To market, to market - An historic account of how schools have marketed themselves over the past 150 years

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya

Historical analysis of how fee-charging Victorian schools promoted themselves to parents over the past 150 years through advertisements, brochures, and prospectuses. The study contrasts nineteenth-century selling points with those emphasized in contemporary marketing, noting continuity in claims such as examination success while identifying shifts toward different advertised attributes. It discusses how changing media and broader marketing definitions reframed schools as service providers offering intangible products, and why such promotional promises pose inherent challenges.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Marketing language and shifting definitions

Limits and challenges of educational promises

Schooling in the nineteenth century

Victorian education growth and competition

Secondary education as the most lucrative market

To market, to market: An historic account of how schools have marketed themselves over the past 150 years Carole Hooper􀁧 Centre for the Study of Higher Education The University of Melbourne This article provides an historical account of how fee-charging Victorian schools have marketed themselves over the past 150 years (via the use of advertisements, brochures, and prospectuses) in order to promote those aspects of schooling believed to be of most importance to potential customers (parents) . While some of the features – most notably the success of pupils at examinations held at the completion of schooling – have always been emphasised in promotional material, others deemed worthy of attention in the nineteenth century, have now been replaced by quite different features in contemporary advertisements. Introduction Today the words „market‟ and „marketing‟ are ubiquitous. Once „markets‟ were places where goods were bought and sold, while „marketing‟ referred to „the action or business of buying and selling‟.1 But over the past few decades the meanings have expanded somewhat, so that now far greater emphasis is placed upon first identifying, and then satisfying, the needs of the recipients of the exchange. Hence the American Marketing Association defines marketing as, „the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.‟2 􀁧 Address for correspondence: Dr. Carole Hooper, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010. Email: [c.hooper@unimelb.edu.au](c.hooper@unimelb.edu.au). Increasingly, schools both overseas and in Australia have adopted more market-oriented approaches, designed to encourage potential customers to purchase their services. Yet, while contemporary marketing language and some of the means of communication may be new, schools have always promoted themselves. Although in mid-nineteenth century England, mistresses of girls‟ schools with claims to selectiveness dared not advertise, as this was „considered ungenteel and was in effect a confession of failure‟, such reticence certainly belongs to the past.3 The following discussion provides an account of how fee-charging Victorian schools (especially those offering a „higher‟, or secondary, education) have engaged in marketing practices during the past 150 years. In particular, the specific features considered worthy of promotion in the mid-to-late nineteenth century are compared to those emphasised in more recent times. While today schools have access to a wider variety of media, especially greater opportunities for visual representation, newspaper and journal advertisements, together with printed prospectuses and brochures (including those available on-line), remain the most commonly used methods of promotion.4 These advertisements and brochures serve as a form of „promise in advance‟ and seek „to reflect in some way, the fantasies and aspirations of their target markets‟.5 Such promises are problematic, for schools as service-providers are offering intangible products that cannot be physically possessed, tested in advance, or have outcomes that can be predicted with any certainty.6 No attempt will be made to evaluate the success or otherwise of the market-oriented approaches adopted, or to ascertain whether the claims of marketers can indeed be sustained, rather the intention is to identify what aspects/attributes/characteristics of schools were emphasised in different periods and how these are represented. Presumably the features highlighted in a school‟s promotional material are those deemed desirable by the customers (parents) seeking their services. Schooling in the nineteenth century In the mid-nineteenth century, the newly-established colony of Victoria faced a rapid growth in population (from both immigration and natural increase), which placed increasing strain on a n

FAQs

What promotional materials do the schools use over the period studied?

The discussion focuses on advertisements, brochures, and prospectuses used to promote schooling to prospective parents over the past 150 years.

Which school feature has been emphasized for a long time in marketing materials?

Success of pupils at examinations held at the completion of schooling is described as a feature that has always been emphasized.

Why are schools’ marketing promises considered problematic?

Schools provide intangible products that cannot be physically possessed or tested in advance, and outcomes cannot be predicted with certainty.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya