“The customer should feel valued” – this phrase is repeated like a mantra by everyone, from small coffee shops to technology giants. But in the education sector, most players still understand customer service as small classes, decent food for children, and teachers who agree with everything for children and parents.
The specifics of educational projects as a business is that the company deals with two types of clients or stakeholders – children and parents. And then there are the teachers, who, although not clients, are the most critical participants in the ecosystem and must feel valued. Otherwise, the institution will not have the quality atmosphere necessary for success. This article explains what customer service is in education and why customer service in most education institutions does not work.
Customer service in education for parents
Parents vote with their money. The cost of education can range from a few thousand dollars per month to hundreds of thousands. Therefore, the trouble of many educational institutions is that parents feel entitled to demand from the educational institution and digital learning platforms not only quality knowledge for children but also unjustified leniency of teachers to children’s antics and unwillingness to try.
This is not customer service when a student can break discipline with impunity and communicate with a teacher disrespectfully.
Source: Freepik
There are 3 basics of customer service for parents in education:
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Mutual respect
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Openness and transparency
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Encouragement and acceptance of parent initiatives
Children and parents respect teachers, and teachers respect children and parents. Rudeness, neglect, and judging people by the amount of money are absolutely out of the question. If the family or staff does not share the ccc and the people there, then it is better not to waste time and refer to other institutions.
There should be regular and clear feedback on what is happening in the educational institution. Based on it, any parent should be able to contact the educational institution’s management and ask their questions. For example, you should tell parents why their class teacher would be changing.
You should explain what educational institution management is guided by, what criteria management used to evaluate his success, how management recorded what it did not like, why the teacher would stop performing his function, and who would take his place.
Also, you should tell why educational institution management thought it would be better for children. Parents will trust educational institution management more because it is honest and open with them about what is happening inside the educational institution and what methods management uses to ensure their children’s quality development.
Family and educational institutions should and can form a unified environment for the child not only in words but also in deeds. Family activities at educational institutions are a must-have. But it is not enough. It is excellent when the educational institution can formulate and implement parental initiatives concerning child development.
For example, parents can offer a tradition of holding literary balls, to which children come dressed as their favorite literary characters. This event will stimulate children’s interest in reading, and parents will feel heard and needed by the educational institution and children. And there are dozens of such initiatives, all of which form fundamental values and habits.
These are 3 basics of customer service in education. It is as necessary as personal data protection in online education. Guided by these 3 basics, you will improve customer service and make your customers happy.
Customer service in education for children
Children, just like parents, need to be heard, from domestic issues to their educational initiatives. The secret of client service in education for children is dialogue. Children should, on the one hand, feel their importance and, on the other hand, understand that there has to be reasonableness in everything.
Source: study.com
For example, you should survey the children about what kind of food they would like to receive at school. Naturally, you will get a few exotic requests like steaks and non-alcoholic mojitos, among other things. But ignore them. Then share the survey results with the children, tell them about the nutritionists’ opinions, which the educational institution follows, and promise to introduce what is supported by them and the sanitary regulations into the menu.
As a result, the kids will again feel important (because their opinions were asked, then explained why a compromise was necessary, and then figured out how to make everyone feel good).
Any child could offer a useful developmental activity. Teachers and educational institution management will think about how to make a child’s idea come true. For example, educational institution management should organize a soccer team if some children want to play soccer.
A child plays the drums and wants a school band – educational institution management should organize a school band. Kids are into standup and want to try their hand at the stage – educational institution management should run a standup course and set up a stage. A sense of humor, by the way, can and should be developed because it is based on a developed intellect!
Any initiative that helps a child learn a skill and self-actualize is useful. This is something on which it is not worth saving. This way, the correct values are formed. It is not important what iPhone your parents bought you, but what new things you could learn, what experience you got, and how you proved yourself. And these are the first steps in leadership.
Customer service in education for teachers
Even though teachers are not customers, employees must feel the benefits of customer service. Their motivation and success depend largely on whether they feel valued.
An educational institution should not sacrifice the self-respect of the teacher. The position of “we pay, so tolerate” is unacceptable. Both parents and children must know that the teacher’s authority is indisputable.
But beyond this, the teaching staff must be simply comfortable. You can choose a massage or some beauty treatments from the various possible perks for teachers. Massage helps to relax, re-energize, and unload the body, and the opportunity to get a manicure and pedicure at work is such a vibrant cherry on the cake. Most of the teaching staff are ladies. They will be pleased that you care about their beauty.
Conclusion
Of course, customer service for educational institutions cannot be built according to one template. The specifics of each educational institution, its values, and its mission must be considered. But the presence of well-thought-out customer service balances and brings all participants of the educational ecosystem very well, giving the necessary co-development. That is why everybody wins: both educational business and clients.
