Leadership Conference
This exclusive, invitation-only event is designed for educational leaders and is built on a framework of policy sessions, practical leadership workshops and thought-provoking panel discussions, to help see you beyond this year with confidence.
5 – 9 July 2021 | Online
Plan for the future, with Cambridge
The Better Learning Leadership Conference is perfect for leaders or managers. You will gain knowledge to enhance success in your institution through insights, deeper understanding and practical ideas around:
Leadership strategy and values
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We look forward to seeing you in July!
Over 5 days, you'll join an online community from around the world. You’ll have the chance to network, discuss best practice and learn from leading education experts and corporate consultants alike. And just because you can’t be with us in person this year, doesn’t mean we can’t bring you a flavour of Cambridge. There’ll also be a chance to explore the city and history, virtually. Plus, wellbeing sessions to help you reset.
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Want to see some highlights from the programme? Take a look at how this is shaping up. We have more to share soon...
Empowering your teacher team
Shaping future curriculum
Innovation in educational technology
Partnerships for education
Tuesday
Monday
Monday 5 July
08:00 AM
Outline principles for the future of education • Tim Oates
Tim Oates shares principles for teaching, learning and assessment, with a particular focus on evidence-informed input, teacher training and support, and well-designed technology.
More information
Thursday
Friday
Wednesday
08:45 AM
Bitesize: principles of language learning • Dr Claire Dembry
What factors influence how successful our students are in learning a language? Tune in to hear a brief summary of how cognitive processes, engagement and learning behaviours can impact the way we teach.
10:00 AM
The wellbeing of educational leaders Learning the skills of self-compassion • Kate Brierton
This interactive talk discusses the biological, psychological and social influences which make us prone to harsh self-criticism and explains how self-compassion helps relieves this. You'll have the opportunity to take part in some exercises designed to develop self-compassion and support wellbeing.
12:00 PM
Cambridge Botanic Garden tour Virtual experience with local celebrity • Bobby Seagull
Take a tour of the historical Cambridge Botanic Garden and share some of the unique plants in their 175-year-old gardens.
Cambridge session
14:00 PM
Show up as a leader • Ben Houghton
Leadership skills are most crucial during times of drastic change. This insightful and practical session will give you the tools and knowledge needed to take ownership of your impact as a leader.
17:00 PM
Encore premiere
18:00 PM
Encore
UK time
Leadership day
Tues
Explore Cambridge in these special sessions taking you behind the scenes of some iconic city landmarks.
Another chance to see this session! It will be live for our audiences who are online later in the day.
Another chance to see this session! It will be the recorded session from earlier in the day and premiered on YouTube for our audiences who are online later in the day.
Full programme including partnership and networking sessions will be released closer to the event.
Tuesday 6 July
PISA 2025 foreign language assessment • Dr Hanan Khalifa
Hanan will share the key features of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), introduce PISA framework and provide a preview of a draft blueprint for the assessment.
Partnerships and policy day
09:00 AM
Frugal innovation: how to do better with less • Jaideep Prabhu
Jaideep will discuss the phenomenon of frugal innovation, sharing examples from a range of organsations and economic backgrounds.
Enjoy the most famous view of the city Virtual punting experience • Bobby Seagull
Join us on a punting expereince along the backs, an area along the banks of the river Cam, occupied by some of the most famous and prestigious colleges that form Cambridge University.
11:00 AM
Panel discussion: educational partnerships • Ben Knight, Jane Mann, Phil Hazel + guest
Educational institutions increasingly need to work in partnership with others to provide high quality programmes and services. The panel will share their experiences with educational partnerships and how to get the most out of them.
Frugal Innovation: how to do better with less • Jaideep Prabhu
Wednesday 7 July
The power of you: teacher leadership for sustainable education • Hayo Reinders
Hayo will look at different forms of teacher leadership and their potential for both personal and educational transformation. He will present different models for teacher leadership initiatives and look at the ways these can be implemented by either individual teachers or larger teams.
Teacher support day
Post-pandemic professional learning: what the crisis has taught us and how CPD programmes can become even better • Silvana Richardson
Silvana will explore how the past year has allowed for teachers to reflect on their own learning and what a post-pandemic teacher learning and development landscape might look like.
