$50 Million for Education
29 June 2015 at 12:26 pm
The Commonwealth Bank has released the first details of its community investment strategy, announcing that it will spend $50 million over the next three years on education in a bid to boost employment.
Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA) CBA CEO, Ian Narev, said the bank would partner with Social Ventures Australia (SVA) to create an online toolkit to allow teachers to share successful programs with other schools.
Narev said the Australian Teaching and Learning Toolkit would support teachers through an online resource that assesses 34 educational approaches, from the value of using technology to the importance of different subjects. It also explores aspects of teaching, including the benefits homework has for students, the effect of repeating years and wearing school uniforms.
“To take the advantages that we have in Australia, we are going to need to invest in the skills of the future, to make sure our economy adapts successfully to the future,” Narev said.
“This Toolkit enables proven educational techniques to be shared right across schools, right across the country. This is where we’ve decided our contribution is going to be in education over the next three years and beyond. Because better schools make a better country.”
SVA CEO Rob Koczkar said the toolkit Initiative “will empower school leaders by providing up to date, relevant information about approaches that impact student learning”.
“We believe it will have a game changing influence on education in Australia, giving teachers more resources to provide every child the very best opportunity to reach their full potential,” Koczkar said.
Narev said research from the OECD has found that the demand for the number of high skilled workers required to maintain Australia’s prosperity will grow faster than the working-age population, making these jobs more difficult to fill.
Narev also re-committed to scaling up the Bank’s financial education program Start Smart, which he said was changing the way more than one million students learn about finance. The Bank will increase the reach of the program to 500,000 students each year.
