Our Annual Conference is being held in the Crowne Plaza in Stratford-upon-Avon 19th -20th March 2026.

Key Note speakers already confirmed are Hywel Roberts and Alex Quigley.

Hywel Roberts

Botheredness - Creative pedagogies - Storytelling

There are many reasons why Hywel is one of the most in-demand educational speakers around and why he is so much more than the self-styled ‘man in the Matalan suit’.

For one, he is an incredibly witty and entertaining speaker, as much at home in front of a group of ten-year-olds in a special school as he is a large audience of teachers.

He has that rare talent of being able to tell stories that both make you laugh and make you cry, often at the same time, combining his wide experience in all sorts of classrooms with all sorts of children with an academic insight into engagement, motivation, teaching and learning.

He also knows his way around even the most challenging of classrooms.

Originally a drama teacher cutting his teeth in some of the North of England’s most demanding school environments – including special schools and PRUs - Hywel shows how to bring the learning to life for even the most disaffected children and young people. In particular, he has drawn on and adapted the work of Dorothy Heathcote, with whom he studied, and her powerful Mantle of the Expert approach to learner engagement.

Alex Quigley

This is what Alex has to say about himself:

I am a blogger and the proud  author of books including, 'Why Learning Fails (And What To Do About It)', ‘Closing the Reading Gap’, ‘Closing the Writing Gap’, 'Closing the Vocabulary Gap', along with ‘The Confident Teacher’.

After spending over fifteen years in the classroom, I now support the cause of education from the other side of the school gates. For most of the week, I work for an educational charity, supporting teachers and school leaders to access research evidence and to break the link between educational outcomes and parental income.

Additionally, I offer consultancy services to schools, colleges and a variety of organisations who work in education, both nationally and internationally. Also, I am very lucky to have a monthly column for TES magazine.