‘Parent Pay’ - Why we’re adjusting the rules for schools taking parental contributions.

Murray Morrison, Tassomai Founder and CEO

From time to time, we are asked by schools to allow them to set up students for a trial while the school offer the product to parents to buy via parent pay; at the end of the process, the school then informs us which students are not proceeding, and ask us to remove those accounts while invoicing for those students who are continuing.

From this academic year, Tassomai will not be supporting this model. Here’s why:

This approach has a negative impact on school implementation.

Tassomai is a powerful, impactful learning tool that should be implemented and run with intent and strategy behind it. An implementation model that means only a handful of students in different classes can access the tool undermines effective teaching and learning strategies that Tassomai is built to support.

This model goes against our values and, we believe, the values of education.

Tassomai is an empowering tool - giving students the opportunity, through sustained, personalised, self-directed practice, to raise their standards of knowledge recall and understanding. We have gathered compelling evidence that regular use of Tassomai has an impact on attainment for all students, and that this effect is greater for lower prior attainers. Making this product available only to those whose parents can afford to do so risks counteracting the program’s promise to close the attainment gap, instead helping only those students who already have an advantage.

Tassomai is already a good investment for any school. 

With a full school implementation, it costs less than £5 per student for the year and supports not only their acquisition and embedding of knowledge in 3 core subjects, but develops routines around disciplined learning habits. We are confident - especially in a time that demands blended learning solutions - that Tassomai represents an excellent investment of a school’s resources. 

“But what if taking parent contributions is the only way our school can afford Tassomai?”

We are sympathetic to schools’ budget concerns and understand that they are under pressure to reduce cost. However, we know that schools that invest fully in Tassomai see the enormous value of the product.

The school must therefore decide from the outset to commit to using the program as per their edtech strategy and underwrite the cost; not to allow their ability to collect funds from parents dictate the manner in which they engage with a tech platform for learning. If schools wish to seek some contribution from parents in arrears, they can do so, but we will not remove accounts from students after the fact on the basis of that parent contribution.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support. If you wish to discuss this with a member of the team please email admin@tassomai.com.