A scholarship program has been launched to help educators gain access to high-quality educational resources and professional development opportunities, particularly in regional, rural or remote areas.
The program constructed by Cool.org – a company that has been producing educational resources for Aussie teachers for over 13 years – has been co-created with the Origin Energy Foundation.
Through the collaboration, teachers from schools with low ICSEA (schools with lower levels of educational advantage) ratings will be offered a total of 3000 scholarship.
The program provides access to Cool+, an innovative digital learning platform that provides users with professional learning materials and more than 120 teacher support courses.
The courses include 300 class lessons across various subjects, all addressing pertinent real-world issues in an engaging and understandable way.
Cool.org founder Jason Kimberley said the scholarships were “intended to level the playing field for these schools”.
According to research by the Grattan Institute, most teachers need support preparing for effective teaching and high-quality lesson planning due to time constraints. The partnership between Cool.org and the Origin Energy Foundation is expected to alleviate these challenges by saving teachers over 61,000 hours in lesson preparation time, improving workload management by 25 per cent, and supporting teachers in remaining in the profession.
Origin Energy Foundation head Michelle Zahra underscored the importance of the scholarship program.
“We believe all Australian students should be able to access quality education, so by removing the cost barrier, these resources will help reduce the gap in outcomes between schools experiencing disadvantage and their counterparts,” she said.
To learn more or submit an application, email dave@cool.org or call 1300 853 810.
Fast Facts:
Cool.org is a not-for-profit education organisation founded in 2008 to address the issues of disengaged students and under-resourced teachers by providing engaging, high-quality, curriculum-aligned online education resources, tools and know-how to save them time and improve their practice.
Since 2013, Cool Australia has saved teachers more than 10.9 million hours of lesson preparation time.
Cool.org’s teaching resources are being downloaded and shared in 92% of Australian schools.
Origin’s philanthropic foundation supports education programs that help break the cycle of disadvantage.
The Origin Energy Foundation has been supporting Cool.org since 2018.
