Learning without teachers – it couldn’t happen, could it? Professor Sugata Mitra (Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Newcastle, England) has launched a $1m experiment to find out. His ‘schools in the cloud’ will allow groups of children to teach themselves using the internet. Some claim that true learning cannot happen without teachers, and that there will always be a place for face-to-face teaching. But concepts such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are attracting a growing level of support. So what are the threats, and what are the opportunities? The event will bring together a panel of experts (including Professor Sugata Mitra and Lord David Puttnam) to debate the future for face-to-face teaching and learning, and the ways in which technology could – and should – transform the fundamentals of education and assessment. It will bring together practitioners, researchers, policy makers and those with an interest in the field.