Insight into Education Business LIVE 2026

Education Business LIVE Conference & Exhibition returns for its second year on 26 March 2026, covering key issues shaping the sector – including SEND reforms, new MAT inspections, artificial intelligence, and much more. With the annual Education Business Awards also co-located, the event is a must-attend for professionals committed to education

Taking place at London’s Old Billingsgate, Education Business LIVE will welcome school and trust leaders, teachers, business managers, policymakers and sector experts for a full day of insight, discussion and networking. 

The event will feature an inspirational line-up of industry speakers covering the key issues facing the sector, alongside leading solution providers sharing best practice and innovative ideas to support schools and academies across the UK.

Co-located with the conference is the Education Business Awards. Now in its 17th year, the awards celebrate excellence in the sector across more than twenty categories, including outstanding progress, leadership, SEND provision, education technology, and more. This year, the awards will be presented by Matthew Burton, star of Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire and headteacher of Thornhill Community Academy.

The conference programme

The conference programme is built around the key challenges affecting school management today, with themed streams covering leadership, inspections, teacher training, procurement, SEND provision, catering, flexible working, estates management and technology.

The conference will open with a keynote address from Matthew Burton, who will discuss his experience of headship at Thornhill Community Academy, where he led it through a period of change and development.

This will be followed by a leadership-focused session featuring Stephen Morales, chief executive of Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL), and Emma Balchin, chief executive of the National Governance Association (NGA). Together, they will explore the essential ingredients of operational effectiveness, including strong leadership, clear processes and productivity monitoring. They will also consider how schools can build the right mix of people and roles to achieve success.

Stephen Morales will be also be ‘In conversation with Utility Aid’ who has helped charity and not-for-profit organisations bring down their energy costs. This insightful session will give delegates practical examples of how they can save money through more efficient procurement.

This will be followed by a session on making leadership and governance work. Building strong leadership and governance frameworks is only effective if they translate into day-to-day delivery. The panel – which welcomes Rowena Hackwood from Astrea Trust, and Dr Mary Bousted, Chair of the Teaching Commission – will explore how schools and trusts are putting strategy into practice, and what others can learn from their experience.

SEND and inclusivity 

SEND will be a major focus of the programme, with a collaborative session on SEND provision and design for inclusive learning. The sessions will examine current good operational practice that supports SEND integration in mainstream schools and inclusive learning design, drawing on the perspectives of school staff, parents and carers, and those leading inclusive strategies.

Professor Samantha Twiselton OBE from Sheffield Hallam University will discuss the current SEND landscape and what schools can expect going forward. She will be joined by Heba Al-Jayoosi, assistant headteacher and inclusion leader at Mayflower Primary School, who will share practical insights on integrating SEND learners. Ali Durban MBE, co-founder of Gesher School, will speak about her experiences as a SEND parent and establishing a specialist school in London. Meanwhile, Terry White, chair of the Association for Learning Environments, will focus on inclusive design in mainstream schools and connected hubs for SEND learners.

The SEND strand will also include an insightful presentation from Adam Sproston, Senior His Majesty’s Inspector, SEND and Inclusion at Ofsted, who will outline SEND considerations within Ofsted’s renewed inspection framework.

Amanda Wright, head of Whole School SEND at nasen, will conclude the session exploring how professional learning, whole-school thinking, evidence-informed decision-making, and sustained professional development, can strengthen inclusive practice across schools. 

Teacher training

The future of teacher training will be explored at Education Business LIVE. James Coleman, head of operations at the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT), will focus on preparing teachers for real-world challenges, highlighting the importance of human skills such as critical thinking, emotional intelligence and problem-solving, and how embedding these skills into training can support classroom success and improve teacher retention.

Professor Samantha Twiselton OBE will return to explore how ITT can move beyond overly prescriptive models while remaining rigorous and intentional in meeting trainees’ needs at every stage of their professional journey.

Phil Smith, education consultant for NASBTT, will join the speakers to discuss the future of initial teacher training.
Procurement
To help schools ensure budgets are well spent and effectively resourced, a session on procurement best practice, will take place at Education Business LIVE, including how to make MAT procurement feel less high risk and fragmented.

Speakers include David Kershaw, government advisor and digital transformation specialist; Chris Mills from the DfE’s Maximising Value for Pupils programme, Peter Melville, chief operating officer at South West Essex Community Education Trust, Jack Horton, customer engagement manager at Crescent Purchasing Consortium, and Clare Delaney, managing director at Place Group.

MAT Inspections

As the government moves towards the introduction of multi-academy trust inspections, school and trust leaders are beginning to ask what this will mean in practice – and how to prepare in a way that is proportionate, constructive and sustainable.

Education Business LIVE will host a session exploring what MAT inspection could (and should) look like, drawing on lessons from the evolving schools inspection framework and early thinking around test-bed inspections. The focus is on readiness rather than compliance, and on how trusts can demonstrate impact without adding unnecessary burden.

Speakers include Warren Carratt, CEO of Nexus Multi Academy Trust, Rowena Hackwood, CEO of Astrea Trust, Gail Brown, CEO of Ebor Academy Trust, and Rebecca Daulman from Agora Learning Partnership.

Flexible working

Flexible working is gaining momentum in education, driven by wellbeing pressures, workforce shortages and proposed day-one rights. There will be a panel exploring how schools can introduce flexible working in practice, balancing staff needs with workload, timetabling and continuity of learning, while maintaining trust with parents and pupils. 

