Session 2 - Strand 1

Abstract:

This session is designed for any member of staff who teaches, supports learning, or shapes educational experiences. No specialist knowledge is assumed. It starts with two questions that are rarely held together: what do I actually know about the people I teach, and who am I to them in the room? The first question is about curiosity and building a richer, more honest picture of our students’ lives, contexts, and what they carry into the learning space. The second is about positionality, recognising that we, too, bring an identity into the room, one that shapes what we notice, what we assume, what we find easy to say, and what we unconsciously make central or peripheral in our teaching. This session weaves these two questions together into a single reflective arc. Student outcome data is present, but quietly as context for curiosity, not a prompt for guilt. The focus throughout is hopeful: on the small, honest shifts in self-awareness that make teaching feel more alive, and that create meaningfully different experiences for the students who currently feel least seen