Finding Our People, Nourishing Dreams and Building Boundless Possibilities at Practical Pedagogies 2026
My heart, body and mind are full. Although, I have to admit, my body is also rather tired.
Four days in Toulouse, in the company of some of the world’s most passionate educators and learners, have been absolutely wonderful. I have laughed, learned, played, questioned, reflected, shared, listened, eaten fabulous food, stayed up far too late and made connections that I know will stay with me for a very long time. There may even have been some karaoke. Me? Surely not? Hehe.
As a freelancer, life can sometimes feel lonely. I love the richness and variety of my work, the people I meet and the opportunities to explore new possibilities, but I also miss being part of a community of educators who share the everyday excitement, frustrations, challenges and joys of learning together. Four days surrounded by like-minded people, laughter and excitement have lifted my heart in ways I hadn’t quite anticipated. And what a place to experience it all.
Toulouse was beautiful, welcoming and full of surprises. Everywhere we wandered, around another corner was another oasis of beauty. The warmth of La Ville Rose, the gorgeous sunset beside the Garonne, the uplifting light in the convent, the hidden gems of restaurants and the wonderful hospitality made the city itself part of the experience. I studied French at A level and have always wanted to spend more time in France. Having attended an international school myself as a teenager, there was something rather lovely about finding myself in an international school again, this time sharing my own work with educators from across the world.
Toulouse did not disappoint, and neither did the company.
I might not have been there at all without the encouragement of Dame Alison Peacock. Alison suggested that I attend Practical Pedagogies, and I am so grateful that she did. Both Alison and Ian Gilbert have been significant influences throughout my educational journey. More than that, they have consistently believed in me, including at times when I have struggled to believe in myself. Their encouragement, challenge and friendship have meant more than they probably realise.
There is something incredibly powerful about people who see possibilities in us that we cannot always see for ourselves. People who encourage us to take a chance, to share our thinking, to question what we know and to keep growing. Perhaps that is one of the reasons this experience has been so emotional for me. I know what it feels like to have someone believe in you, and I know how much that belief can matter. It is something I have always wanted the children and adults I work with to experience too.
Yet the connections began before I even reached Toulouse.
At Stansted Airport, I met Hannah Thomas and Rupert Loch. Our rather unlikely group clicked almost immediately, and what followed was something quite extraordinary. As soon as I met Hannah, I could see her connection with vulnerability. It is her superpower, and I recognised something of myself in her. We connected deeply, and through our conversations she helped me recognise something about my own vulnerabilities. They are not simply things I carry, or sometimes struggle with. They are part of what enables me to see and seek to understand the vulnerabilities of others. They help me connect, to notice what might not be spoken and to recognise the human being beyond the role or behaviour. There is something incredibly special about meeting someone who understands that part of you without needing it explained. We are firm friends for life.
Then we met Rupert. On the surface, perhaps a surprising connection. Science, forests, getting dirty, practical learning outdoors and an extraordinary depth of knowledge. Yet, of course, it makes perfect sense; Playful wonder in an amazing individual. He inspires curiosity, exploration, discovery and learning through real experiences. Rupert is such a deeply knowledgeable man, with hidden depths in his soul and kindness oozing from every pore, a true gentleman, with the most wonderful sense of humour. His passion for the natural world, archeology and his understanding of learning and his delight in getting children outside, exploring and experiencing the world, resonated so deeply with my own beliefs.
What united our unlikely trio was our passion for seeing children and all they bring and need, and our unswerving commitment to creating the conditions for them to thrive, experience wonder and, most of all, hope and feel loved. Our experiences and approaches might be different, but our beliefs about children, learning and relationships are deeply connected. Four days of laughter, learning, conversations and adventures later, we will forever be Les Trois Mousquetaires. Ian Gilbert, we welcome you as our D’Artagnan. You brought us duelling minds, challenging us to think, question and develop, always with humour and a shared curiosity about what might be possible, as well as the invitation to make the most of our time in Toulouse.
What a wonderful thing to find people who make you laugh, make you think and make you feel so completely connected. I have a feeling there are many more adventures to come. The sense of connection extended far beyond our little band of Musketeers. Practical Pedagogies brought together engaged and passionate educators from across the world, each bringing their own experiences, perspectives, questions and hopes for education. I found myself constantly enriched by conversations about teaching and learning in different contexts, the challenges we share and the different ways we seek to address them.
