The Benefits of Two-Way Radios in Schools and Colleges

Released On 6th Mar 2023

Educational institutions prioritise student safety and efficient campus management, requiring swift and reliable communication, often over a wide area or multiple sites, among various stakeholders including teaching and support staff, governing bodies, and volunteers. 

Find out why a robust two-way radio system is best to achieve your communication goals in schools, colleges and university campuses. We explain why licensed radios make more sense than licence-free radios (walkie-talkies), and why mobile phones might not meet a school or college’s needs.

If you're ready to shop, we've dedicated a section to walkie-talkies that are suitable for education settings.

Situations that require rapid communication

From the smallest pre-school setting to the largest university campus, there are a number of situations where rapid communication is required. Many involve the prevention of safety- or security-related incidents, or assisting with a situation effectively if it happens.

• Access control - alert staff to a stranger or intruder on the premises
• Deal with spills, slip and trip hazards
• Call for assistance with illness or injury
• Respond to bullying or anti-social behaviour
• Immediate response to unexpected incidents
  • Floods
  • Natural disasters
  • Vandalism or arson
• Coordination of campus activities or field trips
• Easier assistance and communication for special educational needs 
• Management of support and maintenance staff

The benefits of licensed two-way radios 

Licensed radios are a resilient, easy-to-operate communication system with a number of advantages:

Reduced response times: There’s no dial-up time, or waiting for the recipient to answer. Simply push a single button and transmit your message instantly.

One-to-one, or one-to-many calling: Messages can be transmitted to one person, to a specific group of users, or to everyone simultaneously. We can help you programme your radios to suit your needs.

Reliable coverage: Licensed radios provide reliable coverage over a wide site, or multiple sites, including indoor or outdoor transmission, built-up areas and challenging terrain. 

Advanced features: They benefit from more advanced features, either built-in or programmable, which can improve safety and security at your school, college or university campus. For example: 

• Lone Worker, for monitoring staff that may be on-site outside normal hours or during school holidays, and raising an alarm in an emergency.
• Function keys that can be programmed to trigger an emergency alert to all radio users.
• Some licensed radios can be integrated into the school’s alarm system to assist with lockdown or evacuation procedures.
• Voice and data messages.
• GPS locating systems.

Robust and durable: The majority of two-way radios are built to withstand harsh environments, and can easily endure the occasional knock, drop or splash with water. Compare this to the relative fragility of a mobile phone!

Privacy: Users of licensed radios have their own, dedicated channels. Communications that may contain sensitive information about students are encrypted and secure, with no danger of unauthorised “eavesdroppers”. This is particularly important to ensure that child safeguarding policies and Data Protection regulations are complied with.

Mixed-mode operation: On large sites, it’s possible there may be a mixture of analogue and digital radios. Most licensed two-way radios can operate in either mode without having to change channel. This means you can migrate gradually from an analogue system to a digital one, as budgets permit, so you don’t need to purchase a complete system outright.

A scalable system: A radio system can be easily expanded to include other handsets as your needs change.

Why licence-free “walkie-talkies” are an inferior solution

For most of the reasons we recommended licensed two-way radios in a professional situation, you can more-or-less say the opposite about licence-free radios (also called walkie-talkies, or PMR446 radios because of the channel they operate on – learn more here).

Group calls and privacy issues: As a rule, you can’t set-up group calls on licence-free radios, although it hardly matters, because anyone can listen in! If someone is within range, your transmissions on a licence-free radio are not private. There are two obvious drawbacks here:

1.  Group programming enables users to only disturb the people who need to know something (for example, teaching staff don’t need to know there’s been a spillage in the corridor, but maintenance staff do!).
2.  More importantly, unencrypted transmissions pose a potential threat to child safeguarding.

Lower power means limited range: Licence-free radios are generally low-powered and have more limited coverage than their licensed counterparts. If your school or college campus is in a built-up area, over multiple sites or in difficult terrain, they will struggle to cope.

Basic functionality: Walkie-talkies are fairly basic and tend not to have too much extra functionality. They can’t compare with the safety features that you’ll benefit from with licensed radios, and they won’t offer mixed mode operation for analogue and digital handsets.

Why radios are a better solution than mobile phones

Everyone has a mobile phone, and most people keep them close by, so why aren’t they a good communication solution in an educational setting?

No group calling: Phone calls via the 4G or 5G networks only permit one-to-one calls, which isn’t very helpful in an emergency situation. 

Push-to-talk over cellular (POC) devices are growing in popularity, however. An app, downloaded to your smartphone, gives it some of the functionality of a two-way radio, for example, group calls (learn more about POC radios and our Connect Plus app).

Delays: Dialling from phone to phone involves looking up a person’s phone number, dialling it, and then waiting for the person you’re calling to pick up. It’s not an instant connection like two-way radios. Precious seconds are lost, and in an emergency, every second counts.

Coverage issues: Not everyone is on the same mobile phone network, and not every network has good coverage in all locations. How can you guarantee that everyone will receive important or urgent messages and calls?

Call credit required: Mobile phone data and network charges must be monitored carefully to be sure all staff have adequate credit to make or receive calls, whereas licensed two-way radios ensure unlimited transmission time (subject to battery life, of course).

Recommended radios for schools and colleges

Our shop dedicates a whole sector for recommended walkie-talkies for schools and colleges, but here are are few worthy models that ought to get a special mention:

Motorola SL1600 Mototrbo

• Ultra-thin and lightweight profile (smaller than a smartphone) for easy portability
• Shatterproof LED display
• Very robust; water and dust-resistant
• Safety features such as Emergency button and Lone Worker mode

Hytera BD505 DMR digital radio  

• Cost-effective
• Small and compact
• Noise-cancelling technology
• Switch between analogue and digital modes

Hytera PD365LF radio

• Licence-free (if you really don't want or need the benefits that come with licensed radios)
• Small and lightweight
• High quality digital audio

Please get in touch for free and friendly advice.

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