Ask any teacher how they find CPD, and the answer is usually the same story. 

They start with Google. They wade through generic events platforms where education events are buried beneath irrelevant listings. They scroll through newsletters they barely have time to read. They click promotional emails pointing to events that are the wrong subject, wrong phase, wrong format, or already fully booked.
Then the bell rings. The planning stops. The search starts again next week. The UK education sector hosts hundreds of conferences, exhibitions, webinars and training events every year. But discovery is broken. The infrastructure to connect educators with events relevant to their role, subject and phase has never existed in one place. Until now. 

A FAMILIAR FRUSTRATION
Time poverty is one of the defining features of teaching.
Spending an hour hunting for a relevant SEND conference — only to discover it’s already passed — isn’t just frustrating. It’s a waste of scarce professional development time.
Publishers, awarding bodies, subject associations and EdTech companies all promote events across multiple channels — websites, email lists and social media. But the information is scattered, inconsistent, and rarely filtered for what you actually need.
The result is a market where quality events go undiscovered, and educators make do with whatever they happen to find rather than what is most relevant to them.

“We see the same pattern every day — teachers waste hours trying to find relevant CPD and networking opportunities. Eduvents fixes that.”
— CEO, Doceo Consulting

ENTER EDUVENTS
Eduvents is a specialist education event marketplace, built exclusively for the education sector.
The platform brings CPD, conferences, exhibitions, webinars, award shows and training events together in a single, fully searchable directory, completely free for educators to use.
Every listing can be filtered by subject, phase, format and location.
Eduvents shows you only what is relevant to you — quickly, confidently, and without the noise. Eduvents is developed by Doceo Consulting, a UK education consultancy with over 10 years of experience running campaigns to hundreds of thousands of educators through a network of 50+ publishers and suppliers.
The problem it solves isn’t theoretical — it’s one the team has seen first-hand, on both sides of the market.

WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT
Eduvents isn’t a generic events platform with education buried somewhere on page three.
It’s built entirely around you — your subject, your phase, your format, your schedule.
Every event is searchable and filterable, so instead of scrolling through noise, you arrive at relevant results in minutes.
Whether you teach primary maths or lead SEND provision in a secondary school, Eduvents surfaces what matters to you and filters out everything that doesn’t.

• Filter by subject: STEM, Maths, SEND, Leadership & more
• Filter by phase: Primary, Secondary, FE & HE Virtual and in-person event formats
• On-Demand events so you never miss out after the live date
• New events added regularly across all sectors and subjects

NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

2,000 – UNIQUE USERS

7,500 – PAGE VIEWS

3mins – DWELL TIME

How one specialist platform is saving teachers hours of searching, and connecting educators with the CPD, conferences and training that actually matter. sk any teacher how they find CPD, and the answer is usually the same story. They start with Google. They wade through generic events platforms where education events are buried beneath irrelevant listings. They scroll through newsletters they barely have time to read. They click promotional emails pointing to events that are the wrong subject, wrong phase, wrong format, or already fully booked. Then the bell rings. The planning stops. The search starts again next week. The UK education sector hosts hundreds of conferences, exhibitions, webinars and training events every year. But discovery is broken. The infrastructure to connect educators with events relevant to their role, subject and phase has never existed in one place. Until now.

THE MOMENT TO GET INVOLVED
Eduvents is growing fast, adding new events every day.
Whether you are a classroom teacher looking for your next conference, a CPD lead trying to coordinate staff development, or an event organiser tired of shouting into the void, Eduvents is built for you.
Stop searching. Start finding.

Visit eduvents.co.uk (Always free for all educators)
Contact: info@doceoconsulting.co.uk

The UK’s education sector is under huge pressure. In 2024, unions accepted a fully funded 5.5 per cent pay increase for schoolteachers and a staged approach of up to 5.7 per cent for university lecturers, bringing an end to the crippling strikes that had impacted the sector for many years. But the potential for further industrial action remains, particularly as the cost of living continues to increase.

In schools, while mainstream funding has increased by 2.2 per cent, this is below the rate of inflation, and costs are expected to rise by 3.4 per cent during 2025, according to the National Education Union. Many are also in desperate need of maintenance and repair, with some buildings no longer fit for purpose.