So many conversations returned to relationships, connection, play, creativity and the importance of seeing children as whole human beings. There was a shared recognition that learning is so much more than delivering content or developing skills. We need to engage curiosity, wonder and real connection before expecting understanding or exploration. We need to create the conditions in which children feel safe enough to take risks, confident enough to find their voices and empowered enough to take ownership of their learning; practical, relational approaches to learning. Practical Pedagogies indeed.
The three keynotes provided such rich opportunities for reflection, and each resonated with different aspects of my own educational journey.
Dame Alison Peacock’s unwavering belief in the possibilities of education and in the capacity of teachers and children to flourish has been a constant source of inspiration. Her commitment to professional trust, inclusion and the importance of recognising the potential in every learner connects deeply with my own experiences and convictions. There is something so important about recognising the expertise, humanity and professional agency of educators, particularly at a time when education can feel increasingly constrained by competing demands.
Ian Gilbert has challenged my thinking for many years. His work has been a significant influence on my practice and on the development of my forthcoming book. He is also my editor and has been eternally patient, bringing a balance of professional challenge and clarity that is helping me shape something I can be truly proud of. His belief in me, even when my own confidence has wavered, has meant so much. He challenges me to think more deeply, question my assumptions and find greater clarity in what I am trying to express, while never losing sight of what matters to me.
His keynote, and the conversations that followed, brought me back to the importance of play, creativity, relationships and the courage to think differently. Adults need permission to play and be creative too. If we want to address the complex issues facing education today, we need opportunities to explore, question, challenge assumptions and imagine possibilities together. We cannot expect children to be curious, creative and courageous learners if we do not create those same conditions for the adults who work with them.
There was something wonderfully energising about being in a room where people were willing to question, challenge and play with ideas. I have always believed that we need to experience learning, not simply talk about it. That applies just as much to professional learning as it does to our classrooms.
Iain Henderson’s final address pulled so many strands together for me, connecting my more recent learning at Playposium and my exploration of Daniel Coyle’s Flourish with research and thinking that have shaped my practice for decades. His reflections on flourishing, and particularly the importance of recognising who we are, not simply what we do, resonated deeply.
I found myself returning to the research that fuelled my MA, particularly the work of Peter Salovey and Marc Brackett around emotional intelligence and emotional literacy. Understanding ourselves, recognising and making sense of our emotions, developing empathy and learning to navigate relationships have always been fundamental to my understanding of education. Marc Brackett writes about giving ourselves Permission to Feel. Well, I certainly had all the feels in Toulouse.
Iain’s address also took me back through my own educational journey. Throughout my teaching career, in all my classes and all my schools, I have wanted to create joyful, hopeful communities rooted in a love of learning, communities where everyone could experience fulfilment, develop self-awareness and become empowered owners of their learning.
Metacognition, emotional literacy, creativity, relationships and learner agency were never simply additional areas of interest for me. They were fundamental to how I understood teaching and learning. I wanted children to recognise themselves as capable, curious and thoughtful learners, able to reflect on their thinking, understand their emotions, make connections and take increasing ownership of their learning. It was a constant labour of love. And it still is. As my work has evolved from classroom teaching through school leadership, teacher education, coaching, reflective supervision and facilitation, that belief has remained at the heart of everything I do and seek to inspire in others.
The conference enabled me to connect deeply with the different strands of my work. Coaching for complexity, reflective supervision bringing balance to teachers, enabling new teachers to become resilient leaders, playing with purpose and creating rich opportunities for oracy, literacy and active learning might appear to be different areas of work. For me, they are deeply connected. They are all about creating the conditions for people to develop a greater understanding of themselves, their relationships and their possibilities.
Through Resilient Leaders Elements, I work with people to develop awareness, leadership presence, clarity of direction and resilient decision-making. Yet these are not simply things we do. They are deeply connected to our sense of self, our values, our emotional understanding and the way we show up in the world.
Through coaching and reflective supervision, I create spaces where people can pause, explore their experiences, reflect on what matters and make sense of complexity. So much of this work begins with connection, with ourselves and with others.
Through LEGO® Serious Play®, drama, embodiment and other active approaches, I create opportunities for people, whether adults of children, to explore their thinking, develop self-awareness, make meaning and discover new possibilities. These approaches engage our bodies, emotions, imaginations and relationships alongside our cognitive processes. They enable us to express and explore things that words alone might not always reveal.
