Building critical thinking ability in the young
We have reached thousands of students, guided by the principle that every child deserves to learn deep and effective thinking skills.
A charity dedicated to equity in critical thinking education
The Consensus Education Foundation is dedicated to developing reasonable, perceptive and empathetic thinkers, while advancing educational equity. We believe effective critical thinking and communication skills are crucial to the success of young people and their ability to navigate a complex world.
To achieve these goals we have developed ThinkTank, a critical thinking program backed by an extensive body of well-targeted resources for gifted and high-potential school-age students. It’s a program that pioneers online learning that is collaborative, enjoyable and constructively challenging.
Our growing parent-paid ThinkTank program for students from affluent communities supports an increasing number of bursary places for students suffering from economic and geographic disadvantage. As a charity, we deeply value the support of the NSW Education Department, the many schools who help identify our students, and the paying families, donors and funders who enable us to provide equitable access to critical thinking education.
Annual results from our ThinkTank program
97%
of students say ThinkTank gives them an increased understanding of critical thinking
97%
of students say ThinkTank gives them an increased understanding of the world around them
Average rating from students of our course content
Average rating from students of our presentation and delivery
96%
of parents say they are likely or very likely to recommend ThinkTank to a friend
Average rating from parents of the program overall
What students and parents say
My experience with ThinkTank was outstanding, giving me an understanding of the various ways our communities are affected by social norms and how the brain functions with descision making.
I loved ThinkTank. It was really fun doing the quiz, meeting the teachers and discussing critical thinking to an extent that was very new.
I really like how everyone can contribute to the discussion and how we can really dig deep into a specific topic.
My child looks forward to this every week and shares excitedly afterwards. All of the facilitators make her feel valued and welcome.
I felt that my experience of ThinkTank was extremely educational but also fun. I liked how it was a safe space to share my thoughts and ideas, and the tutors were extremely supportive and encouraging.
I really enjoy ThinkTank. It has helped me in the real world with public speaking, debating, and schoolwork.
It is a fun, educational class that helps me understand what is happening in the world around me.
Thinktank encouraged me to think outside the box and develop critical thinking skills and to understand the world and the people living in it better.
Its been great seeing my child come away with new ideas and understandings each week!
We reach students from many communities
From Sydney's northern beaches to the far west of the state, ThinkTank has reached students in metropolitan, regional and remote NSW, as well as the ACT.
Coordinating with the NSW Department of Education
A core aspect of our work lies in identifying those students who will most benefit from the ThinkTank program while being least able to readily access educational extension opportunities. In this work we are indebted to a partnership with the High Potential and Gifted Unit of the NSW Department of Education, one of Australia's leading bodies for gifted education policy and practice. This extremely constructive relationship enables us, through the Unit’s help, to contact school leaders from across the state and build relationships where schools nominate suitable students for our courses of critical thinking learning.
Empowering employment
Our engagement with empowering young people goes beyond the direct educational experience of our courses and how they help prepare students for a workforce that increasingly values critical thinking and communication skills. We’re also always on the lookout for clever, enthusiastic and personable young people who we can train as ThinkTank tutors. In our work with schools, whether running ThinkTank or debating and public speaking extracurricular workshops, we identify suitable candidates for training. Key to this process is an emphasis on including students from the regions. We’ve already trained several tutors with regional backgrounds who have benefitted from ThinkTank through their senior years of high school and are now contributing to the program as enthusiastic educators.
Supporting student welfare
ThinkTank’s impact is about more than student intellectual development. Our online class structure means that students work closely in groups of peers from different regions and backgrounds, sharing contrasting perspectives and collaborating in examining lesson content. This is particularly valuable for children from regional and remote communities with small peer groups because meeting and working with other engaged learners often bolsters self-belief and enhances confidence in the value of intellectual endeavour.
Our major funders
Community Bank Braidwood & Bungendore
Our founding sponsor, the Braidwood & Bungendore Community Bank's early belief in ThinkTank made it possible to launch the program, develop our rich body of resources, and reach students who would otherwise have had little access to this kind of learning. Their ongoing support is testament to what a company can do when it genuinely invests in the communities it serves.
Our sponsors, grant funders and donors make it possible to keep ThinkTank accessible, take the program to remote communities, and offer bursary places to students who need them most.
Braidwood Lions
A regular donor, Lions has supported our work in the Southern Tablelands since the inception of our charity. Their warm and consistent backing helps underpin our commitment to developing the thinking skills of the young people of this region.
Mary MacKillop Today
A generous grant from Mary MacKillop Today enabled us to offer free in-person, whole-day ThinkTank workshops to students in three regional communities based around Newcastle, Goulburn and Albury.
NSW Office for Regional Youth
Commonwealth and NSW Government funding enabled ThinkTank South-East in 2023, reaching 309 students across four regional LGAs through free, full-day in-person workshops, with a follow-up 10-week online course for 95 students.
Fostering thinking over time
Consensus Education Foundation established
As we work on developing our bank of critical thinking lesson plans, we register with the ACNC as a charitable foundation dedicated to developing and delivering high quality critical thinking resources and classes for Australian school-age students.
ThinkTank launches online
The ThinkTank program for after-school online critical thinking learning launches in one region of South-East of NSW, supported by our founding sponsor, the Braidwood and Bungandore Community Bank. Partner schools nominate their gifted and high-potential students in Year 5 through to Year 12.
ThinkTank South-East — taking it to new regions
A NSW Government grant enables free in-person workshops across four regional LGAs. 309 students from 28 primary and high schools participate with 95 continuing into a 10-week online critical thinking extension program. We run a trial ThinkTank program in Sydney.
Sydney expansion
ThinkTank launches for primary school students in Sydney where parent-paid places help our charity provide bursaries for disadvantaged students. Partner schools nominate groups of gifted and high potential students each term, with Harbord, Mount Colah, Mona Vale, Ermington, Killarney Heights and Melrose Park among the founding partner public schools.
Reaching remote communities
A growing parent-paid ThinkTank program supports a new outreach for more bursaries in regional and remote NSW. The NSW Department of Education's High Potential and Gifted Unit begins offering direct help to reach schools from Lightning Ridge to Lord Howe Island in our mission to offer bursaries to disadvantaged students.
Secondary program launches
ThinkTank Metro Secondary launches in Term 1 with a course for Years 7 and 8, spearheaded by Chatswood High. Five new high school partners join in Term 2 alone. The bursary program gets a corresponding lift. We begin to explore reaching into very remote communities in the Northern Territory for bursary places.
Today — More than 3,000 students reached
ThinkTank runs every term, reaching across metro Sydney, to the regions and to remote NSW. 80+ partner schools, 100+ lesson plans, and an expanding bursary program for disadvantaged students.
Help us fight disadvantage
Every donation helps give disadvantaged children access to transformative critical thinking education through our ThinkTank program.