Universities are also in financial difficulties, with many facing budget shortfalls and announcing plans to cut jobs and even remove courses. The Office for Students suggests 72 per cent could be in financial deficit by 2025-26, and is predicting a shortfall of £1.6 billion across the sector.

Colleges, too, face significant cost pressure, and discussions around pay are still ongoing. Unions believe the recent allocation of £300 million in additional funding, earmarked to improve buildings, needs to fund a pay rise for staff.

All of this means budgets remain under significant pressure, so procurement professionals in this sector – whether working for just one establishment or across multi-academy trusts – need to do all they can to keep costs as low as possible.

This could be for more expensive items such as technology or furniture, but also for lower-value products that can add up to larger amounts, including stationery, toiletries, cleaning products or items required for maintenance and repair.

The extent to which organisations have been able to manage such spend to date has been mixed. Procurement teams are often stretched, and tend to focus on higher-value spend categories, meaning that lower-value items are often overlooked.

These may be purchased on credit cards or payment cards by end-users, and claimed back through expenses. In schools, there may not even be a procurement team, with such tasks falling to an office manager, bursar, secretary or even a teacher.

The rise of online marketplaces such as Amazon Business, though, means this is starting to change. Procurement professionals – or others tasked with purchasing – can use this to allow authorised personnel to buy items, with pre-arranged limits around spending and supplier selection.

This can save time for end-users in researching products, and for those with procurement responsibilities in approving these. “We use Amazon all the time,” says Michelle Curtis, Senior Finance Officer at Unity School Partnership. “Whether it’s stationery, cleaning equipment, safety equipment – you name it, if we can buy it from Amazon, we will. It’s an obvious time-saver and has simplified the process completely.”

There is also potential to glean vital information in real time, which can identify opportunities for further efficiencies, providing data on what has been spent and where. Analysis of this might mean it makes sense to buy more items through a single supplier, enabling organisations to take advantage of bulk-buying prices, or could lead to items being redeployed across estates to avoid having to purchase new equipment.

It also makes reporting back much easier, enabling organisations to track what has been spent and provide finance departments with the information they require.

There’s also the potential to ensure that spend is directed towards suppliers that fit in with organisations’ wider objectives. Amazon Business’s 2025 State of Procurement Report finds almost all (99 per cent) organisations now have specific ESG goals, and in the UK 66 per cent say overarching ESG goals have increased in the past year.

Nottingham Trent University is one organisation that has a strong sustainability mandate, having committed to become Net Zero by 2040. “We’ve selected products from East Midlands region suppliers to come up first in the product search results,” says Claire Davies, sustainable procurement manager. “That enables us to support our local economy and allows us to reduce our carbon emissions by reducing the amount of mileage travelled.

“By turning on the sustainability certificates against the products we’re going to see a lot more sustainable purchasing taking place.”

The ability to direct buyers to particular suppliers can also be applied to local businesses, small firms or those owned by people with certain backgrounds. In the UK, the Procurement Act 2025 places a strong focus on opening up public procurement to small businesses and social enterprises, and encourages authorities to consider social value when making decisions. Being able to demonstrate improvements in this area will help schools, colleges and universities with this.

In future, there’s potential for technology and data to play a bigger role in how educational organisations make decisions around procurement.

The 2025 State of Procurement Report finds that two-thirds (65 per cent) of organisations already use analytics or tools to understand performance and trends, and 34 per cent of procurement leaders want to see their teams spending more time in this area over the next year. Artificial intelligence is likely to be part of the mix, with 38 per cent looking to invest in this to help with forecasting demand and analysing spend.

The use of online marketplaces, combined with the potential of new technologies, means educational establishments can both take control over how money is being spent and create savings and efficiencies. In today’s difficult climate, which shows no sign of easing, this could prove critical to making ends meet and providing an environment in which students can thrive.

To find out more about how Amazon Business could help your organisation get more control over spend, visit https://business.amazon.co.uk/en/work-with-us/education

Why Farmers Need to Understand Commodity Market Trends

The world of commodities trading might seem far removed from that of farming. One is an active vocation, involving getting out into the fields, growing things, and ultimately selling them. The other is a more abstract pursuit, which largely involves dealing with charts and numbers.

But the link between the two is obvious. When the price of a given commodity changes, it can have ripple effects that might push up production costs – or push down the amount you’re able to charge for the goods you produce.

