Handling complaints in the educational sector can be difficult.
Schools and universities already have enough to do without the increased and unwanted workload of going through complaints lodged by students, parents and the general public.
However, handling complaints well can actually be hugely beneficial and important in the education sector. It helps to improve your reputation, increase student and staff satisfaction, increase enrolments, and identify areas for improvement.
In this blog, we’re sharing some of the main challenges of complaints handling in the education sector.
Centralisation
For large schools and universities, coordinating complaints across different departments and faculties can be a challenge. There are so many people involved, and it can be easy for complaints to get lost along the way. This is why you need a complaints management strategy that can centralise all your complaints in one place.
With Complaints Pro®, you can centralise your complaints in one dashboard. It can give you the answers to common questions like:
- Which departments have the most complaints?
- Which courses receive most enquiries?
- Which staff have received compliments?
- What does the complaint trend look like year on year by school and department?
- How many complaints are being resolved within the timeframes set by our policy and which departments, schools and staff are not meeting the timeframes?
Meeting Requirements
In the education sector, having an effective complaints management system isn’t just a good idea. It’s actually a requirement. In Australia, there are numerous clauses in both the National Regulations and National Law outlining schools’ responsibilities in the area of complaint management.
This includes the obligations to:
- Have policies and procedures in place for dealing with complaints
- Take responsible steps to ensure this is followed
- Keep them available and readily accessible to staff and for inspection
- Display the name and contact number of who the complaint can be directed to
- Notify the regulatory authority of complaints in regard to serious incidents and breaches of the National Law
Meeting these requirements can be quite a challenge if you don’t have a solid system in place to handle complaints.
Protecting Reputation
In the education sector, another challenge of complaint handling is protecting your reputation. When schools or universities receive complaints, this can have a detrimental effect on their public image and discourage other students from enrolling in their courses. If this complaint is poorly handled, then it can do further damage to the reputation.
Ensuring that you have a clear complaints process and are easy to contact is key. Make sure that when you do receive complaints, you respond in an efficient and timely manner and find a way to resolve the issue. Then your complainants will walk away satisfied.
Need a better way to handle complaints?
If you’re looking for an easier way to track, manage and resolve complaints, then take a look at our software.
At Causia®, our Education Industry Packs help you to transform the student experience through continuous improvement. It allows you to link schools, departments and staff to complaints, enquiries and compliments.
Complaints Pro® provides a quick, cost-effective, centralised workflow for the best practice management of complaints.
Book a demo or talk to our expert team today to streamline your approach.
