Leading for the future
Get ready to dive into the latest thinking shaping the future in this educational leadership event designed to inspire and empower.
Join Us for the 2026 Educational Leadership Conference!
Are you ready to challenge your leadership thinking and practice and connect with forward-thinking professionals who are shaping the future of leadership across education?
Whether you are in a leadership role or not, come and join us for a day of interesting and inspirational tasks and workshops.
This year’s Leadership Conference brings together innovators and change‑makers for a day of insight, inspiration, and practical strategies you can put to work immediately.
Empower your CPD with this FREE event.
What to Expect
- An exciting array of dynamic keynote speakers sharing real-world leadership insights
- Interactive workshops helping you to engage with forward-thinking ideas
- Networking opportunities with leaders across education
Whether you're an emerging leader or a seasoned executive leader, this conference is your chance to recharge your vision and strengthen your leadership toolkit.
Let’s build the future of leadership together.
Get ready to dive into the latest thinking shaping the future in this educational leadership event designed to inspire and empower.
Join Us for the 2026 Educational Leadership Conference!
Are you ready to challenge your leadership thinking and practice and connect with forward-thinking professionals who are shaping the future of leadership across education?
Whether you are in a leadership role or not, come and join us for a day of interesting and inspirational tasks and workshops.
This year’s Leadership Conference brings together innovators and change‑makers for a day of insight, inspiration, and practical strategies you can put to work immediately.
Empower your CPD with this FREE event.
What to Expect
- An exciting array of dynamic keynote speakers sharing real-world leadership insights
- Interactive workshops helping you to engage with forward-thinking ideas
- Networking opportunities with leaders across education
Whether you're an emerging leader or a seasoned executive leader, this conference is your chance to recharge your vision and strengthen your leadership toolkit.
Let’s build the future of leadership together.
Lineup
Dr Andy McCarroll
Nick Smith
Professor Frances Maratos
Dr Dan Grant
Will Smith OBE
Dr Jennifer Harper
Good to know
Highlights
- 6 hours
- In person
- Free parking
- Doors at 9 AM
Location
University of Chester, Parkgate Road Campus
Parkgate Road
Chester CH1 4BJ
How do you want to get there?
Agenda
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Introduction and Welcome
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Personal mindset for world class leadership and leading high-performing teams
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Compassion in Education
Educator wellbeing and retention is a key issue facing schools, colleges and universities world-wide. Stress, student behaviour, a culture of competition in relation to policies and practices are all contributing factors. Problems of wellbeing are similarly observed for students and pupils, with mental health difficulties increasing, especially following transition from elementary to high-school education, and college to university. Rises in mental health issues have further been exacerbated by the legacy of Covid-19. In addressing these problems of educator retention and poor staff/student/pupil mental health, we have been introducing compassion-based CPD, curricula and pedagogy into the education sector since 2016. In this talk, I will overview reasons as to why the education sector is in crisis, including an ethos of ‘reductionist performativity’, and why compassion-based approaches offer promise in addressing this. I will then overview our programme suite and findings to date. This