to attach and detach multiple courses at a time
So, we iterated on the designs, and we improved how providers could update what courses are attached to schools by:
- adding the ability to attach and detach multiple courses to a school at a time
Removing schools
We improved how providers could remove schools from their account by:
- adding remove links on the schools landing page
- enabling providers to remove schools that have courses attached
User testing
We tested the designs with 7 providers in July 2026, and it tested well. The designs supported providers’ real-life workflows.
Finding schools
All participants responded positively to having the school addresses or even just the postcode, as it helped tell the difference between schools with similar names.
They didn’t mention the absence of URN or school code, which indicated they don’t need this information to identify schools.
All participants responded positively to being able to search for a school in the list. They described the search bar as "helpful" and "easy" to use, and that it would reduce the amount of time spent scrolling through multiple pages.
2 participants suggested adding the ability to filter by education phase.
2 participants suggested moving the guidance on attaching schools to courses to the top of the page, and 1 participant missed the guidance.
Viewing courses attached to schools
All participants responded positively to seeing the number of courses attached to schools in the list of schools, as well as the courses themselves when they clicked on a school.
Updating courses attached to schools
As mentioned above, when testing the original design for detaching courses from schools we found they wanted the ability to attach courses as well, and wanted to attach and detach multiple courses at a time.
When we iterated on the design to allow the ability to attach and detach multiple courses attached to a school at a time, participants responded positively, indicating it would save time.
Participants generally understood the terminology ‘attach’ and ‘detach’ in relation to updating the courses attached to schools, although some would use the word ‘remove’ in their organisation.
Removing schools
All participants responded positively to being able to remove a school from the list of school's page, and to be able to remove a school when courses are attached.
Seeing the list courses attached to a school before removing the school gave them confidence they are making the correct change, and they understood the implications of removing a school.
Next steps
We will be building these changes into the service, except for adding the ability to attach and detach courses from schools. This is due to time constraints and the team’s capacity, but we think it would be useful for providers if this was implemented in the future.