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Changemakers for Children in a Troubled World : Why ‘What Works’ Matters
We are thrilled to feature Dr Kathryn Weston as our opening keynote speaker at the AoEA Annual Summit 2025. Dr Weston is a renowned expert in parental engagement, resilience, and the well-being of children, bringing a wealth of experience and research to her work. As the founder of Tooled Up Education, she is dedicated to equipping schools, parents, and educators with the tools they need to help children thrive academically and emotionally.
In her keynote, Dr Weston will explore the foundational principles of what every child needs to succeed, addressing key questions such as: What are the basic underlying principles that should guide our work in education? Her session will draw from her extensive research and practical experience, providing actionable insights for education advisers and school leaders to implement within their own contexts.
Dr Weston’s expertise and engaging delivery promise to set the tone for the day, encouraging all attendees to reflect on the universal goals of education and the collective role we play in achieving them. This keynote is not to be missed—prepare to leave inspired and equipped with new ideas to make a tangible impact in schools.
Being 10% Braver
Multi-award-winning inspirational speaker and one of the top female motivational speakers in the UK, Jaz is a force of nature who galvanises people to take action.
This world class re-framer has a unique ability to help people reframe their stories and situations, bringing transformation in their work, life and communities. This is Jaz’s alchemy.
Jaz combines lessons learned from a challenging and often brutal childhood with those from her rise to TV presenter, TEDx Speaker, stand-up comedian and Z-list reality TV star.
Her authentic honesty and humour consistently empower people to think differently about leading themselves and others.
Along with her husband Ed, Jaz is co-founder of the leadership development consultancy Be Human First Limited. Together, they help leaders who want to influence, inspire and motivate their teams with greater engagement in order to grow their businesses and leave a lifelong legacy.
Forging Local Coherence
Toby will draw on his extensive work over many years researching school and system leadership including across localities. He will share headlines from his and colleague Dr Susan Cousin’s recent ‘Forging Local Coherence’ report, which draws out leadership learning from their evaluation of the LocalED project (2022 – 2024).
LocalEd was designed to test new locality models for the English school system led by local authorities, combined authorities and school led partnerships. Each of the nine localities involved focussed on one of three areas: i) improving outcomes for vulnerable children, ii) working as a combined authority, iii) strengthening professional accountability.
Toby will argue that local coherence is critical for successful and inclusive educational systems. Local leaders must therefore work to forge coherence in terms of how different partners work together to improve place-based outcomes. Coherence is never ‘done’, so requires continuous attention and effort, focussed on developing collective moral purpose, a common cause, and integrated ways of working.
Alternative Big Consultation
In response to Ofsted’s limited Big Listen, Prof Colin Richards and Frank Norris launched The Alternative Big Listen in March 2024 to address key issues left out—such as the use of single-word judgements, inspection consistency, and whether Ofsted is fit for purpose. Nearly 1,500 respondents took part, with overwhelming dissatisfaction: 91% said Ofsted was not fit for purpose, and 83% supported a pause on inspections pending a full review.
Despite critical findings from the Gilbert Review and the Education Select Committee, Ofsted’s 2025 consultation offered only one inspection model with little room for alternative views. Richards and Norris created The Alternative Big Consultation to explore more open, fair, and collaborative approaches, aiming for a system that builds trust while maintaining rigorous evaluation.
The session for the conference will be led by Frank Norris and will include details of their survey findings as well as seek views from delegates on how best to progress inspection going forward.
Get the latest update about our 2025 Summit as we announce them! We will be announcing more information about our panel discussions, exhibitors and RSVP information.
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