After joining the team in 2020, it’s Frazer’s job to help all our education customers make the most of their technology, by delivering outstanding, education-focused training. This starts from the moment they switch it on and continues with training and support into the long term. We catch up with him to find out more…

What is your role at Elementary Technology and what was your journey to Training Manager?
I’ve always worked in education, it’s something that I’m passionate about. At the start of my career, I started up and managed a nursery, then moved into teaching. From there, I transitioned into EdTech consulting before finding that my strength was mixing my tech knowledge with my teaching skills. I have taught everything from first aid to the army, and now I teach for Elementary Technology – which is great!

What’s your favourite part about the job?
By far, my favourite part of the job is spending time with teachers and helping them get the most out of their tech. I enjoy spending time with teachers to understand the challenges they face and then providing them with the information they need to be more confident in using the tech and ultimately, their teaching. There is nothing better than seeing teachers excited to try new things out at the end of session, and hearing they’ve seen real results with their pupils

What do you find most challenging about your role?
When speaking to schools and delivering a training session, my biggest challenge is helping teachers overcome their initial barriers with technology if they don’t see the value in it. The good news is they usually quickly understand the benefits and embrace it.
Current school children are the next non angry white male tech billionaires from California, so we need to make sure we’re giving them the best so that they can achieve their full potential.

How do you help schools with their EdTech?
It’s my job to look at what technology a school is using, its value in education and how it can help a teacher. I remove all the technical jargon and strip it down to how the tech available to a school, can be best used to improve the education of its pupils. Pedagogy always comes first!
I’m also here to help ICT departments in terms of setup and management, as well as MATs, school clusters and LAs to manage CPD of their staff at a top level.

What’s your favourite piece of EdTech?
It has to be SMART Notebook software. If, as a teacher you’re using a SMART device then it’s something that you need to know about and be using. SMART Notebook is easy to use for teachers, and helps make their lives easier with areas such as marking and planning. It also delivers engaging lesson content for pupils – it’s a win-win!
If you could give one piece of advice to a teacher using EdTech for the first time, what would it be?
Dedicate some time to training. You may not think you’ve got time right now but if you do the training it will make you more efficient in its use and will actually save you time. In addition, tech is designed to help you teach. The more we can understand it the more help it can offer us.

Outside of work, what are your hobbies?
I enjoy competing and to challenge myself so do CrossFit. I’m also a keen surfer and spend a lot of my spare time travelling around Cornwall and Devon in my VW Campervan with my mini surfer sidekick, my daughter Syd.