Full Day Seminar
Autumn 2026

This full-day seminar is designed for senior leaders in schools, colleges, and trusts who are navigating the increasing presence of emerging, contested, and fast-moving knowledge claims within education and wider society.

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Access to seminar materials is shared following professional enquiry, to support careful and informed engagement.

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As public discourse, media coverage, and learner curiosity evolve, educational leaders are increasingly required to make informed decisions about how such topics are acknowledged, contextualised, or managed within institutional settings.

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Grounded in original postgraduate research, the seminar adopts a Knowledge–Attitudes–Practice (KAP) framework to support evidence-informed leadership, professional judgement, and strategic decision-making.

 

Participants will engage with recent research findings, current developments, and sector-specific challenges, while reflecting on the institutional, cultural, and policy factors that shape how unfamiliar or controversial subject matter is addressed in education.

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The day is not focused on advocacy or curriculum prescription. Instead, it provides a structured space for senior professionals to examine evidence, explore professional attitudes, and consider practical responses that align with safeguarding, governance, curriculum oversight, and public accountability responsibilities.

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Through a combination of research presentation, facilitated discussion, and reflective activities, the seminar will also gather anonymised attitudinal data from participants. This will contribute to ongoing academic research examining how educational leaders interpret, negotiate, and respond to emerging areas of knowledge within formal education systems.

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By the end of the day, participants will have:

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• Engaged with research-informed findings drawn from a UK postgraduate study examining how educators and institutions respond to emerging and contested areas of knowledge.

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• Received an evidence-based update on recent developments, public disclosures, and academic discussions that are increasingly influencing learner curiosity, staff questions, and public discourse.

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• Explored structural and cultural barriers within education systems, including policy constraints, risk management, institutional reputation, staff confidence, and curriculum governance.

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• Considered strategic ways forward, including leadership responses, communication approaches, and professional frameworks that support balanced, responsible, and defensible decision-making.

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Suitability

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This seminar is suitable for headteachers, principals, senior leadership teams, trust leaders, governors, and those with responsibility for curriculum oversight, safeguarding, or strategic development.

 

No prior subject knowledge is required.

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