On Friday 2 October 2026, the National Education Show returns to Utilita Arena Cardiff — the biggest education show in Wales, and one of the best-value CPD days anywhere in the UK. Here's what's on, who's speaking, which stands are worth your time, and why I'll be there.
The show at a glance
The National Education Show pitches itself as a whole-INSET-day-in-one-venue, and that's a fair description. It's aimed at everyone in education — early years, primary, secondary, FE and HE — with seminar strands covering ALN/SEND, wellbeing, behaviour, leadership, attendance, curriculum and technology. Entry to the exhibition is free; you pay per seminar (£15 + VAT at the standard rate, £20 + VAT on the day), so a small budget goes a long way if you choose sessions carefully. Several sessions have already sold out, so booking ahead matters.
Registration and seminar booking are both via the official site: nationaleducationshow.com/cardiff-2026.
Speakers worth booking
The 2026 Cardiff programme is strong on exactly the themes schools are wrestling with this year — workload, technology and inclusion. A few names I'd single out:
- Mr P (Lee Parkinson MBE) — two sessions: Empowering literacy through creative technology (12:00) and Tech tools to transform your teaching (13:30). If you only book one tech session, make it one of his — his whole approach is using technology to cut workload and improve outcomes, which is the same hill AskColin lives on.
- Dr Sarah Moseley — AI-enhanced reading for all: removing barriers, raising expectations (12:00). One of the few sessions anywhere putting AI and inclusive literacy in the same room: don't lower the challenge, remove the barrier.
- Natasha Devon MBE — Clicks: helping young people be their best selves online (09:00). Practical guidance for staff on pupils' online lives from one of the UK's best-known mental health campaigners.
- Sonia Gill — Three leadership habits that make school life harder (and drain your budget) — already sold out, which tells you something. Her afternoon session on low-cost school improvement (13:30) is the fallback.
- Nina Jackson — sessions on neurodiverse teaching and staff wellbeing; a long-standing favourite on this circuit.
- Dr Neil Hawkes — The conscious classroom (12:00), asking how we nurture human intelligence in an AI-dominated world. A good counterweight to the tech sessions.
- Stephen C. Burnage — Managing the perfect storm: attendance, behaviour and mental health (13:30). His pupil premium attendance session sold out early.
The full programme, with times and booking, is on the Cardiff seminars page.
Exhibitors to look out for
With 180+ stands you won't see everything, so plan a route. Confirmed exhibitors this year include:
- Dysgu (stands 93–95) — the national body for professional learning and leadership development for the education workforce in Wales. If you lead CPD in a Welsh school, start here.
- AQA Unit Award Scheme (stand 4) — unit-by-unit certification that's quietly brilliant for engagement with learners who need recognition milestones.
- The Education Workforce Council / Educators Wales — the independent regulator for the education workforce in Wales.
- First Give — a fully resourced whole-year-group social action programme for secondary schools.
- Creative Play UK (stand 1) — outdoor play equipment for schools and nurseries.
The complete stand list is published in two parts on the show site: stands 1–90 and stands 90–188.
My honest take
Worth it? Yes — especially for Welsh schools and anyone within striking distance of Cardiff. The free-entry, pay-per-seminar model means a school can send a group for less than the cost of one external trainer, and the 2026 programme leans hard into workload, technology and inclusion — the three things every leadership team I speak to is juggling right now. The gap in the programme, interestingly, is hands-on AI training for staff: plenty of sessions touch AI, almost none show staff how to actually use it week to week. That's the conversation I'll be having in the aisles.
Practical details
- When: Friday 2 October 2026, 8am–4pm
- Where: Utilita Arena Cardiff
- Cost: Free entrance pass (book via Eventbrite through the show site); seminars £15 + VAT standard rate, £20 + VAT on the day
- Register: nationaleducationshow.com/cardiff-2026
I'll be at the Cardiff show — will you?
I'm Neil, founder of AskColin. I'll be at the National Education Show on 2 October talking to school leaders about practical, safe AI training that actually reduces workload. If you're going, let me know and let's find each other for a coffee.
Tell me you'll be there →Can't make Cardiff? I'm also at The Education People Show in Kent (11 November) and the Schools & Academies Show at the NEC Birmingham (18–19 November) this autumn.