Extraordinary Leaders, Empowered Staff, Expert Schools
Join us for a conference dedicated to school and trust leaders of teaching, learning and staff development
What is it? A collaborative conference bringing together leaders of professional development, leaders of teams and anyone interested in developing themselves or others as evaluative, empowered education practitioners.
Our core charitable mission is to improve access to effective and evidence based professional development for school staff.
Who is it for? Trust leaders, school senior leaders, NPQ participants past and present, TDT members past and present, TDT Delivery Partners and CPD Partners – anyone who recognises that expert teachers are pivotal in improving outcomes for children.
Why attend? Attracting, developing and retaining great teachers and leaders is critical to building a brighter future for all children and young people across the country, regardless of background, challenge or need.
Never have we needed to support, nurture and develop our teachers and leaders more, both in terms of their practice and wellbeing. TDT have been at the forefront of teacher and leader development for over ten years, having worked with thousands of school leaders.
Join us to explore and make sense of the most innovative research and practice available and how it can be applied in your context.
Special reduced ticket price for all TDT NPQ participants, graduates and facilitators!
Special reduced ticket price for all Chartered College of Teaching Members!
What you can expect
Exploration
We’ll hear new ideas, examine the evidence and challenge ourselves with new ways of thinking.
We’ll hear from serving teachers and leaders, education advisers, policy makers, researchers and sector leaders on the latest lived experience and evidence based approaches that make a real difference to school and trust culture.
Reflection
We’ll provide facilitated, structured space for collective reflection and sensemaking, the TDT way.
We’ll develop a shared understanding of how we might tackle some of the most important challenges facing our education system today – how we attract, retain, develop and empower our greatest asset – school staff.
Discussion
There’ll be plenty of time for networking, meeting colleagues and making new connections.
We’re expecting over 200 leaders keen to keep learing and share practice around effective CPD. Leaders who share our values. They are SMART and evidence based, they have HEART and care about people and they are HUMBLE.
Our Keynote Speakers
Mary Myatt, Founder, Myatt & Co
Mary is an education adviser, writer and speaker. She curates Myatt & Co where she works with colleagues to develop thoughtful work on the curriculum and wider school improvement. She trained as an RE teacher and is a former local authority adviser and inspector. Drawing on her work with pupils, teachers and leaders she writes and speaks about learning, leadership and the curriculum.
She has worked in small schools, for large trusts, national and international organisations. Her education philosophy is underpinned by several principles: that all children deserve rich, demanding work; that high quality talk underpins learning; that human beings are curious and that they find deep work very satisfying.
Mary has written extensively about leadership, school improvement and the curriculum: ‘High Challenge, Low Threat’, ‘Hopeful Schools’ and ‘The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence’ , ‘Back on Track’, Huh: Curriculum Conversations between subject and senior leaders and Primary Huh.
Mary has been a governor in three schools, and a trustee for a Multi Academy Trust. She co-founded the RE Quality Mark, was chair of the board for the Centre for Education and Youth and was a member of the curriculum advisory group for Oak National Academy.
Her current projects includes Huh Academy, The Teachers’ Collection and Myatt & Co.
She maintains that there are no quick fixes and that great outcomes for pupils are not achieved through tick boxes.
Dame Sue John, Executive Director, Challenge Partners
Dame Sue was the headteacher of Lampton School in Hounslow from 1997 to 2015. The school was included in the 2010 Ofsted publication Twelve Outstanding Secondary Schools: excelling against the odds. Sue worked as a National Leader of Education and as project manager for some of London’s most challenging and complex schools. She was the Director of the London Leadership Strategy for secondary schools during the London Challenge.
She was previously awarded an honorary fellowship from Brunel University and recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Roehampton University. Sue has held directorships at the Brilliant Club, DfE, Future and Teaching Leaders and is currently the Chair of the South London Teaching School Hub and Charles Dickens Research School. Sue is a member of the Sutton Trust Education Advisory Group, the advisory group for the Fair Education Alliance and the Royal Society’s curriculum group. She is a trustee for The Haberdasher’s Academies Trust South and also the Chair of Trustees for the Teacher Development Trust.
