English New Zealand announces new chair

Darren, who is the managing director and co-owner of Languages International, previously served as English New Zealand’s chair from June 2012 to 2015.

“I was planning for something much more relaxing than stepping back into the chair’s role at English New Zealand,” he said.

“But these are unprecedented times and I’m happy to take up the challenge. I hope that my experience and advocacy can help English New Zealand lead the sector out of the current crisis. We can make a useful contribution to the recovery of the New Zealand economy, but we need both judicious and timely support and clear communication from the government, and that’s where our initial focus will be.”

English New Zealand say they greatly appreciate the contributions that Wayne, also the group principal for ICL Education, has made during his tenure.

“It has been a privilege to represent the 22 members schools and I have appreciated the opportunity to engage with government and non-government stakeholders, raising the awareness of what we do and advocating on members’ behalf,” Wayne said.

“We have long argued that our quality and experience be recognised by government agencies in a meaningful way - in the way the export education levy is determined, in the way our sector is quality assured, and in the way our English language courses are categorised.

“To that end, I was very pleased by the recent cabinet paper proposing legislative changes allowing for recognition of ELT as a separate sub-sector and opening the door to achieving these goals.”