Investing in the people side of change: Top takeaways from the UKFIET Conference 2025

The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET) Conference, held from 16-18 September 2025 in Oxford, brought together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working in education and educational transformation across the world.

As specialists in comprehensive sexuality education, Projet Jeune Leader (PJL) works at the intersection of health, gender equality, and education. But, it was our - and my - first time attending and presenting at an education-centered convening, alongside fellow my What Works II Grantee Partners: Right To Play, Women Unlimited Eswatini and Aahung.

Engaging in this new space made me think differently about how we (“we” being both PJL and the wider violence prevention sector) work in and with education systems - particularly how we work with the people who are powering them: teachers.

Challenging the ever-expanding remit for teachers

Sessions at the conference showcased a vast range of expertise and experience on working at the intersection of education and other global priorities, such as poverty eradication, climate action, and fostering peaceful and just societies.  

It was clear that we all believe education is the lifeline for a better future. However, the definition of what contributes to better future and how we will get there is what we still debate.

My ‘ah-ha’ moment came from the handful of sessions that questioned what this larger dispute means for the people who we depend on for this lifeline: teachers.

Moulding responsible citizens, promoting climate justice, harnessing technological advances – these are just a few of the societal challenges we are putting on teachers’ shoulders.

As we work to embed violence prevention into education systems, we are no different.

Arguably, our aim is even more questionable, because we are asking teachers to do something emotionally, socially, and politically-charged – especially for women teachers who may have experienced or are currently experiencing violence.  

So, what should this mean for our work?

Recognising and treating teachers as the professionals they are

We need to fundamentally recognise that teachers are professionals with agency and professional goals. They are not self-sacrificing characters who can be operationalised to our (disputed) end goals.

I’m proud that at PJL, we have always committed to Educators as supported, paid professionals. And that, in the past few years, we have doubled down on investing in their professional aspirations and development.

For our PJL-hired Educators, this means creating a structured pipeline for them to age-up – not out – of their professional journeys.

And as we scale up with government teachers, we are relentlessly pursuing avenues for professional accreditation, so they are recognised (i.e. compensated) for their specialisation, not only their work.

Support teachers where the conditions are the hardest

When we ask teachers to do this work, we need to meaningfully step up to support them – and women’s rights organisations (WROs) around the world working on violence prevention in education systems are doing just that.

Speaking to this point, one of the most powerful presentations came from the plenary speaker, Dr. Ahmed Kamal Junina, who called in from Gaza, Palestine. He spoke to how we cannot ignore the classroom contexts in which teachers are working. “Academic freedom cannot be separated from material conditions,” he said. “We must support teachers where the conditions are the hardest.”

As Dr. Junina spoke, images from PJL’s partner schools in rural Madagascar came to my mind. Images of Educators, who walk two hours to school each day to teach their students under a tree in the school yard, infrastructure still damaged after cyclones years ago.

I think there have been two major changes at PJL in how we think about supporting teachers in difficult contexts over the past few years.

The first is the absolute necessity of applying a trauma-informed approach to our work, recognising the layers of individual, intergenerational, collective, and historical trauma in our society. When teachers recognise trauma, they can respond with empathy rather than frustration – not only to their students, but also to themselves.

The second is that by harnessing the mechanisms of change underpinning our model, we can - both directly and indirectly – promote Educators’ agency, resiliency, and relational identities.

Both points warrant their own posts, but I’ll just give an example of a change pathway we have seen touching on both: PJL now trains and supports Educators in trauma-informed counselling. An awareness and understanding of trauma allows Educators to develop stronger, trusting relationships with their students, and in turn, further boost resiliency for this work.

As my colleague and Clinical Psychologist, Saraha Randriamorasoa explains:

“This [awareness] is a key point of resilience, I think: Educators’ understanding of how trauma affects emotions, behaviours, and learning, but also being able to use clear strategies to regulate their own reactions to stress and demonstrate healthy coping strategies to their students. Resilience is facilitated because it is not only something individual, but becomes relational, within the classroom itself. And it is a strategy that is very much aligned with Malagasy collectivist culture.”

We’ve seen how when Educators step into these new roles as trusted mentors for their students, they find meaning and motivation for this work. And the positive feedback and recognition they receive from students, parents, and other teachers fosters their connection to their community.

This enhanced social capital has its benefits – sometimes it’s a chicken or bag of rice from a thankful parents’ association, but most times it a sense of purpose, new coping assets, and enhanced agency for working in rural conditions where otherwise it’s hard to recruit, equip, and support teachers.

Change moves at the speed of trust

The UKFIET conference strengthened my conviction that investing in educational innovations is not enough. We need a parallel investment in the people side of change work – in trust, in leadership, in learning how to work together with and for teachers.

My favourite soundbite came from a session led by Teach for All: “Change moves at the speed of trust.”

When we trust teachers – recognising them as professionals, and treating and supporting them as such – we are one step closer to transforming education to be that lifeline for a better future we all believe in.

About the author

Laura Leeson is Director of Evaluation and Strategic Development at Projet Jeune Leader (PJL). Funded by What Works II, Projet Jeune Leader is a youth-founded, women-led organisation in Madagascar. Since 2013, they have been providing gender-transformative Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to thousands of adolescents aiming to ensure that youth have the knowledge, skills and support needed to thrive during adolescence. 

More information

• Find out more about our Grantee Partner Projet Jeune Leader

• Read more about What Works II at UKFIET 2025