News from Adam

Posted on 27/03/2024 | by Ed Itor

Welcome to the latest edition of our CEO’s column News From Adam.

NEAS was well received by senior officials from the Education Department in Canberra last week. NEAS board member David Riordan and myself introduced them to the recently launched NEAS Homestay Standards. We also explained the NEAS Agent Quality Endorsement process. Both of these initiatives and the following they have attracted demonstrate the important leadership role taken by NEAS. We’re taking an active role in showing the way to quality improvement across a range of functions within our sector. Worth noting too is that these initiatives began some time ago. They weren’t reactions to passing trends. Don’t get me wrong. Responding to policy changes as they emerge is critical for us all. We’re subject to these forces and we must be responsive. What I’m saying though is that it’s important to be invested across time. And NEAS is invested. We’re looking forwards, finding insights in advance of what might be required right now. Another example is our quality standards for online English programs. Did you know these were developed before the COVID lock downs when we were all forced into online learning? The international student recruitment pipeline to Australia is suffering right now and I know budgets are tight. But playing the long game with us is important.

I am very grateful to David for his help in securing these meetings and his help had me reflecting on the value of the NEAS board. They’re a highly skilled group of individuals and by definition professional. Their number includes those elected by you as well as some from related sectors (such as David, a former TAFE Director) and others from industries and pursuits not directly related to ELT, including the important task of board sitting itself. Our model of governance gives us great strength.

Can I finish with some news that the NEAS Management Conference is nearing capacity in registrations. We’re not there yet. There are places available but our venue is smaller this year and we’ve chosen a “closer” format. It’s going to be great but only if you get in now. It will provide insight into the future and the drivers of that future. The future’s worth the investment… Right?

March 2024

News from Adam

Posted on 22/02/2024 | by Ed Itor

As the new CEO at NEAS Australia, Adam Kilburn will be sharing regular insights with us through this column News From Adam. This week brings you his second update.

One of the great things about NEAS is its international profile. With a membership that extends well beyond Australia, NEAS is a global community for those committed to improvement. I’m off overseas today to attend the CamTESOL conference in Cambodia at which NEAS is to be acknowledged for its ongoing commitment to this highly celebrated event. CamTESOL draws professionals working in our sector from around the world, including a good number of our members, both from Australia and the south-east Asian region. I hope to meet some of you there.

Of course, NEAS has its own thought-leading event: the annual NEAS Management Conference to be held on the 9^th and 10^thof May in Sydney. We have an exciting mix of speakers engaging with us on the theme of “Quality Revolution”. Change – and hasn’t there been a lot of it lately (!?) – forces us to rethink our way to excellence. New modes of delivery; artificial intelligence; working remotely now feature prominently in our professional lives. So, given these changes, the questions are: has excellence changed? Has our way of getting there changed? I’m really looking forward to hearing from our speakers and discussing these questions with you at the conference. Registrations are now open but note that our format has changed this year. There are limited places. Please get in soon and register.

As always, I am keen to hear from you. Please feel free to get in touch with me directly. Although we’re dispersed across the world, I’m interested in learning more about you in your own setting so that NEAS can be the most integrated, member-focused, thoughtful, and community-responsive quality organisation in our sector!

February 2024

New CEO Update February 2024

Posted on 31/01/2024 | by Ed Itor

Adam Kilburn

Chief Executive Officer

a.kilburn@neas.org.au

T: +61 2 90559275

M: +61 411279927

Dear Valued Quality Member,

In my first few weeks at NEAS, I am reminded of what a privilege it is to work within the ELT sector. We’re a diverse group with an important unifying purpose. We support people through change. Our students progress in proficiency and articulate pathways. They find new ways to be, and they do this in the diversity of settings we provide, operating across continents, with the aid of partnerships, using new and different models. Our sector is vibrant, dynamic and people centred. There is just so much innovation and change out there!

NEAS is an organisation I’ve come to know over my many years in the sector. Always (and still!) committed to quality, NEAS is in essence an organisation of and for its membership. Diverse this membership may be, but common to all is a shared motivation for improvement. This can be challenging, especially in the face of change which seems to keep accelerating. To meet this challenge, our ELT communities matter. Indeed, they are fundamental to the broader education sector, especially as that sector defines itself internationally.

I plan to deliver the best for our membership first by articulating aspiration, then by finding shared points of interest; mobilising the power of our communities; and adding value in the spirit of getting better. NEAS will be the “go to” thought leader in quality and improvement for our sector and it will do so within an environment that I know will continue to evolve in ways we don’t yet know. Because quality isn’t about ticking boxes. That’s too static. Quality is a broader, richer, more complex, and energising concept operating in multiple dimensions from edtech and technology to micro-credentialling, from stand-alone ELICOS to integrated cross sector pathways, both public and private and across the globe

Let me learn with you. I’ve already started getting out and about meeting people in English language centres and those in business that support education providers. My goal especially in these first few months will be to listen. I encourage you to contact me. Tell me what you think. What are your aspirations and how can NEAS help you realise them.

As always, we thank you for your loyalty and commitment to QA in ELT and remain at your service.

February 2024