2022 IPDA Conference
2022 International Conference
24-26 November 2022
Reimagining our
futures together
The role of professional learning
The 2022 IPDA International Conference took place from 24-26 November 2022.
This conference bought together some amazing keynote speakers, researchers and practitioners around an important theme. With a pre-conference event featuring early career researchers followed by two days of wide-ranging presentations, the event its not to be missed for those with a passion for professional development.
IPDA members can access recordings from this event in the member portal.
Key questions
- How do we develop the capabilities for our communities to adapt to and mitigate the challenges of our times
- How might we promote civic discourse and freedom of expression through professional learning and education?
- What role does professional learning have in tackling disadvantage, inequality, and promoting the long-term well-being of individuals and communities?
- What role does professional learning have in promoting sustainability, peace, justice and strong institutions?
- What can we learn from innovative approaches to engagement and learning across communities and societies?
Conference strands
- Disruptions and emerging transformations
- Pedagogies of cooperation and solidarity
- The transformative work of practitioner educators
- Education across different times and spaces
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Carol Azumah Dennis
Cultivating the Ethical Imagination
The stance I assume is one that works from the idea of ethics is integral to the educative endeavour. While policy may attempt to strip schooling, studying and vocationalism of all but the most rudimentary technical-rational components there is an inevitable ethical excess that practitioners are compelled to engage with. It is the nature of that ethical engagement, its compromises and complications that animate my thinking. Central to the line of thought I develop is the conviction that ethics is integral to all aspects of post-16 education, as a living, vibrant, inescapable responsibility for the practitioner.
I have worked in Higher Education since 2010, first at the University of Hull where I was employed initially as a Lecturer in Education: Programme Director for Post-16 Teacher Education and later as Programme Director for Postgraduate Taught provision. I have worked for the Open University as a Senior Lecturer: Education, Leadership and Management since 2017. My current post with the OU is Programme Leader for the Doctor in Education (EdD). I am also a Senior Fellow of the HEA.
Prior to working in Higher Education, I had worked for a number of years in Further Education Colleges where I was responsible for teaching, training and managing adult basic skills. I completed my EdD at the UCL, Institute of Education in 2010, with a thesis exploring leading and managing quality in adult literacies provision.
I have published in a wide range of peer reviewed international journals including Educational Management Administration & Leadership, International Journal of Lifelong Education and Research in Post Compulsory Education.
My research interests centre around three areas of specialization:
- Post-16 policy, professionalism and practice
- Leading and managing quality in vocational education
- Teacher education, critical pedagogy, ethics and social justice
Andy Hargreaves
When Teaching Together Means Learning for All
The secret to achieving equity is full inclusion of all young people and their identities. It’s hard to be successful in school if you do not see yourself recognized and engaged within it. Inclusion means more than accommodating special needs. It requires encompassing the full cognitive and cultural diversity of young people in school. But identities are complex, and it is expecting too much of any single teacher to know each young person in their wholeness. To include the whole child therefore requires the collaborative effort of the whole school community.
This keynote addresses the power of collaborative professionalism to enable all young people to succeed in increasingly diverse environments. Collaborative professionalism takes a robust approach to teacher professionalism and professional learning. It calls for deeper relationships and more rigorous interactions. This presentation draws on more than 7 years of collaborative research in multiple countries to set out just how collaborative professionalism can move everyone towards the goal of inclusive success for all learners.
Andy Hargreaves is Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada and Research Professor at Boston College in the US. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Education. Andy is the former President of the International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement (2018-2020), former Adviser in Education to the Premier of Ontario (2015-2018), and current adviser to the First Minister of Scotland. Andy is co-founder and president of the ARC Education Collaboratory, which brings together Ministers and professional leaders from multiple countries to advance the interests of broad excellence, equity, well-being, inclusion, democracy, and human rights in education.
Andy has published more than 30 books and has 8 Outstanding Writing Awards. He has been honoured in Canada, the US, and the UK for services to public education and educational research. He is ranked by US Education Week as the #15 scholar with the most influence on the US education policy debate. In 2015, Boston College gave him its Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award. Andy holds Honorary Doctorates from the Education University of Hong Kong, the University of Uppsala in Sweden, and Bolton University in the UK – the nearest to his hometown. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Beatriz Pont
Bridging the practice gap: the power of professional learning to transform education
The gap from education policy to practice is large, as policy makers have had a more linear perspective on how to promote change and reform that accomplishes improvements in learning across schools. Are education policy makers prepared to lead the change processes required to transform education for all? There is limited information on the types of skills and competencies they have and they actually need to work across education systems, decentralised or not. There have to work in complex environments: with many different stakeholders involved, different visions on how to move forward, limited time, data and changing priorities. How to bridge the gap between education policy and actual change in schools?
This keynote addresses how professional learning for education policy makers and related stakeholders can strengthen capacity for transforming education systems. While it is one piece of the puzzle, it is an imperative one for leading change processes successfully. Public education officials need to have the right skills and competencies as well as the institutional support to be able to use them. More systematic professional learning opportunities can be developed and promoted: from technical understanding of education policy and planning to developing knowledge and skills for leading change and implementation processes in complexity. The presentation is based on experiences working across OECD and UNESCO member states to support education change processes.
