Dr Sarah Aiono

CEO & Director

Presenter & In-School Consultant

Doctor of Education (Massey University)

MEd, PGDipEd (SNRT), BEd (Tchg – Primary)

Accredited Ministry of Education PLD Facilitator (Cultural Capabilities endorsed)

HundrED Academy member, Neuro Fellow & New Zealand Representative of the Global Recess Alliance

Co-lead Investigator: Ko te tākaro te kauwaka e pakari ake ai te tangata | Cultural pluralism for play based pedagogy: Developing and implementing an indigenised framework for play in a primary school setting.

Sarah completed her doctoral research in 2020 with Massey University investigating the impact of two models of professional development on supporting the effective teaching of play practices in the primary classroom.  Sarah is particularly passionate about helping teachers implement evidence-based play pedagogy with fidelity in their everyday classroom practice.

Sarah has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, teaching students from all year levels, and those, particularly with challenging behaviour and learning needs. Now, Sarah works to mentor and facilitate teacher professional learning as a PD facilitator and a post-graduate course advisor.  In addition, she hosts the popular podcast series Play Conversations on Spotify and is a popular keynote speaker and guest presenter at a number of education events nationally and internationally.

As co-director and CEO of Longworth Education, Sarah supports schools to implement evidence-informed play pedagogy, and specifically focuses on ensuring effective teaching practice within primary school play-based learning environments.