Bitesize: quality assurance criteria for professional development • Karen Momber
This short talk considers how you can identify professional development activity which is impactful, and suggests questions to help you make the best choices when speaking to teacher development providers.
Behind the scenes at the iconic King's College Virtual tour • Bobby Seagull
A behind the scenes tour of King's College, including the famous King’s College Chapel. This session will provide conference attendees with insider knowledge on the college alongside the history of the world- famous landmark.
16:00 PM
Cooperation to collaboration: teachers helping teachers • Gabriel Diaz Maggioli
In this interactive session, we will explore the dimensions of cooperation and how these more traditional practices align with the needs of twenty first century professionals. By moving from cooperation to collaboration we have an opportunity to actually embrace diversity, enhance learning results in our students and build a true learning community.
Bitesize: professional development for EMI • Ben Knight
How do we prepare teachers to implement an EMI (English as Medium of Instruction) programme? This brief talk will summarise what this involves and the skills teachers need to develop – whether they are language teachers extending to teaching curriculum content, or subject teachers/lecturers being asked to teach in English.
19:00 PM
Mon
Wed
Thurs
Fri
Thursday 8 July
The anatomy of a contrived experience: the making and breaking of virtual reality in education • Paul Driver
Paul will explore the exciting potential of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for supporting teacher development and enhancing student learning.
Technology day
Scone masterclass with Fitzbillies Virtual cookalong • Fitzbillies
You are invited on an exclusive tour of the world-renowned Fitzbillies cake shop and café located on Trumpington Street in Cambridge. The tour is followed by a cooking masterclass where you will learn from the bakery buffs themselves how to create the perfect English treat: a scone!
New possibilities for education • Rupert Wegerif and Pete Dudley
The Digital Education Futures Initiative (DEFI) was launched earlier this year, with its mission to creatively explore the field of possibilities that digital technology opens up for education. In this session we will talk about some of the work DEFI is doing and ends with a focus particularly on one project: the Classroom Learning Research Exchange (CLRX).
Panel discussion: technology in education • Eric Baber, Rupert Wegerif, Rose Luckin and Raquel Ribeiro
Eric Baber leads a panel discussion about how artificial intelligence can be used to benefit the learning and teaching of languages.
Scone masterclass with Fitzbillies • Fitzbillies
Friday 9 July
Bitesize: Cambridge Life Competencies • Jasmin Silver
This short talk introduces the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework that was developed to give a better understanding of the different life skills needed for today's world, and which English language teachers are increasingly expected to incorporate into their English programme.
Teaching day
The vocabulary jigsaw challenge • Professor David Crystal
David Crystal creates a collage of words that helps tell a story of the English vocabulary, with each word representing a trend in the history of English.
Language Syllabus for CLIL • Ben Knight
Ben Knight gives a brief summary of a project to create an English curriclum for CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). This talk summarises the approach Cambridge has been taking to base the curriculum on research.
12:30 PM
Bitesize: exam practice and preparation Past, present and future • Glyn Hughes
Exam preparation continues to change, as technology and Covid-19 affect the landscape, but what’s the difference between preparation and practice? This session looks at the ‘traditional and familiar’ and moves to the ‘new and intriguing’.
Panel discussion: scenarios for the future of schooling • Colleen McLaughlin, Andrew Nye + guests
Colleen McLaughlin leads our panel through a conversation on the future of education. The panel members will draw on their expertise and reflect on the recent OECD publication to discuss what the future of education may hold.
15:00 PM
Bitesize: impact by design • Hanan Khalifa
Dr Hanan Khalifa will explore the "Impact by design” approach to investigating the effects of educational interventions.
The Cambridge challenge! Test your insider knowledge • Scott Thornbury
Taking place on the final day of the conference, test your knowledge of Cambridge during our interactive, virtual quiz.
Tim Oates
Tim Oates is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment.
More info
Hayo Reinders
Hayo Reinders is TESOL Professor and Director of the doctoral programme at Anaheim University.