Speakers and panelists include Kelly Hannaghan, director at Mind Work Matters; Warren Carratt, CEO of Nexus Multi Academy Trust, Emma Wigmore, chief executive officer at The Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust, and Dr Mary Bousted, Chair of the Teaching Commission and honorary professor at UCL Institute of Education.

Estates management

The topic of school estates management will be covered at Education Bussiness LIVE, delivered in partnership with the National Alliance of School Premises Management (NASPM) and sponsored by Cornerstone. 

Stuart McGregor, NASPM’s director of operations and Chris Coyle, NASPM’s operations manager, alongside headteacher Paul Jackson, will lead a discussion on critical health and safety responsibilities, core standards, the duty holder role, and effective risk management, including what “so far as is reasonably practicable” really means in practice.

There will also be a presentation and discussion covering the NASPM campaign ‘Schools Must be Safe’ and the critical controls in school risk management, chaired by Stuart McGregor. He will be joined again by Paul Jackson and Chris Coyle.

AI and technology 

Artificial intelligence and education technology are rapidly reshaping classrooms across the UK, prompting both government investment and widespread changes in teaching practice.

To navigate this rapidly evolving landscape, Education Business LIVE will feature a session on AI and EdTech, delivered in partnership with techUK. Opening remarks will come from Austin Earl, education & EdTech lead at techUK and chair of the EdTech Advisory Panel on AI in Education. The session will explore how research-led certification can help schools adopt AI tools with confidence, ensuring they are safe, effective and ethically grounded. Speakers include Rob Peters from the NGA, Chris Goodall, head of digital education at the Bourne Education Trust, and Dr Madiha Khan, director of consulting services at EDUCATE Ventures Research. The session will be chaired by Edtech legislator, Jim Knight, The Rt Hon Lord Knight of Weymouth.

Alongside this, a session on digital maturity will examine how education leaders, government and industry partners can work together to drive coherent progress. Contributors include Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, and Cheryl Shirley, director of digital learning at LEO Academy Trust.

Austin Earl will also chair a panel session titled “Building BECTA 2.0: Are We Losing Our Digital Promise Without a Central Strategy?”. The discussion will consider how the education sector can respond to the challenges of digital transformation at a time of fragmentation, funding pressures and rising expectations. It will bring together organisations forming a new coalition to discuss collaboration across the sector, recent policy developments, ongoing gaps in digital access and skills, and the vision for a more coordinated national approach.

A talk on building AI-ready teams for better student support services will also take place, in association with consultancy redk. This will allow delegates to watch first-hand how AI helps solve common student problems quickly while making management easier.

School food

With updates to the School Food Standards expected, expanded entitlements around free school meals and breakfast provision, and growing scrutiny of nutritional quality, schools and trusts face a complex delivery challenge in a highly constrained funding environment.
Education Business LIVE will host a timely session exploring how schools can prepare for what is coming, understand the real implications of policy change, and make practical decisions that balance compliance, affordability and impact for pupils. 

Trisha Jaffe, chair of the Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust, will be speaking in this session. Her former school featured in the original Jamie’s School Dinners documentary in the early noughties, and Trisha will share her experience of the show and how it sparked the revolutionary improvement of school food. Trisha will also explore the link between pupil health, nutrition and the ability to focus, as well as what “good” looks like when it comes to meeting diverse dietary, cultural and allergy requirements at scale.

Sam Phillips, director of programmes, at Chefs in Schools will cover what new updates to the School Food Standards mean in practice, and how schools can prepare for September delivery now. Myles Bremner, CEO from Bremner & Co and former director of the government’s School Food Plan, gives the policy context about what’s changing in school food, as well as expanded Free School Meals and breakfast provision expansion.

Roundtable sessions

There will be a number of roundtable sessions taking place throughout Education Business LIVE. These will be small gatherings where everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the conversation with industry experts. 

The subjects covered are wellbeing and student engagement, chaired by Kelly Hannaghan from Mind Work Matters; SEND, chaired by Amanda Wright from nasen, and sustainable buildings, hosted by Ann-Marie Fallon from the Passivhaus Trust.

Exhibition and networking

The Education Business LIVE exhibition will showcase the latest products and services for the education sector, with solution providers spanning technology, finance, facilities management, security, health and safety, catering, SEND provision and more.

Delegates will have the opportunity to network with peers, engage in live demonstrations and gain hands-on experience of products and services designed to support their roles and improve school operations.

The Education Business Awards

The day will conclude with the Education Business Awards, following the conference sessions. Since 2009, the awards have recognised outstanding achievements in thousands of state and independent schools.

With more than twenty categories, including outstanding progress and leadership, SEND best practice and provision, ICT innovation, procurement, security, environmental practice, school buildings and catering, the awards promise to be a highlight of the education calendar.

The awards will be presented by Matthew Burton, star of Channel 4s Educating Yorkshire and headteacher of Thornhill Community Academy.

Matthew first appeared in the hit show in 2013 as an English teacher. Since then he has taken on the role of Headteacher at Thornhill Community Academy.

Educating Yorkshire returned to Channel 4 in 2025, bringing renewed attention to the school and its community as it navigates daily school life in a heartwarming and humorous way.

The shortlist for the Education Business Awards has now been revealed, view it here. 

Register for free to Education Business LIVE here.