We’ve been privileged to speak with even more edtech and industry thought leaders this term, and the insight they provide us and our community is invaluable.

So thank you Tony Lockwood for talking to us about how companies can improve the performance of their products and develop new solutions.

Thanks to Duncan Baldwin for giving us an insight into teaching, his time at Capita SIMS, influencing government as Deputy Policy Director at ASCL and his current Headship.

We were delighted to welcome Winston Poyton back for a follow-up chat on IRIS Education, especially given how much has changed in the world of school management systems in the last 12 months alone.

It’s great to speak with colleagues from MIS support teams as it gives such a unique and insightful view of the landscape, so thank you Keren Wild for getting involved and giving us your perspective.

Sue Macgregor talked to us about Alps Education’s focus on providing the right analytical tools to schools so they have the power to help every student achieve their full potential, thank you!

And finally, thank you to Ian Koxvold of Supporting Education for talking to us about changes across the education sector, what the future might hold in terms of new solutions, and new strategies.

Sarah and I have thoroughly enjoyed making the series, and already have some great sessions ready to go in the new term with industry thought leaders Andy Kent and Jonathan Coyles – watch this space!

Have a great Christmas and see you in 2022!

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In case you missed it, here’s a round-up of all our thought leader Q&A sessions from last term.

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Our next fireside chat is with Schools ICT Service Manager and all-round MIS expert, Keren Wild.

Schools ICT is a fully traded service of NYCC working through North Yorkshire Education Services (NYES), which means they work with all types of organisations and education settings across the UK, not just in North Yorkshire.

We’ve known Keren for many years, and it’s great to speak with colleagues from MIS support teams as it gives such a unique and insightful view of the landscape. In this Q&A, we chat about a wide range of topics including:

• The North Yorks framework and how this has given choice to the schools
• The value that Support Teams offer to Edtech companies; how support teams protect their schools and take away the pain of IT
• How technology has encouraged primary schools to make different choices, especially with the added pressure of Covid closures
• How Support Teams will evolve in the future to include wider services, multi-MIS, more competition, and becoming being a partner to MATs
• Academisation and its role in moving Primary schools to cloud-based solutions
• The role of Senior leaders in the decision change MIS, and how this can be a challenge
• How well schools’ understand data and what an MIS can do for them
• Anytime, anywhere access to MIS and how this has become even more important since Covid
• How secondary schools feel about cloud MIS options
• Usability and change, and what challenger MIS could do to make their solutions slicker
• The difference between ‘one-stop shop’ and ‘best of breed’ solutions
• The opportunities for Edtech to partner with support providers as they have insights and connections which will give Edtech companies insights to the customer

We’re almost the end of term in what has been another weird year. We spent the first 3 months in lockdown so lost all face-to-face contact again (the fact we didn’t start the year by attending the Bett show was a novelty in itself!) so we’ve been continuing to catch up with people by video and share the recordings with you all – I really appreciate your positive responses!

As humans we all want to deal with other humans; it’s so important to have a real face and a real person behind your solutions. It’s been great to have so many people involved in our ‘fireside chats’ to talk education, management and innovation.

So thank you Martin Hall and Stephen Bilboe for giving us an insight into the MIS market which has continued to see big changes in 2021.

Thanks to Will Jordan and Luke Pargeter for talking to us about the things you do alongside the MIS solutions and the ways in which you help schools.

The insight Rowena Hackwood and Jeff Marshall provided into how MATs and academies work has been invaluable, both for edtech suppliers and education professionals alike, so thank you for this.

And finally thank you Phil Neal, Mark House, Andre Skepple and Priya Lakhani for your views and ideas on what might happen next and the big trends in edtech.

Sarah and I have thoroughly enjoyed making the series, and already have some great sessions ready to go in the new term with industry thought leaders Duncan Baldwin, Keren Wild and Tony Lockwood – watch this space!

In case you missed it, here’s a round-up of all our thought leader Q&A sessions from 2020.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and get notified when new videos go live