Chris Armstrong-Stacey, Deputy Director, Developing Teachers and Leaders at Department for Education
Chris Armstrong-Stacey is the Deputy Director for Developing Teachers and Leaders at the Department for Education. He is responsible for delivering the government’s ambitious reforms to teacher development, including the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications, Teaching School Hubs and the National Institute of Teaching. Before this role, Chris was the Deputy Director responsible for the strategy and performance of the Free School programme and has held a range of policy roles in DfE since October 2008.
Conference Chair
Sir Steve Lancashire, Founder and former Chief Executive of the Reach2 Multi Academy Trust, Lead tutor TDT NPQEL
Sir Steve Lancashire was the founder and former Chief Executive of the Reach2 Multi Academy Trust, one of the largest and most successful primary academy trusts in the country. Steve has been involved in primary education for thirty years and as a Headteacher for the past twenty years, most recently as Executive Headteacher of Hillyfield Primary Academy. Hillyfield is a double outstanding school and REAch2 was founded on its success.
Steve is a National Leader of Education and has been a lead adviser for the Department for Education, taking the lead in supporting schools to move from ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding’.
As the founder and Chief Executive of REAch2, Steve seeks to establish a family of schools that share his passion and drive to secure the best possible outcomes for primary aged children and to ensure that primary education has a strong national voice. Ensuring there is enough capacity in the education system to enhance existing good schools and to tackle the issue facing failing schools is at the heart of Steve’s vision so that all young people have access to an exceptional education.
Steve was Knighted for services to education in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2016.
Blogs from our speakers
Pathways to a Brighter Future: The Climate Wise Schools Initiative
Heena Dave shares her reflections on how in a world where the urgency of climate change demands immediate attention, the critical gap in comprehensive climate change education (CCE) within schools becomes glaringly apparent.
READ MORE >>
Building a trust-wide wellbeing culture
Ben Levinson OBE shares his thoughts on the opportunities and challenges of creating a meaningful wellbeing culture across a Trust, and suggests some key leadership commitments, actions and philosophies that can underpin it. READ MORE >>
Curiosity, concepts and the power of story – unleashing expert teaching through curriculum in our schools and trusts
Mary Myatt shares her thoughts on how developing and using high quality materials and texts in the classroom helps teachers improve both their practice and their subject knowledge. READ MORE >>
CPD: Creating a thriving school culture
Five years on from the publication of Unleashing Great Teaching, co-author David Weston considers the CPD landscape in schools, the growing evidence-base, and some of the practical implications for our work to create thriving school cultures. READ MORE >>
Guest Speakers
Bridget Clay, Director Of School Leadership, Teach First
Bridget Clay is a former teacher who works with schools on their leadership and development. She co-authored Unleashing Great Teaching, a book which outlines the culture and processes for great learning for teachers and students. She is Programme Director for School Leadership at Teach First and was previously Director of School Programmes at the Teacher Development Trust. She has advised a number of organisations, including the Department for Education and the Greater London Authority, and is a frequent speaker and media contributor.
Laurie Forcier, Consultant - International Strategy and Partnerships, ISTE
Laurie Forcier is a senior education leader with a passion for connecting people and ideas to drive system-level change. During her 25-year career in education she has worked in the world’s top think tanks, government agencies, universities, and corporations including the Urban Institute, the National Science Foundation, Harvard University, and Pearson. She now works independently, supporting partnerships and strategy for global education organisations linked by a common belief in the power of technology to make a quality education available to everyone. She speaks internationally on the future of education, skills and work; AI in Education; how we can support educators in the competent and confident use of technology; and why evidence is key to unlocking the power of EdTech.
Haili Hughes, Director of Education at IRIS Connect
Haili Hughes is a principal lecturer in mentoring and professional development at the University of Sunderland and Director of Education at IRIS Connect. She was a teacher for sixteen years. She has written five education books and is currently writing four more. She also works as a DfE ITT Quality Associate and travels the world delivering CPD on mentoring and coaching. She facilitates the ECF and NPQLTD for two national providers.
