Last week I attended the 5th edition of Practical Pedagogies, a conference like no other. This year saw it return “home” to The International School of Toulouse in the sunny south of France.

I love this conference and have been privileged to be invited to speak at all 5 conferences in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2024 and now 2026. If you click on the dates, you’ll see what I learned from in previous years and why I agree to attend – and speak – every time i’m asked by Russel Tarr.

This year my session was entitled Take One Book – I’ll share more in another post – and that left me 7 choices of sessions, plus the keynotes and endnote.

My reflections – they have been ongoing all week but the main points that keep coming back.

*Mattering – we need to feel that we matter whether we are a child, a teenager, and adult.

*Belonging – likewise, we need to find our place and feel secure.

*Flourishing – we should all have the opportunity to grow and flourish, not being kept in a pot or jar that’s limiting our growth based on our perceived “potential’ Thank you Dame Alison for the story of Claudia.

*Wonder – we should never lose the ability to be surprised, wowed and moved by our learners – a principle for life too.

Rewrite the unhelpful stories you tell yourself.

HOPE IS EVERYTHING.

As usual I attempted to sketchnote all the sessions I attended; this was made tricky when I left my pencil case on the other side of the school and had to search for an emergency writing implement. prior to Dame Alison Peacock’s keynote. IST is so amazingly organised and tidy that it took me four classrooms to discover anything suitable when I found a pencil, hidden on a book shelf. Below are the outcomes – I’m out of practice but am determined to recover my skills. I think, in an age of AI, it’s good to engage your brain as much as possible!

Hope you find them helpful and that they give you a flavour of the sessions. Feel free to leave comments and ask questions if you want to know more!