The deeper your knowledge of market trends, the better your decisions will tend to be. If you feel that the long-term future of a given crop is promising, then you might invest in machinery to assist in growing it. For example, when the price of wheat is pushed up by a war in Ukraine, owning the right machinery might allow a farmer in the UK to capitalise.

We might also consider the potential impact of international trade barriers, which might be thrown up in a new age of tariffs. This might create problems for certain kinds of farmer – but opportunities for others. Being aware of what’s going on, and what the implications are, can make a big difference.

Tools and Resources for Tracking Market Trends

Staying on top of market trends can be a daunting thing – at least, to begin with. You don’t need an exhaustive understanding of all of the arcane terms involved. You can rely on the information you get from farmer co-operatives and agricultural advisors – or, you can look for instruction from books, and platforms like Youtube.

In the modern age, the proliferation of smartphone apps makes it possible for rural workers to stay on top of market trends, which can ultimately be empowering. Look at commodity trading software platforms, and set up alerts for when the price of the relevant commodities takes a dive – or soars to new heights.

The Broader Economic Impact of Educated Farmers

When farmers understand the state of the market, they’re able to make better decisions – not just for themselves, but for the wider economy. Supply chains become more stable, and disruption more quickly and efficiently dealt with. In the modern, globalised world, farmers in the UK are more exposed to events in distant countries than ever before – and being able to understand the shape of the challenge can be vital.

The climate crisis affects us all – especially future generations. As the institutions primarily responsible for educating our young people, many schools are working hard to teach pupils about sustainability and adopt more climate-friendly habits. Organisations like the Green Schools Project and Let’s Go Zero are partnering with UK educational leaders to embed climate education into their curriculums and help them become more sustainable through a range of training, support and resources.

Schools are also under increasing pressure from the Government, parents and pupils to mitigate their own climate impact. Estimates suggest that in England alone, schools account for around 9.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year. In its Sustainability and Climate Change strategy, the UK Government says that by 2025 every education setting must have nominated a ‘sustainability lead’ responsible for putting climate action plans in place.

The education sector is tackling these challenges while dealing with ever tightening budgets, while the ‘green transition’ is often discussed as something that must involve higher costs and lower standards. Yet there are many ways schools can reduce their climate impact without sacrifice, and recent data shows when it comes to schools’ educational hardware – lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), higher value and improved sustainability can all go hand in hand.

How educational hardware can reduce schools’ environmental impact

As education becomes increasingly digital, many schools are using more laptops and other mobile devices as part of their teaching, and the hardware choices schools make can have a significant impact on their carbon footprint.

In a recent research report, Hardware TCO Concerns Driving a Flight to Quality, Microsoft interviewed IT decision-makers (ITDMs) across a range of organisations, including those from the education sector, to better understand their views in the current purchasing environment.

The findings revealed the average laptop lifecycle is now 3.2 years, but encouragingly, 74% of ITDMs are looking to stretch this out, with an extension of 1-2 years being planned by most (63%).

Why? Because, as 76% of respondents agree, reducing hardware purchase frequency saves money. This also makes a clear contribution to schools’ sustainability efforts by reducing consumption and waste, although it’s worth noting the extent to which improving TCO and sustainability by extending lifecycle length is dependent on build quality.

Indeed, the top three features that respondents to our TCO research consider important, are:

1. Reliability – including consistent performance, without failure (58%)
2. High specifications – including device power, speed, and battery life (56%)
3. Durability – including the ability to withstand wear and tear (58%)

Durability and repairability are also deeply intertwined. As part of Microsoft’s commitments to become carbon negative, water positive and achieve zero waste by 2030, the Surface portfolio is circular by design, adopting a repair, reuse and recycle model that minimises waste and helps to extend the lifespan of devices for as long as possible.

The recently launched Surface Go 4, for example, is ideal for primary school students. It’s highly portable and lightweight for carrying between classes, includes touch and inking – so students can write, draw, take handwritten notes, and mark up assignments, and has an HD camera for virtual classes as well as a long-lasting battery for the whole school day. Internally, Surface Go 4 has undergone a total redesign to make it even more repairable – everything from the display, kickstand, motherboard, battery and more – can all be replaced.

So, by choosing Surface devices, schools can demonstrate their proactive commitment to sustainability.

