AANZFTA Business Seminar

Wellington June 3 2011

About us• Operating nationally (New Zealand) and internationally

• New Zealand’s largest independent educational consultancy

• Reputation in schooling effectiveness and improvement in New Zealand and abroad

• Cognition Education Research Trust: giving back to the community

Cognition’s principles

Cognition is a “sense maker in educational reform” : our work is informed by the following principles:

•Commitment to building capacity and capability

•Effective collaboration

•Respectful relationships

•Focus on local context

•Flexibility and responsiveness

•Coherence of approach

Our people have expertise in:• Policy development and implementation

• Educational leadership

• Professional development and support for the teaching profession KG 1-Year 13

• Curriculum and resource development

• Assessment practice and support

• e-learning

• Research and evaluation

• New school design and school review

Where we have worked

Market presence, sales and supportCurrently we have:1.2 registered branch offices – Qatar and Abu

Dhabi with administrative and business functions2.220 staff based in the Gulf3.4 major clients - Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait,

Malaysia• Need now to establish a more permanent in-

market presence – part of current restructuring is to establish a stronger and more visible presence

Growth drivers

We need greater diversity of markets and service offerings

Potential markets

Market knowledge

Our customers are looking for:1.Experience and expertise in national

education reform to build local capability and capacity

2.Evidence of performance3.Quality people, quality programmes4.Effective collaboration and respectful

relationships

Competitive position

Our defences are:1.tailored solutions not externally imposed “recipes”2.evidence based performance – effective and

transparent3.NZ brand and experience with focus on

relationships4.consistency of delivery and effective outcomes5.close market analysis built out of relationships

Focus on S E Asia

• Diversity and opportunity- strengthening the business

• Building relationships• Establishing a market presence- new

structure of Regional Manager in country

• Building reputation and credibility with first contract

Current projects and future prospects

• Working with a major corporation to develop an extra curricula programme for scholarship students as part of corporate responsibility This has included> Developing the curriculum framework> Detailing the teaching methods> Developing resources> Up-skilling the corporate clients about

student centred learning

Key lessons learnt

• Be prepared to take time• The personal relationship is the key to

the business one• See the opportunities as long term and

look to develop them over time.• The clients want quality; they are aware

of the cost of quality but are also aware of being taken advantage of as well