IDEAcademy founders Nicole Gazey and Rebecca Loftus have a wealth of experience in both the secondary and vocational education sectors. Driven by their own struggles as parents and teachers of young people who didn’t fit the status quo, they saw an opportunity to develop an alternative to mainstream secondary education for those highly creative, motivated, and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinkers who struggle to learn in a mainstream school setting.

Nicole's Story

Nicole began her career as a lecturer and trainer in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. She was appointed to the Curriculum Council of WA as a principal consultant for VET in 2007. In this role, she was instrumental in the development of programs and recognition arrangements within the WA Certificate of Education (WACE) for non-traditional education programs, brought about by the raising of the school leaving age in Western Australia.

She has worked as a consultant for the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, Department of Education and the non-government school sector, as well as in leadership positions in schools and on school boards.

IDEA was sparked by her personal experience as the mother of a young person who did not fit the traditional system. Her son, Dylan, is a highly creative young man, however, his dyslexia meant that he struggled with the rigid structures of school. The negative messages he received at school built up over the years and in Year 7, after six months in high school, he reached crisis point. Nicole had to look for an alternative and realised how limited the options actually were. With her insight and experience in the system, she was able to navigate a pathway for Dylan which ultimately led to his successful transition to university in 2020, the same year that IDEA was launched.

Rebecca's Story

Rebecca began her career in education as a high school science teacher in 2009. Her first experiences in Australian schools highlighted the vast inequity within the system. Not only was the rich-poor divide in Australian schooling one of the worst in the OECD, the nature of high schooling, with a revolving door of students attending up to six subjects a day of standardised curriculum, meant that the administrative burden on teachers was immense. There was little time to care for students. In particular, this affected those students who sat outside of the ‘norm’, often students who were highly creative and bright, out-of-the-box thinkers. This drove Rebecca to begin researching and experimenting with integrated and project-based modes of delivery in the classroom, and subsequently led to an interest in systems change and mechanisms to scale innovation within schools.

After leaving the classroom, to commence a PhD on the topic, she began working as an education consultant and went on to develop award-winning communities in the education and technology sectors, including CoderDojo WA, a network of community-based computer programming clubs for young people, and Fogarty EDfutures, a systems change initiative focussing on innovation in schools and the future of education.

Nicole and Rebecca’s experience, combined with their mutual frustration at the political inertia they experienced within the education system fueled their motivation to build an alternative.

2020

In 2020, IDEA was launched as a social enterprise, initially providing bespoke careers counselling and pathway planning to young people who were in alternative education arrangements e.g. home-education, online learning, training, and employment.

2021

In 2021, we began to run entrepreneurship-focussed bootcamps, based on our founders’ experience in the Plus Eight business accelerator and as members of the startup community.

2022

In 2022, IDEA partnered with a public high school and Registered Training Organisation to offer Nationally Recognised Training, and WA Certificate of Education (WACE) courses in our program, becoming a complete alternative to mainstream schooling. The courses and credentials were delivered as an integrated component of our entrepreneurship-focussed program. In 2022, we also launched the IDEA Foundation, a DGR-1 registered charity, as a vehicle for providing community-backed scholarships for young people in alternative education arrangements, like IDEAcademy.

2023

In 2023, we began to move away from senior secondary education and the WACE, focussing instead on vocational education and training. We saw this mode of learner-led and vocationally focussed education as more appropriate for our cohort of young people who thrive in a blended young adult learning environment.

2024

In 2024, we became a fully vocational alternative to mainstream education, registering our own training organisation, NUA Learn (RTO Code 46284).

NUA means “new”, or “modern” in the Gaelic language. This word reflects both Nicole and Rebecca’s Irish roots, and also their hopes for NUA Learn: to always remember our roots – as an alternative education model for young learners who don’t fit the status quo, and to always be seeking the new – what are we doing well? what are others doing well? and how can we best serve our young people with a modern and innovative education model?

2025

In 2025, IDEA will continue to learn and grow in response to our community’s needs, committed to our vision: to unshackle the world’s greatest thinkers, so they can get on with making it better!

IDEA exists to unshackle the world’s greatest thinkers, so they can get on with making it better.

Unshackle

The current education system ties every young person to a rigid curriculum – one that does not suit everyone. Big thinkers are restless, they get bored with the current system, and they are pinned down and unheard within it. Shackles is also a lack of self-confidence and self belief, which we need to instill in them from day one. Our job is to free these brilliant kids from these shackles.

Our World’s

‘Our’ is shared. ‘World’ is ours. Collectively, it’s our world, and we don’t take our collective role and responsibility lightly. It is our collective efforts that will help more and more bright young thinkers positively impact our world.

Most important thinkers

Yep, unashamedly a superlative. The big creative, entrepreneurial and innovative thinkers are those who will make a real difference in our world. They bend rules, don’t settle for same-same – our world’s problems won’t be solved with the same thinking and mindsets. This young generation is crucial to solving the world’s problems, therefore our kids have the most important minds in the world.

Get on with making it better

Our young people have big ideas, ambitions and dreams which have been suppressed by a dated, unwavering systems. Our Academy helps by providing the space to get on with making their big thinking a reality. Why else are we here other than to make the world a better place? The world’s problems are ripe for solving, and our young people have the right minds and characteristics to do just that.

We provide a safe space for helping out-of-the-box creative and innovative thinkers thrive, those who don’t fit the traditional education system. A space where they’re heard, understood, nurtured and celebrated. A space where their learning is shaped around them, the individual, not the other way round. A place that gives them the space to explore their big ideas. A space that prepares them for the actual real adult world. A space where empathy, care, understanding, encouragement and empowerment are the catalysts for the life our young people want to lead and the difference they want to make.