Levelling the Playing Field: Behaviour, Boundaries and Belonging with Tom Bennett OBE
With over 400 delegates in attendance, the 3rd Annual Teaching Matters Summit 2025 Day 2 kicked off with the “titans of teaching”. Delegates heard the very best in contemporary evidence-based teaching and learning practices and the impact these are having across the globe.
World-renowned behavioural expert, Tom Bennett OBE, delivered the first keynote. In a highly entertaining presentation, Tom shared the scaffold required for children to make sensible decisions and usher them into maturity. He described how the teacher-student relationship hinges on teachers being trustworthy, predictable and reliable. They should have clearly understood expectations, establish clear boundaries and consequences and demonstrate high regard and care. Questions came thick and fast for Tom, who shared his expertise in designing equitable accommodations for children with behavioural challenges and provided the salient advice that in the complexities of education, everything works somewhere, but nothing works everywhere.
Variation Theory: The Golden Principle Behind Penny Drop Moments with Bruno Reddy OBE
Tom’s UK counterpart, Bruno Reddy, OBE, then took to the stage to discuss variation theory and the importance of helping children ‘spot the key feature’ with careful, deliberate, intentional sequencing of questions. In doing so, teachers can encourage the mental calculation, but in slight increments. Bruno encouraged delegates to identify big and small differences, providing a sequence of examples and non-examples to guide conceptual understanding.
Jared Bussell of Shaping Minds Australia
Jared Bussell, Director of Shaping Minds Australia, walked us through his own teaching journey, speaking of the Kimberley Schools Project, an experience that has shaped his teaching philosophy and practice today. He highlighted the critical responsibility of teachers, noting that when a student fails to learn, it is often a reflection of a failure in teaching. Jared also stressed the importance of Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) and the role of engagement norms in maintaining high levels of student participation and accountability. Finally, he showed how structured intentional teaching can boost students’ fluency and comprehension in literacy by demonstrating the fluency instructional sequence using the Invictus poem.
The afternoon sessions enabled delegates to choose between sessions on emotional engagement in the early years, research into oral language foundations for learning, questioning and response strategies, and a practical workshop on the Variation Theory introduced by Bruno Reddy earlier in the day.
The Thread that Connects Us: Linguistic Tapestry for Life with Lyn Stone
Linguistics expert, Lyn Stone, took to the main stage to discuss two vital questions at the heart of literacy – how words are built, and how they are remembered. She encouraged delegates to think beyond phonics as English words are multi-layered and it’s not as simple as ‘spell it like it sounds’. Lyn walked through word sums, families and word etymology as means of teaching the exceptions and the fact that every irregular word tells a story. Once students learn how the strands connect, meaning, structure, and memory work together.
As we climbed to the pinnacle of the Summit, Jennifer White, System Lead: Curriculum & Pedagogy, brought together experts from policy, best practice pedagogy and research to look to the future with a powerful and thought-provoking panel on the importance of creating a learning environment where every student can flourish.
As three knowledge-rich days came to a close, delegates left engaged, energised and ready to move into a new era for education.
Of the two days, Emily Sass, Deputy Principal at Marist Regional College, said, “It’s a great networking opportunity as well as some of the best speakers within Australia in our profession. The speakers have all been amazing. They’re all really engaging and really on the money with where our profession needs to go. Our team are all really passionate about that and we’re trying to soak up as much as we can while we’re here.”
As three knowledge-rich days came to a close, delegates left engaged, energised, and ready to move into a new era for education.