Festival Keynote | Laura McInerney

Title: An Unusual Year: What We Learned From 8,000 Teachers About Pandemic Life

Summary: No one expects a pandemic. Luckily, over at Teacher Tapp, we've been surveying teachers since 2017 about their daily lives. We know what workload 'normally' looks like. We can tell you which teachers 'usually' like their job. And then: everything changed.

This talk looks at what we've learned from 8,000 teachers surveyed each day throughout the pandemic year - including how anxiety, wellbeing, workload and school life changed.

It considers what this means for future education reform and how teachers and leaders can use their newfound strengths to make change.

About Laura

Laura McInerney is the former editor of Schools Week. She is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Teacher Tapp, a daily survey app of more than 8,000 teachers. Previously, she was a secondary school teacher before becoming a Guardian education columnist. She moved into journalism after being taken to court by the Department for Education because she asked to see some documents. (She got them, in the end).

About Festival Keynotes

Across two weeks, we will broadcast a series of keynote sessions from leading educationalists and thought leaders from across the globe. These keynotes will be streamed online and free to attend for everybody.

Festival keynotes will be 60-90 minutes long and typically include a live Q&A opportunity with the audience at home.

Keynotes will be announced via our website educationfest.co.uk.

About the Festival

The Festival of Education has become one of the most exciting, credible and inspiring education events of the year. The global Covid-19 pandemic will once again prevent us from holding the Festival within the beautiful grounds of Wellington College – the home of the Festival of Education.

But we’re excited to be able to provide a virtual festival experience in 2021, and thanks to the support of Wellington College and our partners we’re able to provide free access to all Festival-goers this year.

This two-week virtual festival will host speakers of international renown and topical, meaningful and thought-provoking sessions. Our “Friday Fest” days will provide an array of meaningful CPD sessions across a variety of themes.

It won’t be the same as the real physical event – but we are determined to provide an inspiring virtual space for teachers and educators across the globe.