As part of your professional development, it's necessary to stay on top of your subject by extensive reading of items such as journal articles, reports or relevant newspaper articles (or even resources such as this blog!). However, if possible it is also worth attending academic conferences; these are often the venues where new research ideas are revealed for the first time, and they also provide an opportunity to network with like-minded individuals.
The Education Conference Listings Service contains information on many forthcoming education events, as well as the details of conferences that have already occurred. Most of the events listed are UK-based, although quite a few international gatherings are also included. The themes of 
these conferences are also very diverse, so it's quite likely that at least one event in the forthcoming months will have some relevance to your own personal interests - if a conference on the role of fathers in family learning doesn't grab you, then how about events on innovative approaches in education or emotional literacy?
these conferences are also very diverse, so it's quite likely that at least one event in the forthcoming months will have some relevance to your own personal interests - if a conference on the role of fathers in family learning doesn't grab you, then how about events on innovative approaches in education or emotional literacy?If you'd like to see what you missed out on at previous conferences, you may also want to take a look at Education-Line; this is a collection of full-text papers which have been delivered at previous events over the last few years. Not all presentations from the listed events are included, but there are still several thousand papers to browse through.