The LocalED 2025 conference on the theme of ‘Locality working in education: Why it matters and what it takes’ was held at Transport House on Thursday 30th January 2025, sponsored by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the AEC Trust.
It was attended by 100 representatives from Local Authorities (LAs), School-led partnerships and other organisations all unified around the belief that locality system leadership matters. There was a real sense of excitement that this is an issue that is rising to the top of the agenda.
John Edwards, Director-General Regions Group at the Department for Education gave the keynote and stated his commitment to partnering with LAs, Combined Authorities and other local partnerships. He focused on the development of RISE (Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence) Teams.
The nine pilots, which have been running for two and a half years, reported back on their findings. Four pilots covered ways to tackle pupil absence, four explored new approaches to professional accountability and one delved into how a combined authority can support school improvement.
The project was independently evaluated by Professor Toby Greany and Dr Susan Cousin from the University of Nottingham. All could justly claim to have demonstrated innovative and cutting-edge practice as many delegates present testified.
“Congratulations on a fantastic conference showcasing some really important work that can help show a way forward for the system.”
Douglas Archibald, Consultant – Network Development for Whole Education
“A milestone event following years of tough, collaborative work. The case studies and overarching academic analysis was very impressive – and Inspiring to see and hear how local identity and loyalty can be harnessed. Hopefully you are leading a movement! I learnt a great deal, so thanks very much for the invitation.”
Patrick Wall, Founder of edpol.net
One key conclusion from the conference was that high-quality locality working was key to pulling together a fragmented system and to providing a strong platform to tackle the major challenges of raising standards, pupil absence and meeting the needs of those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
It was recognised that whilst patches of good locality working exist, as illustrated by the LocalED 2025 pilots, a sustained effort would be needed to make this the norm.
You can download the external evaluation report ‘Forging Local Coherence: LocalED project evaluation report’ here.
The slides from Professor Toby Greany and Dr Susan Cousin’s presentation at the conference can be accessed below:
Lessons from the evaluation of locality working
A further report will follow in due course on the additional findings from the conference.
To access copies of the Pilot presentations delivered at the conference, click the links below:
Pilot 1 – Support for vulnerable pupils
Rochdale Borough Council and Wakefield Families Together
Wiltshire Borough Council and Coventry City Council
Pilot 2 – Combined Authorities
Pilot 3 – new models of accountability
Schools Alliance for Excellence (Surrey)
Milton Keynes Education Partnership
