Bett Asia 2026 Highlights
Day two highlights
Key highlights
The power of sport, literacy, and student wellbeing with The Nicol David Organisation
In this conversation, Datuk Nicol Ann David reflected on how sport shaped her extraordinary squash career and her growth as a student, learner, and leader. She shared why she founded the Nicol David Organisation with Mariana de Reyes, and how its flagship Little Legends programme uses squash, movement, and mentoring to open opportunities for children.
Using neuroscience to improve cognitive thinking in childhood development
AI fluency rests on deeper human capacities that form long before students meet the technology. Drawing on neuroscience research and tested curriculum frameworks, this panel session, moderated by educator, Anggita Citanegara Lubis from Sekolah Murid Merdeka (SMM), explored how authentic learning behaviours are nurtured during critical developmental windows, laying the neurological foundations for ethical, adaptive, and curious learners.
How education leaders ‘lead’ with AI
This panel session featuring Dr Sathisha Goonasakaran, Head of STEAM Department of Tenby Schools Penang explored how several education leaders are moving beyond reactive adoption towards intentional, practical, and human-centred implementation. Attendees left with actionable strategies, a clearer view of the educator's role in AI-enabled classrooms, and approaches they could apply straight away to leadership, teaching, and student innovation.
Professional development of University teachers for GenAI competencies: Framework and tools
This session explored a GenAI-Responsive Competency Framework for University Teachers, structured across four dimensions, two perspectives, and three levels, alongside a self-assessment tool and a GenAI-enabled professional learning app. The session gave Higher Education leaders and professional development specialists a chance to reflect on their current strategies and see how teachers can be empowered to manage their own learning.
Authentic assessments and academic integrity in the age of AI
This session explored how schools can move from surveillance-driven approaches to design-led assessment that promotes academic integrity and ethical AI use. Dewi Yulianti, Ed Tech Program Lead, Seri Mulia Sarjana School (Brunei) and Sonia Wadhwa, Additional Director IT and Principal , Salwan Education Trust and Salwan Junior School, presented practical frameworks for assessments that are AI-resilient, student-centred, and aligned to real-world competencies, and addressed the policy, teacher capacity, and institutional readiness needed to embed ethical AI without lowering academic standards.
Bett Asia Schools Challenge 2026
The fourth Bett Asia Schools Challenge ended on a high as talented teams were celebrated for using AI and EdTech to transform their communities. Winners took home trophies and exciting prizes from Google for Education!
TableTalks: How Inclusive Were Your Classrooms for SEND Students?
Educators came together in the Collaboration Zone for a lively discussion on supporting SEND students. They shared the challenges they faced, explored ways to balance different learning needs and exchanged practical ideas for working with parents, raising concerns and creating more inclusive classrooms.
Day one highlights
Key highlights
Leading inclusive, collaborative, and secure AI-powered learning for our shared future
In this exciting session, Dr Noeleen Heyzer, the first Southeast Asian woman to serve as UN Under-Secretary-General, showed how ethical leadership turns frontier technology into opportunity for every learner. She made the case that wise governance, ethics, and partnerships build the education systems our shared future needs.
Malaysia education Blueprint in addressing education technology
Honorable Datuk Seri Fadhlina Sidek from the Ministry of Education Malaysia backed education technology as a route to better quality, access, and equity, investing in ICT infrastructure, digital platforms, and quality resources. Its Blueprint set out to strengthen teachers' digital skills and prepare students with the competencies a digital future demands.
Beyond retraining: Lifelong education in the age of superhuman labour
With AI absorbing more professional cognitive work, one-off retraining no longer keeps pace. This session featuring Keith Lee, Professor of AI and Finance of the Swiss Institute of Artificial Intelligence (SIAI), made the case for treating professional learning as a continuing relationship rather than a reaction to each technological shock.
PlayXploration: When play becomes the most powerful pedagogy
Play exists in every school, and so do classroom activities. This session with Lakshmi Annapurna Chintaluri, Director of Academics and Operations, and Tripta Tarunesh, Co-Founder and director of Educational Mentoring India (EMI), asked how technology can make both more purposeful and powerful, so that childhood is not lost and learning reaches every child.
Beyond screen time: Digital maturity, AI, and human attention
Dr Damla Khan, Founder and CEO, TynkerByte and Brainsteins, and Shoaib Raza, Director of Digital Learning and Entrepreneurship, Nexus International School, Singapore discussed how technology is growing more personalised, persuasive, and AI-driven. This interactive session brought together a school leader, a neuroscientist, and student voices to examine how digital environments shape attention, behaviour, learning, and decision-making.
Bett Asia 2026 Speakers
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