When I approached some fellow twitter teachers in 2015 to create a free event for teachers to advance their professional development, I never thought it would become such a success and enable so many practitioners around the UK. The idea was to have a subject specific “teachmeet” for teachers within a subject domain to share, collaborate and enjoy a few drinks. At this point, it was History – me being a History teacher. Of course, it would also have a professional edge, with pedagogy and curriculum thinking being high on the agenda. In 2016, the inaugural History event in Chester was a massive success. There were 60 teachers at that first event. Fast forward to 2019 and the 140 free teacher tickets for 2019 were snapped up in 2 days. In 2020, in 15 minutes! This owes to the incredible efforts of the teachers involved in driving the event forward. A special thanks also goes to all the teachers who have spoken at the events, whether it be our keynote speakers over the years like Russel Tarr (our first ever keynote) or our historian speakers like Joshua Levine, Marc Morris and Hallie Rubenhold. TMIcons is now becoming a national leader in providing high quality, free CPD, to UK teachers.

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All our events are completely free for teachers - a real vision for us is to create something that teachers don't have to delve into their own pockets for. We have been blessed with individuals and companies who have wanted to support us from the word go. These have included the TES, Hodder, Pupil progress, Oxford University Press (OUP),Time Travel Education, Squaducation, SchoolHistory, Beamish Museum, Classtools, ActiveHistory and the women's history network. This year, Pupil Progress and OCR join us for the first time along with TES as our venue partner. They ensure that teachers "go free" and get a whole day of jaw droppingly good CPD.

The thing that defines every single "icons" event is the inclusive, friendly and warm community feel. We hope you can come to an event this year and experience it for yourself!

 

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Tom Rogers

 

Director - Team TM Icons