Bennie Kara, Founder, Diverse Educators
Bennie Kara is a former deputy headteacher in the East Midlands, specialising in curriculum, teaching and learning. She started her career in the inaugural cohort of Teach First in 2003, teaching English in East London. Since then, she has taught in four London boroughs and in South Oxfordshire, before her return to the Midlands to teach in Derby.
Bennie now speaks, writes and trains on diversity in the curriculum. Alongside supporting schools to diversify their curriculum, she is the author of ‘A Little Guide for Teachers: Diversity in Schools’ (Sage Education). She has written on the subject of diversity for publications such as Schools Week and the Chartered College of Teaching’s Education Exchange, as well as contributing to many books by educators. She is a nationally and internationally recognised keynote speaker. Her second book, ‘Diverse Educators: A Manifesto’, a co-edited book with her Diverse Educators co-founder, Hannah Wilson, was published in April 2022.
Ben Levinson OBE, NPQEL participant, Executive Headteacher at Kensington Primary School and Chair of Well Schools
Ben Levinson OBE is Executive Headteacher at The Tapscott Learning Trust. In the Trust, he has led Kensington Primary School to flagship status in all manner of areas from inclusion to wellbeing. Under his leadership the school launched an innovative new curriculum, specifically developed to provide the best outcomes for children and prepare them for life in the 21st Century. Kensington was Primary School of the Year and Mental Health and Wellbeing School of the Year in 2020.
He has advised the Department for Education on workload and wellbeing and was part of the Expert Advisory Group responsible for the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter. He is a National Leader of Education, Chair of Well Schools, a Board member for Thrive at Five and an ambassador for the Youth Sport Trust, the British Council, and TeachActive.
Sinéad McBrearty, CEO, Education Support
Sinéad McBrearty is CEO at Education Support, the mental health and wellbeing charity for the education workforce across the UK. She advocates for a systemic approach to wellbeing for the education workforce, attending to the individual, the workplace and the wider policy environment.
Sinéad began her career at KPMG before moving to leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector. She has worked as an organisational development consultant and a lecturer and has been a trustee at a number of charities including Kaleidoscope Trust and Groundswell. She is a governor of a south London primary school.
Ella Roberts, Director of Teaching and Learning Network, TKAT
Ella Roberts has been in education for over 20 years and has worked in a variety of Schools across East Sussex, before joining TKAT in 2014 becoming Deputy Director of Learning in 2016 and then Director of Teaching School in 2019. She’s held a variety of senior leadership roles including Deputy Headteacher, Headteacher and Deputy Executive Regional Director as well as supporting many schools in a consultancy capacity including leadership development and teacher coaching. Ella is also an EMCC Accredited Coach at Senior Practitioner level.
Ella is passionate about high quality teaching and learning and ensuring all children have the best educational experience possible. As Director of TKATs Learning and Development Network (LDN), she is committed to the development of all staff both within and beyond the trust, striving to promote a culture of continuous development by empowering colleagues to continue to learn, innovate and share knowledge. This commitment to learning and development underpins the belief that, through an ever improving workforce, we are able to transform the lives of the children in our schools.
Cat Scutt, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Education & Research, Chartered College of Teaching
Cat Scutt is Deputy CEO, Education and Research at the Chartered College of Teaching, the professional body for teachers. A former English teacher, Cat’s roles have since focused on supporting teacher development both online and through face-to-face activities, with a particular focus on development using digital technology, through collaboration and by engagement with research and evidence. She has worked in education in both the state and independent sector, as well as in corporate learning and development. Cat leads on the Chartered College Of Teaching’s work around teacher development and certification, including the Chartered Teacher programme, and their research activities and publications, including their award-winning peer-reviewed journal, Impact. She is currently completing her PhD at the UCL Institute of Education. She received an MBE for services to education in 2021 and has been a member of several government advisory groups.
Sam Sims, University College London, Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities
Sam Sims is an education researcher, interested in teachers, teaching, and teacher professional development. He is a Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education, Research Lead at Ambition Institute and Research Advisor at Teacher Development Trust. Along with Becky Allen, he is co-author of the book The Teacher Gap. You can find him on social media @DrSamSims.
