European School Heads Association 2025 Conference: Rome, Italy
October 27th to 31st, 2025
First, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to the CAP Board of Directors for supporting our participation at this year’s European School Heads Association (ESHA) Conference in Rome, Italy. It quickly became clear that ESHA is an international organization with which CAP should continue to grow a strong relationship. The opening keynote speaker framed the week by identifying the five biggest challenges facing educational leadership today:
- Recruitment and retention of teachers
- AI integration
- Inclusion
- Personal and staff well-being
- Parent engagement (both limited and overwhelming)
ESHA is a professional organization representing national school leader associations across Europe. Its membership includes organizations for school heads and deputy heads across (pre)primary, secondary, and vocational education, with nearly all European countries—both EU and non-EU—represented.
Representing CAP at the ESHA Conference in Rome provided significant benefits for our members across Canada. This international gathering offered valuable insights into how school leaders around the world are addressing challenges that mirror our own, including student well-being, staffing pressures, technology integration, and the evolving role of school leadership. Participation allowed us to bring back innovative practices, current research, and fresh perspectives that can enrich CAP’s professional learning opportunities and strengthen our national advocacy work. By building relationships with educational organizations across Europe, we also expanded CAP’s network of global partners, creating opportunities for collaboration, shared learning, and future initiatives that directly support Canadian school leaders. Attending ESHA ensured that the voices and experiences of Canadian principals were represented on the international stage and that our membership continues to benefit from the latest global thinking in education leadership.
Throughout the week, conference sessions and discussions focused on four central leadership themes:
- Leading Sustainability Education
- Leading Innovative Learning Environments
- Leading Well-Being for All Learners
- Leading for Diversity, Mobility, and Complexity in Education
Our time at ESHA was filled with meaningful connections and productive dialogue. We were invited to present to the ESHA Board of Directors, where we shared CAP-endorsed research projects, organizational strengths and challenges, and our goals as an association representing public school leaders in Canada. The exchange of ideas reinforced how aligned our organizations are in values and priorities, and how powerful collaboration can be in strengthening leadership across borders. We also found in reference to the last conference (2024), the attendees this year were more school leaders that were not working in schools (ie superintendent/district leadership type of roles). Other than Iceland whose group was mainly school administrators, many other country representatives were not in schools. They believe it is a sign of the times where school administrators do not have the time or the opportunity to attend conferences during the school year.
We also met with representatives from Apple, attended multiple workshops on artificial intelligence and cyber safety, and visited local schools to better understand the European context firsthand. Throughout the conference, we expanded CAP’s relationships within ESHA, including with principal associations from countries such as Iceland and Finland. We look forward to continuing these partnerships and exploring opportunities for their involvement in future CAP events—particularly our 50th Anniversary at the CAP 2027 Conference in Moncton, New Brunswick.
In addition, we were able to connect with two keynote speakers whose work strongly aligns with Canadian public education:
- Dr. Zachary Walker – https://www.drzacharywalker.com/
- Micke Hermansson – https://www.mickehermansson.se/en
Both have previously partnered with Canadian educators, and we explored potential involvement with CAP for the 2027 Conference and/or virtual professional learning opportunities for our members.
Once again, thank you for allowing us to represent Canadian public school leaders on the international stage. Sharing our successes and challenges while building global relationships helps strengthen CAP and the work we do on behalf of students, families, and school communities across the country.
Next Conference: ESHA 2027 November 8th to 12th in Killarney, Ireland
