Free Teaching and Learning Conference Supporting Flourishing in Schools

A two-day teaching and learning conference for teachers and education professionals hosted in association with Flourishing Network at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard and Research Schools International (RSI) will take place at Sevenoaks School on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 October 2023. UK state schools are welcome to attend free of charge. 

The conference will bring together teachers, school leaders, and other educators and practitioners, both local and overseas, to consider the challenges and rewards of implementing flourishing practices in general, as well as delve more deeply into three particular themes:

1. Learning activities that develop a sense of meaning and purpose
2. Creativity and the Arts
3. Connecting with Nature

The conference aims to focus on practical, school-based approaches that help students lead more fulfilling educational lives and seek understanding of what it means to flourish in a modern educational landscape that is very much subject to change. The aims of the conference are:

1. To consider ways in which particular themes associated with human flourishing can be introduced and developed within school communities. 
2. To provide educators with opportunities to share experiences and practices related to flourishing in schools.
3. To provide educators with opportunities to make connections and establish research interests that can be developed collaboratively over time.

In collaboration with the OECD/PISA, the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard, and Sevenoaks School, RSI has curated a list of evidence-informed education practices that are associated with student flourishing, which include:

• Initiatives that foster close social relationships, including teacher-student relationships, friendships, and a positive school culture
• Character skill interventions (e.g., gratitude practices, acts of kindness)
• Service learning
• Physical activity
• Connecting with nature
• Music and the arts
• Play and laughter
• Learning activities that develop a sense of meaning and purpose