This year, it felt like a festival of hope.
Education can be toxic. A lot of exhausted and stressed-out educators attempting to manage ineffective systems, nuance, constant change, and workload. Therefore, an education conference has the potential to get heavy, invite pessimism and spread misery. But none of this was true at the Festival of Education 2026.
Upon arrival, the branding calls out, a welcoming mix of bold colours that are reminiscent of Tutti Frutti, all the promise and hope of childhood. And oh, the grounds, the festival is held at a ridiculously expensive private school, but it’s impossible to remain angered at the injustice when distracted by beautiful buildings, green landscapes and, in this year’s case, optimistic blue skies (FYI - I am still anti private education).
The app has the perfect level of simplicity; I can easily schedule my own timetable for the entire festival and share my details with people via a QR code. An ease with technology that is often hard to find in the education system.
Sir Martyn Oliver could have been met with negativity, but the crowd refused to let that be the tone. Determined, respectful and realistic, the educators at this festival do not allow him to dampen their spirits - we are here for change, we are here to succeed and it is clear that nobody can take that away from us, at least not here, not now.
A variety of speakers (not just education consultants, I might add) explore the challenges we face in the education sector, including the nine months of silence post curriculum and assessment review, the deficit language when discussing disadvantaged children and families, the lack of autonomy, and in some cases the apparent lack of satisfaction in the profession but this is balanced out perfectly with practical strategies, anecdotal joy, stories of connection and energy. There is more to this festival than talking about what’s wrong in education - a positivity so infectious that even my mum turned to me during our final session and said “I want to be a teacher now!”.
The speakers area, a space that has the potential to be full of ego, was charged with possibility and openness. Conversation aplenty, a positive humming of shared ideas and opportunity. A coming together - not a place to ignore our frustrations in the form of toxic positivity but instead explicitly centre on fixing things.
Connections were made, professional learning took place but most of all I came away with a sense of pride, hopeful that we are moving forward and certain that I wasn’t going to walk away from teaching anytime soon.