Alcoa is set to contribute funding to Teach For All, an education not-for-profit organisation, over a three-year period.
Teach For All is a global network developing collective leadership to ensure all children can meet their potential. It comprises more than 60 independent and locally led organisations and a global organisation.
Each network partner recruits and develops emerging leaders to teach in their country’s under-resourced schools and communities and to work with others inside and outside the education sector to shape a better future for the next generation.
To aid this mission, the Alcoa Foundation will contribute $US1.8 million in funding over a three-year period to help launch new teacher wellbeing and mental health support initiatives across Teach For All’s Australian, Brazilian, and American branches.
Teach For All will use the funding to implement a trauma-informed workshop series to support teacher wellbeing, share best practices through its global mental health and wellbeing community, and launch a teacher wellbeing accelerator for network partners to exchange strategies.
Activities aiming to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of students and teachers will also be a focus of the funding.
“Alcoa Foundation is proud to support this renewed collaboration with Teach For All and its network partners, with a special focus on the mental health and wellbeing of teachers,” Alcoa president Caroline Rossignol said.
“Adding a mental health and wellbeing component aligns well with our new focus on resiliency and our aim to be a catalyst for positive impact. Educators play a key role in shaping the future of students. We need to support them while continuing to provide quality learning experiences for students.”
According to Alcoa, its support throughout 2023 enabled Teach For All to provide training to over 800 educators teaching in the US states Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, and expand opportunities for more than 15,000 students across 24 public schools in Maranhão, Brazil.
The new amount of funding is expected to support more than 500 teachers in the upcoming academic year .
“The renewed partnership with Alcoa Foundation is a testament to our joint commitment to fostering teacher wellbeing and ensuring children have the education, support, and opportunities they need to fulfil their potential,” Teach For All head of corporate partnerships Mariana Franco said.
“We’re delighted that this renewal will also include Teach For Australia for the first time, ensuring more people can benefit from Alcoa Foundation’s support globally.
“We recognise the pivotal role strong mental health support plays in retaining teachers, ensuring their effectiveness, and attracting new educators to the profession. We’re grateful to Alcoa Foundation for sharing this vision with us, and we’re excited to see what our partnership will achieve.”