LEADING LIGHTS Issue 3 | 2024
Celebrating NZEALS 2024
It was a pleasure to host the conference in Ōtautahi Christchurch
NZEALS 2024 in Ōtautahi Christchurch was a special place for educational leaders to meet, think together, be inspired and share fellowship. A huge ‘thank you’ goes to the organising committee: Lisa Dillon-Roberts (conference convenor), Juliette Hayes, Christine Harris and Raewyn Penman.
Juliette, Lisa, Christine and Raewyn
Ka rawe koe!
Capture the energy of the conference through the comments of delegates and organisers, and through the images of the conference sessions.
It was a pleasure to host the conference in Ōtautahi Christchurch. This is my third consecutive NZEALS conference and they never fail in their impact.
What really inspires me about them is not the wonderful keynote speakers (which are a given), but the attendees themselves.
Attendees at NZEALS conferences come from all over the world. Together, we share leadership stories and learning. We are the people at the coalface of educational leadership practice and research. We have heart, optimism and attend for connection and collegiality.
Our conference theme of leading well, leading together and leading with optimism could not have been shared with a better group of people. The collective wisdom and openness to learning, is for me, what it is all about.
To those who attended, I hope you got as much from it as I did and whilst here, enjoyed our beautiful city. If you did, tell your friends and I look forward to joining you and them, in Wellington in 2026, for our next conference.
Our conference has made me very excited about the future of NZEALS and the wonderful national and international connections we all grow from.
Lisa Dillon-Roberts
NZEALS Canterbury Presiding Member
NZEALS 2024 Conference Convenor
I love the connectivity across the sectors.
Love the balance of research and practical application, plus the cross-sector membership.
I enjoyed this conference immensely. I had not attended one previously, but I found the speakers and workshops highly engaging and closely linked to practice. The balance seemed right to me.
The keynote speakers added diverse perspectives and opportunities to extend learning and make connections to international topics in education. Longer breakout sessions that allowed more time for authentic dialogue with international colleagues would be valuable.
The academically stimulating level of discussion. Key themes are decolonisation felt timely and valuable. A practical challenge for myself was 'what more can I take out to grow our organisation' rather than 'add in'.
The highlight for me was learning alongside people across the globe and understanding our collective goals and challenges that exist across the miles and interconnect us in shared understanding.
Post-conference survey respondents
I wanted to start off by thanking you for allowing us to participate in such a fantastic conference. I really enjoyed NZEALS this year and got a great deal of value from it. I found the speakers engaging, and I enjoyed hearing the practitioner stories on the range of topics that were provided and speaking to the other delegates. It was also a great chance for me to examine the lens by which I see education, teaching and leadership.
Lauren Wing, Long Bay College
The conference exceeded every expectation I had of it (those expectations framed by the very positive views I had of the Hamilton Conference in 2022).
The intersections between the various groups attending making for some fascinating discourse, really promising connections with leaders in other settings and no little reflection on my part.
I’ve taken away heaps of provocations and immediate considerations for pedagogy and leadership development in my setting.
Thank you so much for all your work in putting together such a rich and wide variety of sessions.
James Heneghan, Long Bay College
I wanted to reach out and personally thank you for the opportunity to attend and present at the NZEALS conference. As a Canadian educational leader with Indigenous roots, the experience was truly impactful for me and I appreciated learning alongside such a diverse group of educators from around the world. I recognize the interconnectedness between our Indigenous histories and am humbled by the steps that you are taking as a country to reconciliation.
I felt incredibly welcomed by the kind hospitality of everyone in attendance and have grown as a leader and researcher from the experience.
If there is ever any way that I can support, please let me know.
Take care, marsii!
Shelly Hopper – Western University, Ontario
Thank you for a wonderful NZEALS conference experience. I have been to a few NZEALS conferences and they are always so friendly.
Debbie Ryder, Te Rito Maioha
It is real magic, standing at the reception desk on Day One of an NZEALS conference, meeting all the people I’ve been in korero with, some for as long as six months. Organising the breakout groups is a real joy, from seeing the submissions arrive and getting them refereed, through working with presenters to shape their ideas to the conference theme and delegate mix, to being in their session and soaking up their thoughts and experiences.
It is truly humbling, knowing the lengths to which some delegates have gone to be here, whether through long-distance travel, getting release from work, or summoning up the courage to present their knowledge to others. We live up to our reputation as a friendly conference by giving delegates space to be, to think, to immerse themselves in good discussion and leadership thinking.
I have great memories of NZEALS 2024 and am looking forward already to NZEALS 2026 in Wellington.
Ann Briggs, NZEALS 2024 Breakout session organiser
NZEALS members and conference delegates can view many of the conference presentations at the Conference page. Login first to view these papers.