The next in our series of EdTech Thought Leader Q&A sessions is with Mark House, Product Manager at RM Education.

Mark was a teacher for over 20 years and has been working at RM as a Product Manager in the Education market now for 5 years. Our discussion includes:

• Whether education technology in the UK and globally needs to be more innovative; what’s stopping it?
• RM’s work on innovation in assessment that will save teachers time, but also take away the issue with unconscious bias.
• Any advice Mark would give on looking at new technology, and seeing how this fits with delivering an innovative solution.
• Where Mark sees the next big thing in Edtech?

Next in our series of thought leader interviews is this Q&A session with Jeff Marshall.

Through J&G Marshall Ltd, Jeff’s core business is helping schools to convert to academy status. They cover everything a school needs to become an academy: legals, project management, finance system as well as post-conversion services for accounts, HR, School Improvement, governing body training plus much more.

They also conduct MAT Growth Audits to ascertain where a Trust is, where it wants/needs to be and how to get there through step-change growth. It’s this knowledge and expertise that I wanted to tap into to understand a little bit more about the specific challenges MAT leaders face.

Some of the things we discuss include:

• What’s the background to your education experience, and what do you find so attractive about working in education?
• What’s your approach to supporting a MAT; what do you feel are the greatest pain points in the first 6 months and what conclusions have you come to regarding what is required to get it right and wrong, as the first 6 months are very important?
• What do you think is important when looking at edtech solutions across a MAT? What issues do you find?
• Do you feel that there is enough innovation in Edtech, how would you like to see this tackled?
• What do you think is missing from what Edtech companies offer, do they act like strong partners in your opinion? What could they do more of or differently?

We’ve split the interview into three parts to make it easier to digest. Enjoy!

Next in our series of edtech thought leader Q&As is this conversation with Rowena Hackwood, Chief Executive Officer at Astrea Academy Trust, a family of 29 schools across South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire with a proven track record of school improvement.

It was great to be able to get the perspective of a MAT leader as it’s something both edtech and MIS suppliers need to have at the heart of their product strategy. In this interview we talk about:

• What drives Rowena and her work in education
• Her approach to taking on a MAT, and what’s involved in the first 6 months as a new MAT CEO
• The most important factors when looking at edtech solutions across her MAT, and the biggest issues
• Innovation across the edtech sector as a whole, and what she’d like to see tackled by suppliers

We’ve split the interview into four parts to make it easier to digest. Enjoy!

Are you and your edtech partners ready for the next generation of technology?

I’m looking forward to presenting a session on this subject at the virtual GESS Dubai later this month. Not quite the same as being there in the sunshine, but I’m excited all the same!

If you look around at the world and at how industry is using technology, education is behind the curve. This has a major impact on children in preparing them for adulthood, not just regarding how they manage what technology throws at them but, more importantly, are they curious to see how technology can benefit them and the world around them.

The goal of my presentation is for leaders in schools and the education market to push suppliers to use the latest technology and drive innovation.  Look forward to seeing you there!

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GESS is a two-day EdTech-focused event for leading educators who directly influence purchasing, owners of schools or those influencers who direct school strategy and training in the EdTech sphere.  You can register to see my presentation and listen to many other great speakers here.

#GESSDubai #GESSEdtech

Over the summer, we took the opportunity to have a virtual get together with thought leader and entrepreneur Josh Perry to talk all things education.

Josh has a diverse and creative background, having worked in a large, progressive MAT himself and then going on to start numerous edtech businesses.

Really interesting views on everything from the role of MATs in an emerging tech market, his new projects (including Carousel, Smartgrade and advisory work), trends in the MIS sector, his Bring More Data blog, thoughts on forthcoming MIS mergers/acquisitions, and a great deal more!

Lots of insightful stuff was discussed so we’ve split the interview out into separate parts below – enjoy!

The next in our series of Q&As with edtech business leaders is with Barry Anns, Chief Executive Officer at Engage MIS and Group Head of International at Education Horizons Group.

Engage MIS has been widely adopted by independent and international schools in 60 countries across six continents.

In this interview, Nick talked to Barry about:

• What is important to Engage and where is your focus in the Edtech market?
• What do you think will be the impact of the sale of SIMS will be on schools and the market (including the international markets?)
• How is the international market different and how are you achieving success? Why would it be hard for UK based solutions to compete?
• If you were to predict the future, where would you see the MIS market shaping up to be in 5 years time?
• There are a large number of overlapping solutions HR/MIS/Learning tools; do you think will we ever see a consolidation of these solutions?

We’ve split it into two parts to make it easy to digest.  Enjoy!

The next in our series of Q&As with edtech business leaders is with James Weatherill, CEO of Arbor Education.

Since their inception in 2011, Arbor has established themselves in the MIS market with their cloud MIS and analytical insights.

In this interview, Nick and James discuss the driving force behind Arbor, what makes it unique, the huge role support teams play in the MIS market and predictions for the future.

We’ve split it into three parts to make it easy to digest.  Enjoy!

During lockdown, Nick took the opportunity to have a virtual get together with Phil Neal to talk all things MIS.

Really interesting views on everything from the inception of SIMS, the future of the market, the role of support teams, the big questions MAT leaders should be asking and a great deal more.

We’ve split the full interview into parts to make it a bit easier to digest – enjoy!