Call for proposals

Your submission will be reviewed by a committee using a set of criteria:

• Relevance to the theme of the conference, “Building Ubuntu through Education in Africa: Shared humanity, unique context”
• Presenter experience in the classroom
• Interactive engagement with the audience
• Connection to one of the conference’s strands.

The conference strands will focus on:

• Community: Education that strengthens belonging and shared responsibility. How can schools nurture learners who feel rooted in their communities while also preparing them to contribute to society at large? What practices build a strong sense of identity, service, and togetherness?
• Collaboration: Working together within schools, across borders and education systems to build solutions. How can working collaboratively improve education outcomes within schools and across school systems?
• Mindfulness: Keeping humanity at the heart of progress in an AI-driven world. How can schools prepare students to use technology wisely, balancing innovation with ethics, compassion, and well-being? What approaches help learners stay grounded, reflective, and connected in a rapidly changing world?

Terms and conditions for session proposals

Your proposal for the IB African Education Festival in Johannesburg 2026 should adhere to the following terms and conditions:

• All proposals must be submitted in English and or French (depending on the language of delivery).
• The same school or institution may not appear on more than one/two proposals.
• It is the primary presenter’s responsibility to communicate all official correspondence in a timely manner to all co-presenters.
• All breakout sessions are 50–60 minutes in length and should include interaction and discussion.
• All session rooms are set up in theatre style. Stationery will not be provided. More information on the room specifications will be provided upon approval of the workshop presentation.
• The rooms will have 20 to 50 capacities. The IB Review Committee will assign them based on several factors, including the target audience and topic.
• IB Education Festivals provide voluntary professional development opportunities. All session presenters and co-presenters are required to pay for their conference registration fee.
• The IB will not reimburse any expenses.
• Presentations should not promote commercial purposes and should focus only on professional development.
• All presenters must be available to present anytime during the IB African Education Festival.
• All presenters should send a copy of their presentation to the development team one week before the event and bring with them a copy on a USB stick in PowerPoint format for backup.
• All computers will be attached to the AV system and tested during the AV check. Please note that the projector connection is HDMI; should you require a different one, kindly bring your own adaptor.
• Presenters will only be confirmed after returning a signed copy of the Session Facilitator Agreement to your point of contact.
• All presenters should provide their own material for their session as needed.

For questions about the call for proposals, please contact the development team.

Submit your proposal