Education Scotland has announced that this year’s Scottish Learning Festival (SLF) will take place from 26 to 28 September.

This year’s ‘SLF Conversations’ will offer a unique opportunity for attendees to learn about approaches to educational reform from across the world. The event will carefully explore a number of topics, including system leadership and learning, teaching and assessment.

Throughout the week delegates will hear a number of virtual keynote presentations by international commentators on global education. As part of the SLF Conversations programme, Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, will host a keynote presentation from Glasgow on Wednesday, 27 September.

Gillian Hamilton, Interim Chief Executive of Education Scotland, said:

“I’m delighted that the Scottish Learning Festival is back again for 2023. Last year’s event was a huge success and it was wonderful to see so many education professionals taking part in the virtual sessions and satellite events that were held in each of the six Regional Improvement Collaboratives (RICs).

Continuing with an evolving approach to the delivery of SLF Conversations, the programme for 2023 will incorporate a blend of online keynote presentations and face-to-face events.

SLF Conversations will be a great opportunity for us all to reflect, discuss and be inspired by the work that is happening across Scottish education. There will also be a number of professional learning opportunities under the SLF umbrella that will take place later this year.

Please keep an eye out on our social media channels in the coming months for more information. I would encourage you to sign up for one, some or all of the SLF Conversations as soon as registration is open and I look forward to seeing many of you there.”

The virtual element of this year’s SLF Conversations will take place on MS Teams Live between 26 and 28 September.

Online attendees will hear keynote presentations by international speakers from 4pm to 6pm each day, including NG Pak Tee, Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore and Allison Skerrett, Professor of Education at the University of Texas, US.

The in-person sessions, led by international education expert Santiago Rincon-Gallardo, will focus on learning, pedagogy, leadership and education policy, and whole system improvement.

SLF Conversations is free to attend and the conference programme is carefully developed to support career long professional learning, helping to keep professional practice fresh, up-to-date and relevant.