That is the objective of the North Otago Primary Principals’ Association Teaching and Learning Conference.
More than 240 principals, teachers, learning support and administration staff will be at the Brydone Hotel and Oamaru Opera House today and tomorrow for the event.
The biennial conference features three keynote speakers plus a handful of workshops.
This year’s conference would be a step up on previous years, chairwoman Deidre Senior said.
"In the past, we’ve had a very high standard of keynotes and then we’ve relied on the support of local people to run workshops, but we’ve actually brought some very high calibre, strong educational leaders in to run the workshops as well."
The workshops cover a range of topics including art, mathematics, music and behaviour management.
The three speakers all come from different backgrounds.
Kathryn Berkett is a neuroscientist who will speak about the effects devices have on pupils’ brains.
She is also running a workshop on the increase in behavioural needs that schools are experiencing.
Farm 4 Life founder Tangaroa Walker will speak about overcoming challenges as someone who struggled with school and Dr Michelle Dickinson will speak about making science as accessible as possible to all pupils.
Mrs Senior said this was the ninth conference and was to counter the expense of local schools sending staff to conferences out of the district.
It was important for North Otago schools to be exposed to ‘innovations and changes that are happening constantly in education".
"Our teachers are getting exposed to a number of leading practices and being kept up to date . . . it’s also a really nice networking opportunity."