Ben Houghton
Ben is CEO and Co-founder of Noggin, an innovative people development consultancy.
Hanan Khalifa
Dr Hanan Khalifa works with ministries of education worldwide to develop strategic partnerships at a global level.
Bobby Seagull
Bobby Seagull is a school teacher, television presenter and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers.
Gabriel Diaz Maggioli
Dr Gabriel Díaz Maggioli is Director of Ludus at the Catholic University.
Ben Knight
Ben Knight is Director for Language and Pedagogy Research at Cambridge University Press.
Rupert Wegerif
Rupert Wegerif is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Digital Education Futures Initiative at Hughes Hall, Cambridge
Pete Dudley
Pete Dudley lectures in leadership and learning at the Faculty of Education.
David Crystal
David Crystal is honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Bangor, and works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, lecturer, and broadcaster.
Paul Driver
Paul Driver is Senior Learning Technologist at Anglia Ruskin University.
Silvana Richardson
Silvana Richardson is Head of Education at Bell Educational Services.
Kate Brierton
Kate Brierton is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist.
Jaideep Prabhu
Jaideep Prabhu is Professor of Marketing at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
Karen Momber
Karen Momber is Senior Professional Learning and Development Consultant at Cambridge ELT.
Eric Baber
Eric Baber is Teacher Training and Development Director for Cambridge University Press.
Claire Dembry
Dr Claire Dembry is Head of Language Research at Cambridge University Press.
Colleen McLaughlin
Professor Colleen McLaughlin is Director of Education Innovation at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education.
Jasmin Silver
Jasmin is Senior Language Research Manager at Cambridge University Press.
Glyn Hughes
Glyn Hughes is Head of Assessment Quality and Validity at Cambridge Assessment English.
Tim Oates is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment, focussing on national and international research on assessment and measurement. More recently, he has undertaken wide-ranging international comparison of the performance of education systems, and advised OECD on its curriculum review work. In 2010 he published ‘Could do better’, which laid down the principles for the review of the National Curriculum in England. From 2010-2013, he was chair of the Expert Panel for Review of the National Curriculum. He has published widely on assessment and curriculum. He was a member of the Ofqual Vocational Standards Advisory Group. Tim routinely provides briefings and advice to UK and other governments. He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. In 2015 he was awarded a CBE for services to education.
All speakers
Kate is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with a passion for compassion. After completing her first degree at Cambridge University, she qualified in Clinical Psychology in 2002 at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in London. After working as a lecturer for the Open University in Psychology & Counselling, she set up her own private clinical practice in 2014. In her private practice, she has worked with clients of all ages facing a wide range of challenges, including children with complex needs in both mainstream and special schools. She uses compassion focused therapy (CFT) and mindfulness in most of her work
School teacher, television presenter and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers. Bobby speaks up and down the country and internationally about his love of numbers and why we shouldn’t be frightened of them. Bobby is involved with many charities and educational bodies including the Premier League, British Libraries, National Numeracy, Pearson Education and West Ham F.C. He contributes to the Financial Times Weekend section and appears regularly on several radio stations and in his own and others’ podcasts. His television work includes numerous celebrity appearances (Strictly Come Dancing), winning Mastermind and his two television series for BBC2 (The Monkman and Seagull Genius Guide). He is currently filming a new daytime quiz show, Answer Trap, for Channel 4.
Ben is CEO and co-founder of Noggin, an innovative people development consultancy specialising in interpersonal agility for a range of critical business contexts. Alongside leading the business and mentoring an exceptional team of associates, he is an executive coach and workshop leader.
Dr Hanan Khalifa leads a cross-divisional team of experts in the field of language learning, teaching and assessment on providing evidence-based decision making and developing language education, working with ministries of education worldwide and developing strategic partnerships at a global level. Previously, Hanan has held ministerial roles as advisor to ministers of education and university presidents, and worked for international development agencies and world-renowned educational firms (BC, AMIDEAST, AIR, FHI 360). Hanan's expertise lies in language testing, educational assessment, monitoring and evaluation, standard setting, research (methodology, instrument design, data analysis), and institutional capacity building. Hanan holds a PhD in Language Testing from the University of Reading, UK.
