Cool.org has launched a new scholarship program to help address long-standing challenges facing teachers and improve student outcomes.  

With philanthropic funding from the Origin Energy Foundation, the provision of 3,000 scholarships will enable teachers from low-ICSEA schools (schools with lower levels of educational advantage) to access thousands of new high-quality education resources and professional learning.   

The program is designed to help to reduce the gap in outcomes between underserved and advantaged schools and improve teacher retention.   

Scholarship recipients will have access to new, premium education resources designed to save teachers time and reduce their workloads while also enhancing student engagement. Professional learning materials, including presentations and micro-learning courses, will support teachers in focusing on high-quality teaching and improving their practice.  

Co-created by experienced educators and industry experts, the Cool+ digital learning platform covers topics including how to navigate the first three years of teaching, managing parent-teacher interviews, building resilience and catering to a diversity of learners.  

According to Grattan Institute research, a large majority of teachers don’t have enough time to prepare for effective teaching (92 per cent) or high-quality lesson planning (86 per cent).

Related: Education nonprofit partners with Origin Energy Foundation to support home-schooling   

The Cool.org and Origin Energy Foundation partnership is expected to save teachers more than 61,000 hours in lesson preparation time, improve workload management by 25 per cent and support teachers to remain in the profession.   

“Our teachers do an incredible job, but we continue to see chronic staff shortages, workload overload and not enough planning time,” said Cool.org CEO Thea Stinear.  

“We know students from remote, rural and regional Australia, in particular, are struggling, so we are strongly encouraging teachers from schools in these areas, and any teacher who needs support, to apply now so we can provide relief around resourcing and planning for the school year ahead.”  

Head of the Origin Energy Foundation, Michelle Zahra, said the scholarship program was designed to help support teachers and improve education outcomes in schools where the needs are greatest.  

“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,” said Zahra. 

The Origin Energy Foundation has provided support for Cool.org programs since 2018 with a focus on the equitable provision of quality education to those experiencing disadvantage while empowering young people to optimise their readiness for the 21st-century workforce and to pursue a career in STEM.   

During the pandemic, the Origin Energy Foundation’s support enabled Cool.org to design and develop 183 engaging resources to assist with remote learning and increase parent/caregiver membership to more than 21,000.