Parent Summit 2026: Ten Wonderful Years, and the Work Ahead

Ten years ago, Parents International began with a conviction: parents must have a meaningful voice in the decisions shaping children’s education. Since then, we have grown into an international network connecting families, professional educators, researchers and organisations, translating evidence into advocacy, training and practical resources.

On 23–24 October 2026, we gathered in Astana, Kazakhstan, for Parent Summit 2026, hosted by our partner BINOM Schools. It was both a celebration of our first decade and an opportunity to look ahead. Under the theme Repairing Broken Education Ecosystems Together, we asked how relationships among children, families, schools and institutions can be strengthened, and what happens when those relationships fail.

Our Parent Summit 2026 report brings these conversations together. It revisits milestones from our first ten years and presents a selection of projects and publicly accessible resources. It also shares Johanne Olaussen’s moving testimony about the difference a supportive, student-centred school made to her son, alongside João Costa’s keynote on bridging the gap between inclusive education policy and practice.

Across two days, workshops explored children’s and parents’ rights, trauma-conscious approaches, teacher bullying, expectations of education, family life, inclusive schools, digital experiences and wellbeing. Participants did not always agree. Their discussions showed why sound evidence, children’s rights and sustained professional development remain essential to educational practice.

The Summit also introduced four strategic pillars for our next five years:

the School of Tomorrow,
the Family of Tomorrow,
Growing Up in a Hybrid World,
Wellbeing in a Changing World.

Dedicated training courses for each pillar have already been developed and tested, and are ready for deployment.

We are proud of what we have built over ten years, grateful to the partners who have made it possible, and conscious of the responsibility ahead. This report is both a record of a milestone and an invitation to contribute to what comes next.