This is not simply about making learning more enjoyable, although joy matters enormously. It is about recognising that learning is a deeply human experience. We bring our whole selves to learning. Our experiences, emotions, identities, relationships, hopes and vulnerabilities all influence how we engage with the world. If we genuinely want children and adults to flourish, we need to pay attention to all of these dimensions.
This was also at the heart of the workshop I shared in Toulouse, Texts on Their Feet: From Reading to Writing Through Rehearsal Room Pedagogies. The work I shared has its roots in my earliest experiences of teaching and has continued to develop throughout my career. It is also at the heart of my forthcoming book, Drama, Oracy and Active Learning in the Primary School: A playful approach to building confident learners through Shakespeare.
I wanted participants to experience how we can bring learning to life through drama, movement, language, imagination, embodiment and purposeful play. How we can create rich opportunities for oracy, enable children to explore and interpret texts, develop emotional understanding and move towards writing with greater confidence and ownership.
For me, these approaches have always been about much more than engagement. They enable children, and their teachers, to experience language, explore different perspectives, connect with emotions, make meaning together and develop their own voices. They create opportunities for children to see themselves as learners, thinkers, writers and creators.
There was something particularly special about sharing this work with educators from different countries and contexts, bringing their own perspectives and experiences to the room. The conversations throughout the conference enriched my thinking and reminded me how much we have to learn from one another.
I have been reflecting on the importance of creating experiences that invite curiosity and wonder before expecting understanding, using resources, movement, conversation and imagination to build connection with learning. I love connecting with and giving adults permission to play, explore and take risks so that they can create those opportunities for children.Perhaps most importantly, of remembering that we cannot separate learning from the learner.
The relationships we build, the environments we create and the way we see and respond to children matter enormously. Our children deserve to thrive, not merely be taught.
As I reflect on the conference, I can already feel the ripples of the learning shared beginning to percolate. There are new conversations to continue, ideas to explore and possibilities emerging through the connections made. My own understanding of teaching and learning across the world has been enriched, and I am excited about where some of these new relationships might lead.
There is also something deeply nourishing about spending time with people who share your values while bringing different experiences and perspectives. It has been energising to engage with people who challenge your thinking, help you see things differently, make you laugh until your sides ache and remind you why you care so deeply about what you do.
The late nights with beautiful humans, fantastic food, laughter, wonderful hospitality and new friendships were not separate from the learning. They were part of the experience. We connected as people, not simply as professionals, and those connections created space for richer conversations, greater openness and deeper understanding.
Perhaps that is one of the most significant things I am taking away from Toulouse: the very conditions we want to create for children are also the conditions we need as adults. We need to feel safe, respected, connected and valued. We need opportunities to explore, question, play, reflect and grow. We need people who believe in us, people who challenge us and people who remind us of the joy and possibility in learning.
I experienced all of those things in Toulouse.
I am enormously grateful to Russell Tarr for organising Practical Pedagogies and bringing together such a wonderful community of educators. Thanks to Rachel Leonard, Principal of the International School of Toulouse, and the whole IST team, thank you for your warmth, generosity, hospitality and the care that made everyone feel so welcome.
To Dame Alison Peacock, Ian Gilbert and Iain Henderson, thank you for three thought-provoking keynotes that challenged, affirmed and enriched my thinking. Alison and Ian, your belief in me over the years has meant more than you know. I am deeply grateful.
To Hannah and Rupert, my fellow Musketeers, thank you for the laughter, the adventures, the kindness and the deep connections. What an unexpected and wonderful gift. I cannot wait to see where our next adventures take us. D’Artagnan, I hope you are ready.
To the many educators I met, listened to, learned from and laughed with, thank you for sharing your experiences, your curiosity, your passion and your hopes for education. I leave with new friends I hope to make more magic with.
I keep returning to the reflections on who we are and what we do, and to the emotional literacy research that has influenced my practice for so long. Perhaps what has moved me most is recognising how deeply connected all these strands of my work remain, despite the different roles, opportunities and experiences that have shaped my journey. My belief in creating joyful, hopeful communities, where children and adults develop a sense of self, experience fulfilment and become empowered owners of their learning, has endured. It continues to evolve, deepen and find new expression through the people I meet and the experiences we share.
This week I have been reminded, in the most wonderful way, of what it feels like to experience those conditions myself.
My heart, body and mind are full.
There is still so much I am thinking about, so many conversations I want to continue and so many possibilities beginning to emerge. For now, I am holding on to the laughter, the learning, the friendships, the wonder, the gratitude and the hope.
Toulouse, you have been wonderful.
All the feels, indeed.
Find the joy.
