We’re delighted to welcome Dame Alison Peacock as a keynote speaker at Practical Pedagogies 2026.
Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, a charitable Professional Body that seeks to empower a knowledgeable and respected teaching profession through membership and accreditation. Prior to joining the Chartered College, Dame Alison was Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire. Her career to date has spanned primary, secondary and advisory roles. She is an Honorary Fellow of Queens' College Cambridge, Hughes Hall Cambridge and UCL, a Visiting Professor of Glyndŵr University and a trustee for Big Change, the Helen Hamlyn Trust and an adviser to the Institute for Educational & Social Equity. She is a Director of the Edge Foundation, a Member of the Star Academies Trust and has honorary degrees from the University of Brighton, University of Bath Spa and University of Greenwich. She is a Deputy Lieutenant for Hertfordshire. Her research is published in a series of books about Learning without Limits offering an alternative approach to inclusive school improvement.
In her opening keynote on Day 2, Dame Alison Peacock will explore how we can create Early Years and Primary classrooms in which every child knows they are genuinely valued and irresistibly challenged. Drawing on her extensive experience as a teacher, headteacher, system leader and researcher, she will examine how classroom cultures rooted in trust, high expectations and inclusive practice enable all children to thrive.
Through powerful examples from real classrooms and the lived experiences of children, Dame Alison will illustrate how learning truly has no limits when we move beyond fixed ideas of ability. Her keynote will invite educators to reflect on their own practice, reimagine what is possible for every learner, and leave with renewed confidence that equity, excellence and joy in learning can – and must – go hand in hand.