Schools today are facing significant challenges; increasing budget pressures, rising parental and student expectations, and increasing competition to retain the best teachers have all meant that school leaders are having to find more innovative ways of achieving their vision - providing extraordinary learning opportunities for their students, within ever increasing financial constraints.
Against this backdrop, technology would appear to offer a solution and there is a strong temptation to go for the cheapest, (or even free) options that are available. This can seem very attractive initially as it entails no juggling of finances, or reorganisation of existing processes. In this way it should be possible to get something in place very quickly with a minimum of fuss and outlay. Unfortunately, the reality is that many schools are then being held back by the limitations of some of these traditional edtech solutions. Schools find that their new IT innovation is rigid in its approach, delivering a fragmented, one-size-fits-all model. Teachers end up working in siloed environments and there is a significant risk of data exposure.
Before schools know it, they have found themselves with a product that requires a member of staff dedicated to full time maintenance and support, that teachers and students no longer use because of the additional burden and complexity it represents, that most parents barely know exists and that the school leadership no longer go anywhere near because the information in it is too difficult to access. Good job it was free right?
As a result, more and more school leaders are turning towards a new class of edtech platform, one designed to meet the needs of schools and power the modern learning experience.
Purpose built for schools
These platforms have the learning experience at the core of their DNA. Purpose built for schools rather than retrofitted from existing solutions, they understand and support the inherently complex, fluid and chaotic nature of modern learning. They recognise the importance of partnership, working together as the anchor of a school’s core systems to provide schools with a single central hub rather than dozens of disconnected tools. This ensures that schools get the maximum benefit of all of the platforms they are using as well as allowing them to identify and get rid of those tools and processes that are no longer required.
Fits your unique culture
Every school is different and needs a tool that fits their unique culture and identity. Teachers and students want something that works for them, rather than something they must learn to accommodate. An intuitive, simple to use platform will ensure that everyone, from teachers and students, to parents and school leaders, is able to benefit. Teachers have the freedom to guide and continuously adapt the learning journey, students can concentrate on achieving their personal best and parents are better able to support their children. Less time is wasted on administrative, non-teaching activities, and everyone can go back to focussing on achieving the best outcomes, rather than following processes.
Drives whole community engagement
Of course a school is far more than just a series of classrooms, it is a community of people working together. The more effectively this community is able to engage with each other, the better the outcomes for everyone. Traditionally, this can be quite a burdensome process, with significant costs in both time and money. However, modern learning solutions reduce the complexity and time required with curated and personalised communication for the entire school community. They achieve this by delivering a combination of complete observability of the learning experience, along with ongoing dialogues between everyone involved. In this way schools are able to transcend the traditional classroom boundaries to embrace the entire learning experience, whilst saving both time and money.
Insights driven excellence
Finally, schools want to understand what’s working well with their students. Modern learning experience platforms understand the importance of insights-driven excellence - capturing the learning journey: every class, every term, every year to enlighten leaders with whole-school visibility over time. Schools can identify and share best practice across the staffroom, helping teachers to learn from the successes of their colleagues. Ultimately, these platforms make it easier to foster teacher to teacher collaboration, enabling differentiated learning and helping each child get better every day, without adding complexity or burden for their teachers.
Those schools that have made the strategic shift away from traditional edtech are setting a new standard of excellence by liberating teachers to help every student reach their full potential. These teachers are able to adopt new innovative practices for greater impact in the classroom, working smarter, not harder. The schools have become more inclusive, engaging everyone involved in the learning process. As a result they are experiencing better outcomes for students, teachers, parents and school leaders alike, with a dynamic, engagement-centric, modern learning experience, open to the entire school community.
This can all be made possible through Firefly Essentials. Working with schools like yours we have developed a new platform which takes all the power of Firefly and combines it with an affordable price. For less than you would spend on planners, you can give your whole school community the modern learning experience. If you want to find out more please do get in touch.
