ASE 2025 Annual Conference: Full Schedule

The ASE is delighted to be hosting its Annual Conference, generously sponsored by AQA, at the University of Nottingham from 9th to 11th January 2025. International sessions are incorporated throughout the event for this year and we will have a great exhibition with lots of exclusive Conference offers. Post-16 focus-day and for those involved in leading and delivering professional development, the Teacher Developers’ Group programme is Thursday. Friday is the dedicated Technicians day and Early Career Teacher day. Sessions for both Primary and 11-19 are threaded throughout all 3 days with a focus on Research on Saturday.
Book your tickets now at https://ase2025AnnConf.eventbrite.co.uk - and remember, if you are an ASE member you will benefit from hugely discounted prices! Check out our membership here - it’s free for Early Career Teachers and only £25 for Technicians!

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08:45 GMT

Good Practical Science: using formative assessment techniques to help students prepare for exams

Friday January 10, 2025 08:45 - 09:35 GMT

Pope LT C17

Imagine telling your students that their upcoming science mock exam is the most important exam of their life. Imagine the pressure this puts them under. Imagine the enormous quantity of information that they feel they need to ‘know’ for their exam. Imagine thinking that some revision lessons on ‘difficult topics’, and some general advice on revision will help.

Imagine doing this with the majority of students every year. Without question.

Imagine if you did question whether there was a ‘different way’. For many years, like most other science teachers, I had assumed that there was no ‘other’ way. Then I asked the question, and started on a journey, during which I used all my knowledge of formative assessment, built up since my early involvement with the King’s College team and the ‘Inside The Black Box’ project, to develop new formative methods for preparing my students for their science examinations. This journey resulted in the total breakdown of the differentiation between preparation for summative assessments, such as mock exams, and the formative assessment techniques that my students were used to using in their lessons.

Imagine the end result of the journey being a totally different, more formative, approach to both preparation for exams, and of the revision done, by students.

Imagine discovering that this benefitted every students’, confidence with their science exams, regardless of their abilities and past attainment. Imagine that this also resulted in far better examination results across the board.

Imagine that nothing on my journey involved any more work for the students, nor for the teacher.

Imagine if you could get the benefits of the first part of my journey in a single session at this year’s ASE conference.

Imagine a totally new approach to linking formative and summative assessment to help students prepare for their science exams.

Speakers

Ed Walsh

Science Education Consultant, Ed Walsh Consulting

An author and CPD presenter, I was a teacher for 20 years, 12 of them as team leader. I then worked as a consultant, supporting teachers and science teams, training teachers and developing curriculum materials. I am now a Series Editor for Collins, CPD Trainer for AQA and Development... Read More →

Marianne Cutler

Director, Policy and Curriculum Innovation, ASE

Marianne has overall responsibility for curriculum support and projects at the ASE. She works closely with ASE committees and manages professional development projects.

Friday January 10, 2025 08:45 - 09:35 GMT
Pope LT C17

11-19

Theme Assessment
Key Stage / Audience Type 14-16, 11-14, Teacher Developers, ECTs

08:45 GMT

Misconceptions in exams - key lessons from the 2024 summer series

Friday January 10, 2025 08:45 - 09:35 GMT

Pope A1

In this interactive session, the OCR Science team will summarise the key lessons from the 2024 summer exam series. We will highlight some of the misconceptions to be overcome at GCSE and A Level. With the aid of candidate exemplars, we will discuss strategies and resources to deal with misconceptions.

Speakers

Amy Brewer

Science Subject Advisor, OCR

Mike Jackson

Subject Advisor for Science, OCR

Sponsors

OCR

We are a leading not-for-profit UK Exam Board. As part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge, we have access to unrivalled expertise and research capacity across assessment and examinations.We provide qualifications which engage people... Read More →

Friday January 10, 2025 08:45 - 09:35 GMT
Pope A1

11-19

Theme Assessment
Key Stage / Audience Type ECTs, Teacher Developers, 11-14, 14-16, Post-16
Twitter feed @OCR_science

12:15 GMT

AQA: Supporting ITT – Understanding GCSE science assessment

Friday January 10, 2025 12:15 - 13:05 GMT

Chemistry LT X2 (with sink)

In this introductory session for ITT’s and ECT’s we discuss what a specification is, and how we assess what’s in it, looking at content, Assessment Objectives, the structure of an AQA GCSE science exam paper, how we apply a mark scheme and some implications for teaching and learning of particular aspects of the assessments.

Speakers

Damian Gent

Curriculum Support Manager, Science, AQA

Damian has recently joined the AQA Science Team as Curriculum Support Manager. With over 20 years teaching experience, he has worked across a wide variety of schools delivering support, school improvement and training. Damian also worked as a Science Consultant as part of the Secondary... Read More →

Sponsors

AQA

Since 1903, we’ve been rewarding achievement by designing and delivering fair and inclusive assessment. We do this because we believe that quality assessment is an essential ingredient for a good education. We’re the most chosen exam board in England and we set and mark the papers... Read More →

Friday January 10, 2025 12:15 - 13:05 GMT
Chemistry LT X2 (with sink)

11-19

Theme Assessment
Key Stage / Audience Type ECTs, Teacher Developers, 11-14, 14-16, Advisors/Consultants, ITEs, Trainees
Twitter feed @Science_AQA

13:15 GMT

Formative assessment without pencils

Friday January 10, 2025 13:15 - 14:05 GMT

ESLC B05

Improving oracy through the Great Science Share for Schools. Prompts for talk offer ideal ways to formatively assess pupil’s learning in science. Find out more about the GSSfS Toolkit and the many ways in which you can promote discussion between pupils.

Speakers

Grace Marson

SEERIH Specialist Lead, University of Manchester

Frances Hunt

SEERIH Specialist Officer, SEERIH, University of Manchester

Friday January 10, 2025 13:15 - 14:05 GMT
ESLC B05

Primary

Theme Assessment
Key Stage / Audience Type 7 to 11, ECTs, Global, Teacher Developers, 5 to 7, 11-14
Twitter feed @UoMSEERIH