What We Do
We are an exciting enterprise focused on activating young people’s confidence, creativity and capability, through delivering authentic entrepreneurial education programs where problems in the community are solved by students.
Our programs and workshops do more than just teach business and entrepreneurial skills, they provide an opportunity for young people to develop a core set of skills and capacities they can use immediately in the program through to the rest of their life.
Communication
Speaking
Writing
Presenting
Understanding
Critical Thinking
Inquiry & Research
Digital Literacy
Financial Literacy
Solving Problems
Creativity
Design Thinking
Problem Solving
Reflection
Work Smart
Collaboration
Leadership
Organisation
Perseverance
About illuminate Education Australia
illuminate Education Australia designs and delivers engaging and intensive education experiences that combine design thinking, entrepreneurship, social and ethical understanding, business and personal development into every single impactful learning opportunity. We bring our passion, industry knowledge and education experience together into something that makes a positive impact for everyone we work with – young people, teachers and their wider community.
While most of our programs are a full week in length to allow students to be stretched and develop a wide range of skills, we do also run a range of shorter programs and events too. And with the program able to be delivered specifically for students from your school or across the region, there are so many ways to get involved in an illuminate Education Australia program!
Our History
While illuminate Education Australia first started delivering programs in 2011, the reason for Adam Mostogl to start the business started many years before. Having started his first business at the age of 18, which was an audio-visual production business that ran live music concerts as well as a film production agency, Adam met a lot of young people who did not have the strong business knowledge to convert their passion and skills in the creative fields into an income stream. This meant that while Adam was being paid to film or make them sound good, most did not know how to invoice or charge for their time. While this was occurring, Adam was invited to join a youth taskforce which looked at helping students make the leap from full-time study to full-time work, and from his interactions here, he realised that every single young person in Tasmania was leaving school without the knowledge of how small business works. Those who did business subjects as electives in schools where this was offered learned a lot about larger businesses, but when around 95% of Tasmanian businesses employ less than 5 staff, most of the insights were not relevant to the businesses these students would either start or work in.
With this foundation, Adam Mostogl wrote the first illuminate Challenge and delivered this in 2011 to 38 students from 4 schools across Launceston, Tasmania. Taking a week off from his full-time role in retail at the time, Adam pulled together everyone from his networks to make the program something of value for the students, and it was not long before he was having conversations with stakeholders to ensure the challenge would be run regularly and expanded to reach more students.
From these beginnings, illuminate Education Australia has remained based in Launceston, but the impact of the programs have expanded much further, with challenges run across Australia and influence internationally in education and enterprise education, helping more young people to believe in tomorrow today. However, as these programs have been delivered and illuminate Education now engages with stakeholders across the country and the world, the true impact of the challenge has been seen and this has been shown in the shift of the types of programs that illuminate Education Australia delivers currently.
While the business and challenge was originally designed to help young people see opportunities and gain experience in what it is like to start and run their own small business, the conditions created in the challenge resulted in a highly engaging learning environment meant that students were developing the skills required for the modern working world. The focus has always been to help prepare young people for the modern world that they are entering and will be the future leaders of, but with a greater appetite for the broad skills the challenge develops, illuminate Education has positioned our education programs to be focused on activating the next
generation of confident, creative and capable young people they have the potential to be. This exciting shift positions illuminate Education Australia as an industry-leading education provider, working in the gaps of the traditional classroom-based curriculum with an expertly facilitated experience that motivates and inspires students, teachers and the wider community – further enhancing the impact and outcomes of our endeavours.
Our Partners & Supporters
Hosting & School Partners and Collaborators
Testimonials
“I have enrolled students in the illuminate Challenge for many years. illuminate Education Australia excels at motivating young people to become the independent learning, self-directed adults that our nation so desperately needs. Their provision of real-world learning is second to none and their programs are still talked about by students many years after they’ve left school. Best of all illuminate Education Australia’s programs target those cross-curricular priorities that are so difficult to address in the day-to-day classroom.”
– Bob Ashby, Teacher, Sheffield School (Tasmania)
“The illuminate:nextgen Challenge pushes students to extend themselves in a positive, supportive setting. It helps student to develop the real-world skills necessary for any workplace, and exposes them to study and career options. The program helps students to unlock their full potential and discover their future.”
– Brendan Taig, Careers Practitioner, Suzanne Cory High School (Victoria)
“The illuminate:nextgen challenge was, as described by one of our students at our school’s end of year awards ceremony, a life changing experience for our Year 10 students. The week created such a positive vibe amongst those doing the challenge and indeed, throughout the entire school, and students from all years seemed to be taking an active interest. I really do believe that this challenge, and the skills that were developed by students, will have a lasting impact on them, not only for success in Year 11 and 12, but also post-school education and in their working lives.”
– Dale Massie, HSIE Teacher, Terrigal High School (New South Wales)
“The Illuminate Challenge was astonishing. I truly didn’t expect the quality of ideas and presentations that the students delivered. It was clear to me that illuminate are building capability, and improving the confidence and career prospects of these students. I’m hoping to become more involved because I can see the value Illuminate adds to both the students, industry and the broader community.”
– Ellen Piper, People, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation
“There is no finer task than to encourage and support our youth in their journey of learning. Having experienced first hand the illuminate Education Australia experience myself in a supporting role at Charles Sturt University, I was inspired by the energy that the young participants had in the skills of problem solving, vision creation and entrepreneurial strategies. Programs such as illuminate no doubt are an excellent tool as part of the preparation for life after school. I would encourage students and teachers to explore the opportunities that the illuminate Education programme offers.”
– Peta Pinson, Mayor, Port Macquarie Hasting Council
“In this rapidly changing world with the rise of emerging economies and onset of digital disruption, programs like the illuminate Challenge are absolutely critical to regional communities. Rather than seeing change as a threat, illuminate Education Australia opens the eyes of our young people to the opportunities that change presents.”
– Tim Watson, General Manager, Dorset Council
“Technical capabilities are the necessary, but not sufficient attributes for people hired into my organisation. The best candidates complement their technical capability with emotional intelligence along with the skills taught by Illuminate Education Australia. Working at today’s speed of business requires employees to bring more to the workplace. Creativity, a willingness to collaborate, natural curiosity and the ability to contribute to effective teamwork are key characteristics of tomorrow’s high performing leaders”
– Mike Faulkner, Managing Director (Australia & New Zealand), Verizon Enterprise Solutions
CONTACT US
We’re always eager to hear from people who are interested in what we do – whether you are a school, a potential partner or someone who just wants to get on board with what we do. You can either get in touch with us directly below, or else use the form on this page and we’ll respond to you shortly;
- Facebook at /illuminateeduau
- Email us directly
- Call us by phone +61 3 9087 1687
- See us in person through meeting with us in Launceston or Melbourne or when we travel – but please email to organise.
© 2022 illuminate Education Australia. All Rights Reserved
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.