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52 stories
Week 25: Tender Bridge
Tender Bridge, a national research and development service of ACER, is ensuring that our schools are well resourced for the purpose of improving student outcomes.
The purpose of Tender Bridge, explains Michelle Anderson, is to help get resources into schools for educational projects.
‘The difficulty for school leaders is that it takes an enormous amount of time to search for available funds that are relevant to education,’ says Michelle, Tender Bridge Project Director and a Principal Research Fellow in the Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation program of ACER’s Educational Monitoring and Research Division. ‘To address that, Tender Bridge does all the searching, maintaining a dynamic database of funds offered by business, philanthropic and not-for-profit organisations, as well as governments (at all levels), using a sophisticated search strategy.
Tender Bridge doesn’t just help schools by identifying funds; it also offers web-based resources, workshops, one-on-one tutorials and an editing service. ‘Essentially we try to help schools connect with the wider community in the interest of addressing a local education-related need, by providing school leaders with the option to initiate a potential partnership rather than react,’ Michelle explains.
The benefits go beyond funding. According to findings from the multi-year Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy (LLEAP) research study by Tender Bridge with partners The Ian Potter Foundation and Origin Foundation, philanthropic foundations and trusts provide other in-kind support in terms of professional advice, networking and publicity.
The 2011 LLEAP survey findings showed teacher quality and technology as high priorities for school leaders, but lower priorities for not-for-profits and philanthropics. ‘It’ll be interesting to see whether there’s any shift in those priorities over time,’ Michelle says.
Meanwhile, the Tender Bridge database is nudging 1000 funding opportunities. There’s also a major upgrade to improve its functionality, thanks to another philanthropic grant. With updates every week and a major review of every fund each quarter, Research Fellow Emma Curtin, Senior Project Officer Leanne Eames and Michelle are always busy. ‘But,’ says Michelle, ‘we love what we do and love to see it making a difference, and we can draw on the support of staff across ACER: the Cunningham Library, ACER Press, Project Publishing, ACER Foundation, Information Technology, Finance and ACER research colleagues, and from our external partners.’
Pictured: Teacher Eliza Yeo with students in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden of Two Rocks Primary School, WA.
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Week 52: State of the art psychometric and statistical analysis
Week 51: Assessing civics and citizenship
Week 50: International research into teaching and learning
GOAL 1
Learners and their needs
every learner engaged in challenging learning opportunities appropriate to their readiness and needs
GOAL 2
The Learning Profession
every learning professional highly skilled, knowledgeable and engaged in excellent practice
GOAL 3
Places of learning
every learning community well resourced and passionately committed to improving outcomes for all learners
GOAL 4
A Learning Society
a society in which every learner experiences success and has an opportunity to achieve their potential
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Pursuing Quality and Equity through Evidence
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