This CPD session supports science teachers in strengthening the connection between practical work and exam success in A-level Biology. While practical experiences are central to the subject, students often struggle to translate hands-on understanding into high-quality written responses in assessments.
This session explores how practical skills, knowledge, and exam technique intersect, helping teachers bridge the gap between classroom practice and examination performance. By focusing on how practical work is assessed, teachers will be equipped to maximise the impact of practical activities on student outcomes.
Session Outcomes: By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Identify how practical skills and knowledge are assessed in A-Level Biology examinations. Recognise common weaknesses in how students apply practical understanding in written responses. Apply strategies to better integrate required practical work with exam preparation and assessment success.
The session will explore the relationship between practical work, CPAC and exam performance, using real A-Level Biology questions and mark schemes to highlight key demands. Teachers will engage in activities to analyse how practical knowledge and skills are examined, review student responses, and identify where marks are gained and lost. Through discussion and practical strategies, participants will develop approaches to ensure that practical experiences translate into confident, accurate, and successful exam performance.
Proudly partnering the ASE for their 2027 Annual Conference.
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 →
This CPD session supports chemistry teachers in strengthening the link between practical work and examination success in A-Level Chemistry. Although practical activities are a fundamental part of the subject, students often find it challenging to convert their experimental experience into precise, high-quality written answers.
This session examines how practical understanding, subject knowledge, and exam technique work together, enabling teachers to better connect classroom investigations with assessment performance. By focusing on the ways practical work is examined, teachers will be able to enhance the impact of practical teaching on student outcomes.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to: > Identify how practical knowledge and skills are assessed within A-Level Chemistry examinations. > Recognise common issues in the way students interpret and apply practical understanding in written responses. > Apply strategies to more effectively link required practical work with exam preparation and student success.
The session will explore the relationship between practical work, CPAC requirements, and exam performance, using authentic A-Level Chemistry questions and mark schemes to highlight key expectations. Teachers will take part in activities to examine how practical skills and concepts are assessed, analyse student responses, and pinpoint where marks are achieved or missed. Through reflection, discussion, and practical strategies, participants will develop approaches to ensure that practical experiences are translated into accurate, confident, and successful examination performance.
Frank is a highly experienced educator and assessment specialist with over two decades of service in science education. He has held leadership roles including Head of Science and Head of Vocational Science, teaching GCSE and A-level sciences across multiple schools. Currently serving... Read More →
Proudly partnering the ASE for their 2027 Annual Conference.
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 →
In this session I am to explore ‘what works’ in initiatives that support schools and universities/researchers to work together.
Welcoming educators, senior leaders, and STEM professionals with experience funding or supporting research in schools to an exploratory workshop finding out what works to involve young people directly in research and innovation. Come along to learn more. Discussions will also inform the design of a new grant aimed at supporting educators to build the confidence and capacity to tap into existing programmes connecting schools and researchers or run their own research projects.
Outcomes: Participants will share and learn about best practice in integrating participating in research in teaching and learning approaches.
Participants will connect with others with an interest in supporting a culture of research and innovation in UK schools.
Participants will influence the design of a pilot grant being developed by the British Science Association.
There are a number of ways that schools can engage with researchers, including through schemes like IRIS, Orbyts and the Royal Society Partnership scheme. However visibility of, and access to these opportunities is not always consistent. With funding from UKRI, the British Science Association will be supporting UK schools in challenging circumstances to deepen their relationships with research and researchers; by taking part in existing schemes or running their own research projects.
The workshop is for educators, senior leaders, and STEM professionals with experience of funding, supporting, or brokering relationships with research and researchers, as well as educators interested in connecting their students with real research.
The session will follow our own involvement in understanding accessibility and improvements in accessibility in formal assessments for Cambridge OCR.
During 2026 Mike Jackson was on a panel for SecEd to speak about accessibility which builds on conversations within the organisation as well as learning from teachers who have fed back from both summative assessments and practical endorsement adaptations (e.g. for blind students).
Andri Achilleos was a teacher for ten years before joining OCR in January 2019 as the subject advisor for A Level Biology. She studied Biology at University of Bristol and completed an MA in Science Education at University of York. She has taught in Birmingham as Teacher in charge... Read More →
Subject Advisor for Physics (and science at GCSE) for Cambridge OCR. I'm passionate about inclusion, access to education (including first generation to Higher Education) and sustainability and environment. Life long motorsport fan and Trekkie who loves being in the great outdoors... Read More →
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 of all ages and abilities at school, college, in work or through part-time learning programmes. Our general and vocational qualifications equip students with the knowledge and skills they need for their future, helping them achieve their... Read More →
Every child deserves to see themselves and their cultures reflected in science. This interactive session offers a practical framework for doing that, without adding pressure to an already full curriculum. We'll introduce "two-eyed seeing" and share six dimensions of holistic science learning, then move quickly into short hands-on tasks. You'll sit briefly in a yarning-circle-inspired opener, try a story-to-science mapping using the emu life-cycle example, sketch a seasonal plan around a "class tree", audit a familiar lesson using nature-as-teacher prompts (symbiosis, hedgehog foraging, squirrels storing acorns), and rewrite a paragraph of planning language to shift from "resources" towards respect, reciprocity and responsibility. You'll leave with an A4 planning mat, a sensitivity checklist, and at least one concrete change you can make to next week's science lesson.
The aims of this session are to: •Explain the principle of ‘two-eyed seeing’ and why it strengthens primary science. •Explore six dimensions of holistic scientific literacy. •Participate in practical activities to showcase how six dimensions of scientific literacy can be embedded in the primary science curriculum. •Apply a simple cultural-sensitivity checklist when planning.
Outcomes: Participants will leave able to articulate two-eyed seeing to a colleague, integrate at least one Indigenous or local knowledge example into an existing science unit, apply a cultural-sensitivity checklist when planning, and use relational language that positions children as part of, not separate from, nature.
Background This session draws on our work at UCL and experience working in Jamaica, Singapore, The Gambia, Japan, Senegal and Australia, synthesised in our recent research in planetary-conscious pedagogy (Strachan & Markwick, 2025). It has been shaped by classroom practice, conversations with community knowledge holders, and research on science capital (Godec et al., 2017), storytelling in science (Salehjee, 2020; Fishman, 2020), and two-eyed seeing (Hatcher et al., 2009). We approach the examples with humility, acknowledging that all knowledge, including modern science, is interpreted through a cultural lens.
