10 – 12 November 2026
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Dubai World Trade Centre Sheikh Saeed Halls 1, 2 & 3
Francesco Banchini
CEO & Director - European Azerbaijan School
Francesco Banchini is an experienced leader, educator and researcher known for implementing innovations in international schools. He has written books on leadership and historical musical notation and articles on leadership and education.
Francesco Banchini is the CEO and Director of the European Azerbaijan School, where he spearheads educational innovation and community engagement. As the Founder and Chairman of the Caucasus and Central Asia Association of IB World Schools (CCAAIBWS), he promotes collaboration among international schools in the region. His initiatives include professional development workshops and conferences, as well as providing support for students and teachers in rural areas. He also collaborates on various projects with the Ministry of Science and Education of Azerbaijan.
He has presented at numerous events, including IB Global and Leadership Conferences, AIE, CIS, TOZOK, ECIS Leadership & Teacher Conferences, NYU Steinhardt, TEDx, and Experiential Learning Conferences. He actively speaks and conducts workshops on IB, teacher development, leadership, convergent and divergent thinking, team building and the role of creativity in leadership.
Francesco Banchini is dedicated to empowering educators and students to take active roles in shaping a better future. He focuses on achieving meaningful change through collaboration, innovation, and equity in education while ensuring that schools sustain long-term growth in a constantly changing world.
Speaker Sessions
GESS Talks Live
1628
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National to International: Leadership lessons from UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report
Session Summary:
This session draws lessons from the UNESCO Global education monitoring report, 2024/5, Leadership in education: lead for learning. Important central ideas, from this report, will be explored which will enable leaders to apply the UNESCO findings in their own contexts. A shift from hierarchical and centralised leadership systems to more inclusive leadership processes, which engage all stakeholders and community members, is needed, however the different roles and processes may not be clear to those who work within them, or even design them. This may become more challenging within national and international schools where different roles can add to the complexity, but also opportunities, for leadership. The purpose of this session is to re-examine leadership in the light of the necessity of ongoing improvements, with a focus on exploring practical solutions to the issues and challenges for distributed leadership which may be faced in local and international schools.