TDT Speakers
Gareth Conyard, Co-CEO TDT
Between 2003-2022, Gareth worked at the Department for Education on a range of policies from early years to higher education. Most recently, he led the development and delivery of the Early Career Framework and reformed National Professional Qualifications. He also spent two years as an Education Adviser at the Department of International Development, focusing on girls’ education and multilateral investment. Gareth is particularly interested in supporting effective leadership and promoting positive wellbeing, an interest he advances as a trustee of Education Support.
David Weston, co-CEO TDT
David Weston is the founder and Chief Executive of the Teacher Development Trust. He is Chair of the Department for Education’s Teachers’ Professional Development Expert Group and, alongside Bridget Clay, wrote Unleashing Great Teaching: the secrets to the most effective teacher development. David taught maths and physics for ten years in two schools in London and the South East. He is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. David speaks and writes frequently for the education sector and national media and has had a number of radio and TV appearances on the subject of teaching, teacher development and LGBT issues.
Michelle Barker, Head of Impact & Engagement, TDT
Michelle Barker has over 9 years’ experience in supporting both UK and overseas education in state and independent schools through roles in EAL, SEND, and national curriculum tuition. Specialising in customer experience, she joined the team in 2019 eager to continue delivering on the needs of the TDT Network, now leading on the development and efficacy of this and expanding the reach of our charitable mission by connecting the people at its core. She has contributed to national programmes including the DfE-funded CPD Excellence Hubs and IoE Teachers’ Working Environments research, and led on our collaboration with the National Foundation for Education Research’s work into Teacher Autonomy. Alongside her work with TDT, she engages with the CollectivED Community, is a school governor, has published work in Tes, SecEd, and the Headteacher Update, and volunteers for a London based reading charity.
Heena Dave, CAPE and Senior Curriculum Designer - TDT
Heena Dave is an ESRC-funded PhD student investigating the pedagogical content knowledge of climate change education. She is the Co-Founder of Climate Adapted Pathways for Education (CAPE) and serves as a Senior Curriculum Designer for the Teacher Development Trust. Formerly, she was Head of Science at Bedford Free School and co-authored ‘Cracking Key Concepts in Secondary Science‘.
Sharon Ealing, Professional Learning Lead, TDT
Before joining TDT as an Expert Advisor, Sharon was Lead Practitioner at Coleshill Heath Primary school in Solihull where she led Professional learning, Development and Research. Sharon also led the school’s work in mentoring beginning teachers and Early Career Teachers. Sharon, has held a number of positions within Senior leadership, including Deputy Head. She has taught in both mainstream and specialist settings as well as teaching in North Carolina.
Katie Hart, Learning Professional Lead, TDT
Katie has worked in education for over 20 years and is an experienced executive leader in both education and learning and development. Working in the UK and International education systems, Katie has designed and delivered professional development experiences for Ministry’s, School Partnerships, Multi Academy Trusts, Universities and Training Providers. She has thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to mentor and coach others on their journey into teaching, leadership and towards achieving qualifications such as the NPQ’s.
Joanne Jukes, Professional Learning Lead, TDT
Prior to joining TDT Jo spent over 20 years teaching Business, Economics, and IT in a variety of state schools in the Yorkshire region including inner city, coastal and rural. These roles include academic and pastoral leadership positions at middle, whole-school and trust wide level. She has served on a school governing body as a staff governor and is a Specialist Leader in education. With a passion for improving educational outcomes for pupils by raising the quality of teachers’ professional development, Jo has led professional development in both schools and as part of a school improvement team across a Multi Academy Trust. She has also developed, led and facilitated evidence-informed professional development programmes locally and nationally in her role as a Research Lead and through the RSN network. Jo previously worked as an expert advisor for TDT, writing content for the new NPQs.
Member Speakers – Voices from our Network
Lucy Hemsley, Assistant Headteacher, Cheltenham Bournside School
Lucy is an experienced senior leader, who has been responsible for Teaching and Learning and CPD since 2019 at Cheltenham Bournside School, a large 11-18 comprehensive school in Gloucestershire. She also works part time for GITEP SCITT on their senior leadership team. She is experienced in designing and delivering professional development for trainee and early career teachers, as well as expert teachers and school leaders. In 2020, Lucy undertook the TDT’s CPD Leadership Programme, gaining TDT Associate status. She wrote a chapter on CPD in A Guide to Teaching, Parenting and Creating Family Friendly Schools: the MaternityTeacher PaternityTeacher Project Handbook (2022).
