Education Perfect under the spotlight

Education Perfect (EP) was built off the back of sitting in classrooms to understand the ways secondary school teachers teach and their students learn. EP offers a digital teaching and learning toolkit that seeks to address the needs of teachers, school leaders, students and parents. Students are the focal point, with school leaders, teachers and parents provided with tools and information to support their improved learning outcomes.

Key Statistic
1 million+ active users
2000 + schools in Australia (CAGR of 50 percent over past 3 years)
500+ schools in NZ (CAGR of 50 percent over past 3 years)
NPS score of 67 in Australia

Alex Burke, Chief Executive Officer of Education Perfect was interviewed as part of The Australian EdTech Market Census 2020 report.

Key success stories and tipping points
Key challenges
Impact of COVID-19
Funding
Looking to the future
Key learnings

Key success stories and tipping points

EP has had a number of success stories but a key tipping point was when it started employing teachers to provide more specific feedback on products and development. This was a critical moment that enabled it to bridge the gap between what EP was observing and how this translated into changes on the platform and within the content. It was when EP started consistently receiving very positive feedback from both teachers and students that the company knew it was starting to achieve the right product and market fit. But, as highlighted in EP’s key learnings, it continued to improve and optimise based on user feedback. Doing so ultimately helped with EP’s credibility when selling its product to schools.

Key challenges

As a comprehensive digital teaching and learning toolkit with a broad content library, EP found that explaining the product, communicating its value and encouraging teachers to use it to its full potential can be challenging. To respond to this, EP invested in great in-platform user support (average response time is seven minutes) as well as professional development for teachers. This reflects the move from in-person to remote professional development.

Impact of COVID-19

EP has seen an increase in its profile during COVID-19. The organisation views now as a time of change and an opportunity to challenge thinking in education. However, like many other EdTech organisations have experienced and observed, the shift to digital delivery has highlighted issues in equitable access to technology. EP endeavours to alleviate this issue through its ‘EP for All’ initiative, which introduces pricing subsidies across schools and students that are disadvantaged.

Funding

EP has received trade grants from the New Zealand Government related to exports and technology research and development, and participated in government procurements.

EP has been a profitable business that has reinvested income to drive growth initiatives. In part, this is due to EP’s pricing, which reflects the value proposition of its products. CEO, Alex Burke, noted that some in the industry believe it to be a race to the bottom pricewise, something which he views as unsustainable and a detractor to the EdTech industry as a whole.

Looking to the future

In the future, EP is looking to deepen its presence in Australia and New Zealand, with an eye to further expand internationally. EP is hoping to draw in more primary schools domestically to shift customers onto its suite of products to maximise the benefits that EP can bring. Internationally, EP is targeting expansion into 100 countries (from 58 today) across international and charter schools. To do so, the company envisions a global product that is aligned to standards such as the International General Certificate of Secondary Education and the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme, providing a closer product fit for international customers.

Key learnings

EP’s advice reflects its experience as a larger, more mature EdTech provider. A critical point raised was to be user first and to obsess over the user experience. As Mr Burke states: “If you’re continually staying connected to your users, listening, validating solutions and seeking ongoing feedback, you can never stray too far wrong”. This mantra has been the bedrock of EP’s growth.

EP also attributes its growth to its mindset of continuous improvement. Product development and operational excellence sit on the spectrum of completeness, where there is always room to improve and innovate. Finally, building a culture of excellence is critical. Team members must feel like they are supported and valued in their work, and from a user point of view, the solution simply has to work.

EduGrowth Deloitte Census 2020 Report

How has COVID-19 impacted the EdTech industry?
The Australian EdTech Market Census COVID-19 update
EduGrowth & Deloitte, 2021