Digital Tech Teacher Colleen O’Rourke a Global Standout

Colleen O’Rourke is a Digital Technologies specialist at The Hills Christian Community School in the Adelaide Hills, Australia.

Many of her students live with ADHD, autism, learning disabilities or mental health challenges. That has inspired her to devise creative, inclusive approaches to teaching her subject and build classrooms that protect children’s confidence.

She has spent twenty years designing digital learning that welcomes, rather than excludes, neurodivergent learners and her Nature-Nurture-Network curriculum links coding, artificial intelligence and extended reality with river ecosystems, pollinators and plant life on the school’s nine-acre bushland campus.

Students compare computer systems with natural systems, collect environmental data with sensors and drones, and create virtual reality river restoration tours and cross-cultural VR pen pal exchanges with Indigenous and international schools.

Research with the University of South Australia shows significant gains in engagement, creativity and emotional regulation, and the proportion of students who see Digital Technologies as relevant to their lives has doubled.

Beyond her own school, Colleen serves as Vice President of EdTechSA, leads Tech4Sustainability and DigiFest events and trains teachers across Australia in low-cost, nature-connected digital pedagogy. Her work has been recognised with major honours, including Ed Tech SA Educator of the Year, Educators SA Innovative Teacher of the Year and a Schools Plus National Teaching Award.

She has been named a top 10 finalist for the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize 2026, a Varkey Foundation initiative organised in collaboration with UNESCO.

Colleen was selected from over 5,000 nominations and applications from 139 countries around the world. The other top 10 finalists are Adeola Olufunke Akinsulure (Nigeria), Alfonso Filippone (Italy), Ana Hernández Revuelta (Spain), Ewa Stefania Drobek (Poland), Gloria Argentina Cisneros (Argentina), Jasmyn Nicole Wright (USA), Joshue Castellanos Paternina (Colombia), Rouble Nagi (India), and Timothy James Stiven (USA).

Next month, the Global Teacher Prize finalists will be in Dubai to attend SPARK.Dubai 2026, a one-day conference that will explore ways to unlock the transformative power of the world’s schools. It will take place across four of Dubai’s leading schools and convene global leaders and education experts alongside teachers and students from more than 50 countries. 

Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Global Teacher Prize, GEMS Education, and The Varkey Foundation, said, “Congratulations, Colleen. This honour recognises not only what you teach, but the incredible impact you make every day. Your work extends far beyond the classroom – it touches lives, shapes communities, and helps define our shared future. In a rapidly changing world, it is only by prioritising education that we can safeguard our tomorrows and face the future with confidence.”

Now in its 10th year, the $1 million Global Teacher Prize is the largest prize of its kind. It was set up to recognise one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession as well as to shine a spotlight on the important role teachers play in society. Since its launch, the Global Teacher Prize has received over 100,000 applications and nominations from around the globe.