Dr. Beatriz Pont has worked on education policy, education change and school leadership internationally throughout her career. At UNESCO IIEP she is developing a new global training strategy for education policy planners internationally . Previously at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, she launched and lead OECD countries education change and implementation support, and has worked with many different countries in their school improvement reform efforts. She also launched and led a comparative series on education reforms Education Policy Outlook, on school leadership, equity and quality in education and adult learning. Previously, Beatriz was researcher in the Economic and Social Council of the Government of Spain.
Beatriz holds a Phd in Political Science from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a Masters in International Relations from Columbia University, and a BA in political science from Pitzer College, Claremont, California. She has been visiting researcher at LIEPP, Science Po, Paris and at the Institute of Social Sciences, Tokyo University. She is member of selected boards and has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University. She teachers Comparative Education Policy at Sciences Po School of International Affairs, Paris and keynotes internationally on leading education change.
Carol Campbell
Professional Learning for Future Educational Change: Moving from Pandemic Challenges to Realizing New Possibilities
This keynote will explore the features and role of effective professional learning for educational change. Drawing on several recent and ongoing research studies, the keynote will consider the challenges to and necessary innovations in professional learning during the pandemic and beyond. To address support for students’ learning and address inequities exacerbated by the pandemic, the example of the current Teacher-led Learning Circles project for professional learning and teacher leadership in seven countries will be presented. Looking further into the future, the keynote will consider the current National Discussion on the future of Scottish education as an approach for co-developing a shared vision and calls to action for what kind of education children and young people will need in the future and how that can be made a reality.
Dr. Carol Campbell is Professor of Leadership and Educational Change and Associate Chair of the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her work concerns: large-scale educational change and school improvement; the work of the education profession, leadership development and professional learning; and the use of evidence to inform policy and practice. Originally from Scotland, she has held education, academic, and government roles in Canada, UK and USA. Currently, Carol is a member of the International Council of Education Advisors for the Scottish Government’s First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, and she is an independent co-facilitator for the National Discussion on the future vision for education in Scotland. She is also a Visiting Professor at the School of Education, University of Glasgow. In 2020, Carol received the Canadian Teachers’ Federation Public Education Advocacy award for dedicated, long-standing service, as well as major contributions to benefit publicly funded public education. Her books include: Teacher Learning and Leadership: Of, By and For Teachers, Empowered Educators in Canada, and Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World. She is active on Twitter @CarolCampbell4
Haiyan Qian
Doing the ‘next’ right thing: Promoting professional learning with ‘solidarity and solidity’
Rapid social change challenges schools and school leaders to do the ‘next’ right thing. School leaders must be future-oriented to do the ‘next’ right thing. They need to look ahead to position their schools for future success. Future positioning entails leaders preparing their schools for what they see, don’t and can’t see (Quong & Walker, 2021). This is not about predicting the future but about leaders constructing arks designed to shape and harness collective capacity to learn (Mulford, 2010). As Hargreaves and O’Connor (2018) suggest, schools need to build professional learning practices that characterize ‘solidarity with solidity’. Such practices help educators get their heads ‘out of the sand’ to see what is happening beyond their classrooms and schools and trust professional expertise to stay focused. Sustainable school improvement requires solidarity among colleagues and a solid grounding in research, expertise; built upon well-designed tools and protocols. In this talk, I will use examples of professional learning adopted in Shanghai, China, to illustrate how the system leverages expert teachers to extend and share their expertise among teachers (solidity) through building collaborative professional relationships and trust (solidarity). These examples are designed to provoke discussions about the structural and cultural conditions for professional learning, which nurture ‘solidarity and solidity.’ They also aim to illustrate how ongoing system-wide professional learning can help schools do the ‘next’ right thing.
Haiyan QIAN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership and Director of The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change at Education University of Hong Kong. Her main area of interest has been around school leadership in China and the influence of the social and cultural context on schooling across Chinese societies.
Lizana Oberholzer
What role can mentoring and coaching play to unlock the ECR's potential to engage with collaborative professional learning communities, to look to the future?
Early Careers Researchers in Education (ECR), whether they are in schools, Further Education, Higher Education or Adult learning, play a significant part in continuing to pave the way for future research, to enable educators to continue to gain an understanding of how to best support professional learning, and to enable others. When we reflect on our future, and moving forward, it becomes imperative to continue to support ECRs on their research journey. The role mentoring and coaching can play in enabling ECRs cannot be underestimated, as it not only empowers the ECRs but as a co-constructive learning exercise, it enables mentors and coaches too, to deepen their own learning. Looking to the future, strong, supportive communities of learning are needed to help unlock the potential of ECRs, to become part of our collaborative communities of learning and practice.
Lizana Oberholzer is a senior lecturer in teacher education and programme lead for the University of Wolverhampton’s International MA in Education, as well as the Early Careers Framework and National Professional Qualifications for school leaders. She is passionate about teacher development and is the BERA special interest group convenor for Teacher Education in England. In addition, she supports the BELMAS Research Interest Group for governing and governance as a convenor. Lizana is a BAMEed Trustee, and supports WomenEd as a regional lead. She is actively involved in IPDA, and is currently the IPDA England Chair, as well as the Chair of the IPDA International Conference. She is the Vice Chair for UCET’s CPD forum, and Chairs the APPG SIG for Teacher Development. She is a proud trustee of a Multi Academy Trust, and is a committed educator, striving to provide learners with learning opportunities and life-chances.