Mum to three young children, she is an advocate for family-friendly leadership, the local Representative for the MTPT Project and a Regional Lead for WomenEd South West. Lucy is also a member of the Chartered College of Teaching and an Honorary Teaching Fellow of the University of Bristol.
Emma Rapson, Assistant Head for Staff Development and Wellbeing, The Cherwell School
Emma is the Assistant Head for Staff Development and Wellbeing at a large comprehensive school in Oxfordshire. With around 250 staff, planning and delivering CPD for her large team is a core part of her role.
Emma also teaches history and EPQ! She has been teaching, mentoring and supporting colleagues for nearly 24 years! ”And I still love it. I loved it from the minute I did my first 20 minute segment of a lesson in my PGCE year. (It was about Henry VIII).”
”I want to make sure that all people involved in the teaching profession, no matter what level of expertise and experience, can also love teaching and supporting students and continue to love being involved with education for more than a few years. Giving our current teachers and non-teaching support colleagues the opportunity to feel valued, to feel expert and to engage with their own development at the speed and pace they want is all part of our CPD programme. We aim to build expertise, and to build careers. As a teaching school, I also look after the largest cohort of SCITT trainees, PGCE students and ECTs in Oxfordshire. Supporting a new generation of teachers, and giving our experienced colleagues opportunities to develop and grow as teachers is the best bit of my job!”
Adam Porter, Director of Education & Technology, The Shared Learning Trust
Adam Porter is the Director of Education and Technology at The Shared Learning Trust, with responsibility for developing the Quality of Education and Digital Strategy across the trust, from Early Years to Post-16.
He has held senior responsibilities in schools for over a decade and in that time has been responsible for strategic areas as diverse as school improvement and quality assurance, teaching and learning, curriculum and assessment, parental engagement, professional development and performance appraisal.
Adam has been previously accredited to deliver the NAML by the SSAT and as a CEOP ambassador, is a Microsoft Advanced Educator and now acts as a Lead Facilitator on two of the new specialist NPQs in partnership with the TDT. He also is on the executive committee for a local youth charity and has spoken on topics such as teacher professional training, curriculum and assessment and digital strategy.
Laura Masson, Director of Education, Aurora Academies Trust
Laura Masson has over 15 years of experience leading schools and is currently Director of Education for Aurora Academies Trust. Prior to this, she had experience working in both the independent and state sectors across every key stage.
In her various leadership roles, Laura has spearheaded the development of shared organisational vision and values to drive cultural change. She is passionate about supporting teachers and leaders within the education sector and is an associate of the Teacher Development Trust, a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teachers and a member of the Chartered Management Institute.
Laura remains devoted to her own learning, and has recently completed a MSc in Educational Leaders, and actively pursues professional development opportunities to become the best leader she can be. Laura has recently written research papers on mental health in leadership and the importance of engaging parents in their children’s education.
At the time of writing Laura has been shortlisted for the award of achieving most career growth for an apprentice in East Sussex. By the time she speaks, she will know if she has one. In her nomination, recognition was given to her devotion to the career development of all colleagues, regardless of their roles.
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Venue
Mary Ward House
A venue with charitable aims and a rich history of servicing the community
Since the opening of it’s doors in 1898 Mary Ward House, along with its stewards in succession, has had philanthropy and social well-being as its central ethos.
Mary Ward House has a long history of making a valuable contribution to society and the local community, with a particular focus on:
- the advancement of education
- the promotion of equality and diversity
- the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage and science
- the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
- the advancement of citizenship or community development
We’re delighted to be holding our event in this beautiful old school building, minutes walk from Kings Cross or Euston Square Underground
MARY WARD HOUSE,
7 TAVISTOCK PLACE,
LONDON, WC1H 9SN
TDT National Conference: 30 January 2024
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In this blog, our CEO, Gareth Conyard, talks about what we can expect in his co-authored new book on how to make better education policy. Before joining the Teacher Development Trust, I was privileged to be a civil servant at the Department for Education for nearly...