Microsoft also publishes device reports for every single Surface model, detailing the carbon cost of designing and building the device. Itsfree online Emissions Calculator allows educational organisations to fully understand the impact of using devices on their own CO2 output, helping them carry out transparent carbon accounting and ESG reporting more easily.

While the average estimated carbon footprint of a laptop is around 422.5kg over a four year lifespan, around 80% of this comes during production, so being able to repair or delay a new purchase because a device is durable and powerful enough to last – has a big impact.

It’s also encouraging to see that, thanks to the circular design and energy efficiency of the Surface range, as well as using 94% recycled packaging – the highly repairable Surface Pro 9 has less than half the average carbon footprint, at 190kg over four years.

School IT leaders know how to make hardware budgets go further

Whether you’re a head of school focused on delivering modern learning experiences while maximising value, or a bursar responsible for strategic investment in assets – hardware spend and choice really matters.

Our TCO research demonstrates just how well the vast majority of IT leaders appreciate this – 84% of UK ITDMs continue to invest specifically in premium devices because of the total cost savings they can bring, showing a clear understanding of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). And 89% explicitly say TCO is a consideration when deciding what hardware to buy.

This is because school ITDMs appreciate that when it comes to device quality, customers get what they pay for: 83% say buying low-end laptops means you pay more for maintenance and repairs in the long run, and 85% say they end up effectively costing more due to poorer efficiency.

More than eight out of ten (84%) respondents say when it comes to hardware, if you buy well – you buy once, and 85% say investing in premium laptops also helps reduce spending on peripherals.

These views are backed up by additional research from IDC, which was commissioned by Microsoft to independently and extensively investigate the ROI of Surface devices powered by M365. IDC conducted in-depth interviews and surveyed 700 organisations, all of which use at least 150 Surface Laptops, and found they delivered an ROI of 2.8x over three years.

Microsoft and IDC have created a free online TCO calculator, for school IT leaders to check for themselves how Surface and Microsoft 365 can save money by simplifying operations, reducing security risks, and improving productivity.

The analyst group Forrester was also commissioned to carry out an independent study into the total economic impact of Surface devices in education and found an average ROI of 44%. This was due to a range of time savings for teachers, administrators, and IT staff – as well as cost savings from retiring unnecessary peripherals and solutions, reduced chance of a security breach, and reduced deployment, peripherals, and software licensing costs.

For example, using digital inking rather than printing on paper (which by itself saved UK boarding school – Wellington College, £120 per device), sharing online resources rather than hardcopy textbooks, being able to use in-built cameras rather than buying add on webcams… All these savings add up. Not to mention the higher residual and resale value that more premium, recyclable, and repairable devices command.

Finally,  surface devices come pre-installed with Windows 11 Pro, Microsoft 365 (which includes Microsoft Teams), and tools for the IT team, like Windows Autopilot. All too often, essential software and IT management tools are sold as expensive paid add-ons.

Better for students, better for budgets, and better for the planet

By leveraging the expertise of school IT leaders, and focusing on value as well as price, educational organisations can play their part in building a cleaner, greener future while continuing to modernise the learning experience and improving educational outcomes for pupils.

With a sound appreciation for total cost of ownership and the realities of pupils and teachers’ everyday lives, it’s easier to see how value and sustainability really do go hand in hand.

If you’d like to learn more about how the Surface portfolio could work for your school – please visit the Microsoft homepage for UK educational organisations.

But what does the rise of ‘EdTech’ actually mean for the people who use it every day? Put simply: better outcomes. As devices like laptops and tablets become as much a part of the school day as pens and pencils, the majority of educational leaders report a broad range of benefits. More interactive, multimedia-rich lessons are leading to higher levels of engagement and enjoyment among students. Teachers can use digital solutions to plan more effectively and even tailor content to individual pupils. And a broad range of accessibility tools is creating an increasingly inclusive and equitable learning environment for all.

As Paul Stone, CEO of Leicestershire’s Discovery Trust, puts it: “The more you engage with technology, the more impact you see. Teachers are more excited about the job…and the educational opportunity for children is limitless.”

