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2026
ASPA National Summit
Building on the successes of the 2024 and 2025 Summits, this year’s event focused on the theme “Agency for Equity and Excellence: Shaping Policy through Partnership”.
2026 ASPA National Summit Report
Held at the National Gallery of Australia, the 2026 ASPA National Summit brought together school leaders, policymakers, researchers, and students to shape the future of secondary education. This report captures key insights from the two-day forum, highlighting the urgent need for greater agency, genuine co-design in policy, and system-wide reform to support equity, leadership sustainability, and student flourishing. It reflects the collective voice of the profession and outlines clear priorities for policy and practice across Australia’s education system.
Summit Gallery
A visual snapshot of the 2026 ASPA National Summit, capturing key moments of collaboration, dialogue, and professional engagement across the two-day forum.
Perspectives from the
2026 ASPA National Summit
As part of the 2026 ASPA National Summit, education leaders reflect on four key questions shaping the future of public education and system reform. Through video interviews, they share perspectives on the role of school leaders in policy, genuine co-design, leadership capabilities, and priority system reforms. These conversations bring together insights and ideas from across the profession to support ongoing dialogue on education leadership and reform.
What role should principals play in shaping school policy and reform?
What could genuine co-design look like in practice?
What capabilities do school leaders need to contribute effectively to system reform?
What system reforms would be your priorities?
ASPA President Andy Mison
Summit Overview
The 2026 ASPA National Summit, held on 24–25 March 2026, brought together secondary school leaders, policymakers, researchers, and education stakeholders from across Australia for two days of evidence-informed dialogue and collaboration. As ASPA’s premier annual event, the Summit focused on addressing the critical issues shaping public secondary education and strengthening the collective voice of the profession.
Structured across the National Education Forum and the National Policy Summit, the program combined research briefings, policy discussions, and interactive deliberations. Participants engaged deeply with key themes: Flourishing Students, Strengthening Leadership, and Transforming Systems, working collaboratively to develop insights and inform national reform priorities.
The Summit reinforced ASPA’s ongoing commitment to advancing equity, supporting sustainable leadership, and ensuring that practitioner voice plays a central role in shaping education policy and system design. Its outcomes continue to inform ASPA’s advocacy and contribute to the national conversation on the future of Australian secondary education.
Introduction:
Andy Mison, ASPA President
The Central Theme: Agency
I want to say something about why I think all of this matters. About where we are, and what ASPA believes, and what I genuinely hope we can do together.
The theme of this summit is Agency for Equity and Excellence: Shaping Policy through Partnership. Every word of that is deliberate.
Agency. Not just consultation. Not being heard after the decision has already been made. Genuine agency. The capacity to be present and constructively influential when the decisions that shape our schools and our students are actually being designed. That is what we are here for. And it starts from a simple premise.
The school leaders in this room are not spectators in the national education conversation. You are its most experienced practitioners. You lead schools doing remarkable things, often under significant pressure, in communities of every kind across this country. You understand, from the inside, what it takes to create the conditions in which young people genuinely flourish. That expertise needs to be in the room when policy is made. In the room, from the beginning.
SUMMIT MCs
Summer Howarth
Learning Designer & Director
Dr John Cleary
Education leader
Doctor of Education, University of Melbourne
SUMMIT SPONSORS
We are proud to be partnering with the following businesses who exclusively work with Australian schools. You can view more information by clicking on their logos.
PLATINUM SPONSORS
GOLD SPONSOR
NETWORKING FUNCTION
SPONSOR
EXHIBITORS