Jaideep Prabhu is Professor of Marketing at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He has published in and is on the editorial board of leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing. He has appeared on BBC News24, BBC Radio 4 and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and has been profiled in BusinessWeek, BBC World Service, The Economist, The Financial Times, Le Monde, The New York Times and The Times. He has consulted with executives from Bertelsmann, Barclays, BP, BT, GE, IBM, ING Bank, M&S, Pearson, Roche, Shell, Siemens, Unilever and Vodafone. He is the co-author of Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth, described by The Economist as “the most comprehensive book yet” on the subject of frugal innovation. His most recent book "Frugal Innovation: How to do More with Less" was published in February 2015 and won the CMI’s Management Book of the Year Award 2016.
Hayo Reinders (www.innovationinteaching.org) is TESOL Professor and Director of the doctoral programme at Anaheim University, USA, and Professor of Applied Linguistics at KMUTT in Thailand. He is founder of the Institute for Teacher Leadership and editor of Innovation in Language Learning & Teaching.
Silvana Richardson is Head of Education at Bell Educational Services and Programme Quality Manager at the Bell Foundation, a UK-based charity that commissions and disseminates research, carries out thought leadership work in policy circles and trains staff in primary and secondary schools in England with the aim of overcoming exclusion through language education. She is a guest lecturer on English as an Additional Language at the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University and has been Academic Director of Bell Teacher Campus, Cambridge and Course Director of the Bell Online Delta. She co-authored white papers for managers and teacher educators with Scott Thornbury and Gabriel Diaz Maggioli for Cambridge University Press. Silvana has over 30 years of experience in various roles: teacher, teacher educator, academic manager, materials writer and consultant. She is a quality assurance inspector and a speaker at international conferences.
Karen Momber is Senior Professional Learning and Development Consultant at Cambridge ELT. Before joining the Press, Karen was involved in ELT academic management, teaching and training in Europe and Latin America. She holds a Diploma in English Language Teaching and an MEd in Educational Technology and ELT. In addition to her work at the Press, which involves book and course commissioning, along with professional development programme design, Karen has oversight of teacher development activity at a local secondary school, in her role as governor.
Dr Gabriel Díaz Maggioli holds a Doctorate and Master's in Education from the University of Bath. He is currently the Director of Ludus, the pedagogical innovation and professional development center at the Catholic University, the oldest private university in Uruguay. A frequent presenter at local and international conferences, he has been fortunate to share his research and ideas with colleagues in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has recently been elected as incoming President of IATEFL, a registered UK Charity and Professional Association. He is the first Latin American to receive such honor.
Ben Knight is Director for Language and Pedagogy Research at Cambridge University Press. He leads on using high quality academic research to develop more effective learning materials and resources. With his expertise in curriculum development and pedagogical research, he helps to underpin Cambridge’s educational resources with research-based insights and conceptual models.
Paul Driver is Senior Learning Technologist at Anglia Ruskin University. He specialises in immersive virtual scenario creation and holds an MA in Creative Media Practice in Education. He has 25 years of teaching experience and is an award-winning ELT materials writer, a teacher trainer and a graphic designer. Paul has been nominated for four English Language Teaching Innovation Awards and, in 2018 he received the national Learning Technologist of the Year award. Paul's research interests span many fields, exploring the roles of technology, media, game design, play, and embodied cognition in the process of learning.
Rupert Wegerif is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Digital Education Futures Initiative at Hughes Hall, Cambridge. His research focuses on education for dialogue in the context of the Internet Age. He researches dialogic theory in education and ways of teaching through dialogue and teaching for dialogue in classrooms with technology. He is co-lead with Sara Hennessy of the Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research group (CEDiR) and co-convenor of the argumentation, reason and dialogue Special Interest Group (SIG) of the European Association of Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI).