Counting value, not just costs

Yet there are challenges too. Despite the exciting potential of EdTech, many UK educational institutions remain constrained by tightening budgets. Research by the National Foundation for Educational Research reveals almost half of primary schools and special schools in England (49% and 48% respectively) and two-fifths of secondary schools (41%) had or were expecting an in-year deficit in 2022/23. Meanwhile, DfE data suggests 91% of schools have taken measures to cut spending since the cost-of-living crisis began.

Faced with the need to balance financial probity with delivering better, more tech-enabled learning experiences, schools are understandably keen to ensure their IT investments deliver the maximum educational bang for their buck. Yet rather than focus on minimising cost at a point of purchase, the key for leaders and budget holders is to consider long-term value over short-term expense.

Encouragingly, a new Microsoft research report reveals this is already beginning to happen. It found a growing appreciation of the importance of total cost of ownership (TCO) among leaders and IT decision-makers across a range of sectors, including education. Nine in ten (89%) respondents explicitly cited TCO as a consideration when deciding what hardware to buy while 84% agreed that ‘if you buy well, you buy once’. The vast majority (85%) also said opting for premium laptops helps reduce spending on peripherals like keyboards, mice and printers. And rightly so. Switching to digital inking saved Wellington College around £120 per device thanks to no longer having to buy printer paper and toner.

A premium experience for all

In other words, the right investment in the right premium devices, such as Microsoft’s Surface laptops or 2 in 1s can improve life in the classroom while at the same time delivering greater long-term value for school budgets. Here’s how:

Enhanced productivity – An independent study by Forrester on the impact of Surface devices in education found they save students around 20 minutes a week and teachers around two hours. This leaves them free to focus on teaching and learning rather than wasting their energy on time-consuming administrative tasks. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of schools also report improved engagement among students as a result of using Surface.

Student-teacher collaboration – Integration with tools like Microsoft Teams and OneDrive enables seamless communication and collaboration between teachers and learners on live versions of documents, presentations and worksheets. This leads to more tailored, real-time feedback and, ultimately, better work. To the point that half (49%) of teachers say technology has made a positive impact on how they work with their students.

Longer lifespans – Microsoft’s TCO report found the average lifecycle of a laptop is just 3.2 years. Yet to help make their finances go further, 74% of IT decision makers want to increase that by at least a year or two, with no drop-off in performance. Reliability and durability also outstrip low price as their key considerations when investing in hardware. The Surface Laptop 5 is Microsoft’s most repairable laptop to date while the new Surface Pro 9 is its most repairable 2 in 1, with replaceable components including the display, battery, kickstand, camera and speaker.

Equitable opportunities – Nearly three-quarters (72%) of UK schools support students with individual learning needs, ranging from neurodiversities to visual and auditory impairments. Surface devices have built-in accessibility tools designed to let all students participate fully in their learning. “The accessibility tools have really changed the lives of our students with special educational needs,” explains Caty Reid, Principal of Clayton Hall Academy and Digital Transformation Lead for the United Endeavour Trust in Staffordshire. “One of our students has significant visual impairment and, previously, staff magnified worksheets onto A3 sheets of paper so she could read the materials more easily. Now she uses a device to independently magnify her work to the level she needs. She no longer feels singled out and she’s really flourished because of it.”

Investing in the future

This combination of productivity, versatility, longevity and security (Surface devices are proven to help reduce the frequency of impactful cyberattacks by an average of 34%)  adds up to an impressive return on schools’ investment. In fact, the same Forrester study calculated the average ROI on a Surface purchase in education is 44%. This is defined by productivity improvements for all users, lower total costs, time savings for staff, device cost reduction, fewer security breaches and better student performance.

This figure is key. After all, in many ways the education sector has humanity’s greatest responsibility: equipping today’s young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to thrive tomorrow. And as schools seek to deliver on this mission while balancing their books at the same time, success will increasingly hinge on having the right technologies at the fingertips of both students and staff alike.

By viewing IT hardware through the lens of TCO, UK education leaders and IT decision-makers can create richer, better experiences for learners. They can increase efficiency, productivity and job satisfaction among teachers. And they can make their money go further too. Put simply, they can help shape a brighter future for everyone. Never has the phrase ‘return on investment’ been more relevant. Nor more important.

Visit Microsoft’s dedicated education homepage or use this free online TCO calculator to discover how the Surface portfolio could help deliver greater value for your school’s students, teachers and budget.