Before a recent governors’ meeting, Gayle, the headteacher, grabbed me and took me down to key stage 1 to show me one of the classrooms. Currently, two spaces separated by a partial wall, her plan is to close it off completely and turn one half into a nurture space. This new space would need a new doorway punched through a structural wall, which would require the addition of a steel. Any building work is expensive, and governors would be involved in decisions, but as I listened, I came to understand that this was not about budgets, or construction, or logistics. This was about vision. A vision to ensure teachers are able to provide the very best life chances and outcomes for all children, from the highest attaining to those who struggle the most at school.
The primary purpose of those who work in EdTech is to support this vision. To improve the lives of teachers by developing tools that minimise friction, improve efficiency, reduce workload. That make their lives easier so they can spend more time doing what they are employed to: teaching children. It is a social responsibility we should accept when we take taxpayers’ money to provide a service for schools; and to sharpen our focus we should always endeavour to see ourselves through the school’s lens. To fulfil this responsibility, we need to consider three critical factors from the customer’s perspective.
Product
Obviously, it starts with a good product. It needs to be intuitive, efficient, productive. Software needs to do the job it’s advertised to do, and we should not promise what we can’t deliver. It needs to make a teacher’s life easier – teachers are time poor; they do not have time to fight with bad software. We must always bear in mind that every minute spent using our product is a minute taken away from other tasks. That minute should, therefore, be seen as a time-saving investment, which will have a positive impact on the children in the school. Software has to be easily accessible and there when users need it; it should be updated regularly and fixed immediately when it goes wrong. Be honest: if you were in a classroom or running a school, would you want to use your product?
Price
Money is always tight in schools, and that is probably more true now than ever. Whilst cost is always an important consideration, people are willing to pay for a good product if it gives them time back. How much is a teacher’s evening worth? Having said that, the price needs to be fair and we in EdTech need to face up to the fact that if we want to make vast sums, we’re probably in the wrong business. The cost of the product should also be transparent – nobody enjoys trying to penetrate the arcane rules of rail ticket pricing. Insight, for example, costs £4.50 per pupil per year with no minimum fee (a school of 10 children will pay £45 a year) and there are no extra charges for onboarding, data processing, customisation, training or ongoing support. And we do not ration the amount of support a school can receive because we do not believe that’s the right thing to do. On the subject of which…
Support
Now we’re getting to the really important bit. To succeed you need to know your market and this means understanding that a school is not a business; it is a complex network of human relationships. Every adult piece of this network – senior leaders, teachers, support staff, and parents – are all working together towards a common goal: to help children grow, learn, and thrive in a safe and nurturing environment. Teachers are not in the job for the money; they are in it because they want to teach. They are overworked and underpaid, and yet they manage to go above and beyond every single day. They continually respond in an instant to support their colleagues and meet the needs of pupils, and every issue must be dealt with as it arises. Imagine then the frustration of contacting a company whose service you subscribe to – who you expect to be there when you need them – and for your call or email to go unanswered. We in EdTech are an extension of that complex network; we therefore have a duty to go above and beyond in our provision of support to the users of our products. It is not just a basic user requirement, it is also a social investment. And remember: no matter how hard you think it is providing a service for schools, it is never as hard as working in one.
When I think about schools, of course I think about budgets – as a chair of governors it’s unavoidable – but I also think about the progress children make, the amazing work they produce, and their extraordinary achievements. I think about pre-school children bumping into each other in those little red bubble cars, and pupils heading home with dirt on their knees and paint on their sleeves after another enriching day in the outdoor and indoor classrooms (yes, I’m a primary school governor). And I think about Gayle figuring out how to put a doorway through a wall so we can provide the very best support for those that need it most.
A school is the hub on which a community turns, and we in EdTech can reduce the friction to make it spin a little smoother. If a piece of software isn’t doing this – if it’s adding grit to the bearings – then the school should look for a better solution. There are plenty of great products on the market. No one needs to put up with bad systems, opaque pricing, and poor support any more.
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