Pete Dudley lectures in leadership and learning at the Faculty of Education. He taught in both secondary and primary schools before moving into school improvement in the 1990s. He helped develop learning networks of schools with the National College for School Leadership before leading Labour’s Primary National Strategy from 2005-11. He then led education and children’s services in Central Bedfordshire and from 2013-19 was Director of Education in Camden, where he led the creation of not-for-profit, schools-led improvement company Camden Learning. Pete founded www.lessonstudy.co.uk in 2010 and has been president of the World Association of Lesson Studies since 2016. His current work is in creating a global Classroom Learning Research Exchange (CLRX) with Dr Sara Hennessey and the Hughes Hall Bridge, DEFI team.
David Crystal is honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Bangor, and works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, lecturer, and broadcaster. He has been writing on topics in linguistics, with particular reference to the English language, since 1964, and a complete list of publications, along with fuller biodata, can be found on his website www.davidcrystal.com. Books specifically related to his talk include The Story of English in 100 Words and The Stories of English, as well as the chapters on vocabulary in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
Eric Baber is Teacher Training and Development Director for Cambridge University Press. He oversees the products and services aimed at teachers. These include an award-winning range of methodology titles; over seventy online teacher development courses; e-tutoring services; and face-to-face training delivered by a network of trainers in key markets. Eric’s experience includes delivering training around the world in the use of ICT for teaching and learning, being a tutor for the UK Open University, and setting up an online-only language school. He is Past President of IATEFL, the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
Claire Dembry holds a Doctorate and Masters degree in Applied Linguistics from Lancaster University. She currently is the is the Head of Language Research at Cambridge University Press. Claire and her team use data-driven methods and pedagogical expertise to investigate a wide range of teaching and learning issues, in order to improve the materials that Cambridge produces for learners of English. Claire is actively engaged in disseminating linguistic research findings to non-specialist audiences, and has regularly appeared on TV, on the radio and in the national and international print media as part of her work on a variety of projects.
Professor Colleen McLaughlin is Director of Education Innovation at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. She is currently the education lead on the ESRC Nurture Impact Network focusing on the developing of research informed practice in schools in the areas of personal social and emotional development. She leads the Education and Reform team who specialise in systemic, research informed reform working with Governments, NGOs and others. Recent projects include the transformation of the entire school education system in Kazakhstan. Other current projects are in Jinan China, Pakistan, with the University of Central Asia and various collaborators in Kazakhstan including the Ministry. The team also undertakes research and publishes on the topics of reform, teacher development and other aspects. She has been a Head of Dept at the University of Sussex and Dep Head of Faculty at Cambridge.
Jasmin is Senior Language Research Manager at Cambridge University Press. She and her team use data-driven methods to investigate a wide range of teaching and learning issues in order to improve the materials that Cambridge produces for learners of English. Jasmin holds an MEd in Research in Second Language Education from the University of Cambridge as well as an MA (Hons) and an MSc in Psychology. She is also a qualified teacher with both a CELTA and a PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages and has taught in the UK, South Korea, Germany and online. One of Jasmin's key projects in the Language Research Team has been the development of the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework.
Glyn Hughes is Head of Assessment Quality and Validity at Cambridge Assessment English. The AQV team work to ensure that the wealth of research knowledge and expertise in our organisation is embedded in our products. As part of this role, Glyn is working closely with colleagues across Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press on our Integrated Learning and Assessment programme, which aims to transform how we use data in order to provide more information to learners about their progress, and to create personalised learning pathways that cater to learners’ differing needs. Since joining Cambridge Assessment in 2002, Glyn has worked on a range of products and services, including Cambridge English Qualifications and IELTS, and has led projects to streamline and improve areas of our work, in particular in the area of content production. Before joining the organisation, Glyn gained extensive experience in language teaching, language school management and teacher training, working in Ukraine and Hungary. Glyn holds a masters’ degree in Applied Linguistics from Aston University.
Frequently asked questions
No. This year, the Better Learning Leadership Conference is an online event and completely free of charge, but only available to Cambridge customers.
The speaker presentations will not be shared with attendees, but the recordings of each session will be available on our YouTube channel so you can view the presentation slides again.
We are offering a certificate of attendance for all webinars. We’ll email you this after the conference.
All our sessions will be available to watch again on our YouTube channel. We’ll send you a link to the playlist after the event.
Attendees must register for the conference in order to receive event information and the certificate. Click here to register.
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