There continues to be a physics teacher recruit and retention crisis across the nations of the UK. There is little point in governments investing heavily in teacher recruitment if qualified teachers then leave the profession in large numbers.
With this in mind, Mark Whalley and Stuart Farmer have conducted research in both England and Scotland into identifying the reasons why physics teachers have recently left the profession. In this session, these reasons will be explored and comparisons made between the situations in Scotland and England, which factors are in common and which are different in the two nations where there has been an increasing divergence in educational policy in the last two decades. How do factors such as accountability and performativity, administrative workload, pupil behaviour, relationships with colleagues, and career progression routes impact on teacher wellbeing and their decisions to stay or leave teaching?
Learning and Skills Manager, IOP and Perimeter Institute
I was a teacher of physics in Scotland for over 30 years before becoming the Scottish Education Manager for IOP in February 2019. Throughout this time I have been active in curriculum and assessment development and providing professional learning for teachers. I am a former Chair... Read More →
Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Chester
I'm a senior lecturer in Educational Leadership at the University of Chester. My main teaching covers Professional Learning and Change Leadership but I also tutor across the MA Educational Leadership programme. My principal research interest is in teacher retention and by focusing... Read More →
Aims of this session: > To raise awareness of the link between the primary National Curriculum content and the lived experiences of children and families. > To help delegates pre-empt potentially emotive issues within the science National Curriculum and consider sensitive pedagogical responses.
Emotive issues in science, really? Science is often considered to be a fact-based subject; we don’t always anticipate that science lessons may evoke emotional responses from children (or their families).
During this session, we aim to consider the primary science curriculum through the eyes of a child who may find some topics challenging. These are not always the topics that we expect, and there are more than you might think. If you’re a child who does not live with biological relations, how do lessons on inherited traits in humans feel to you? If your parents struggle to afford good-quality food, what do activities highlighting a healthy diet mean to you?
We will consider how topics such as these can be addressed with sensitivity in the classroom without watering down or avoiding the scientific content.
Outcomes: Delegates will be introduced to a different mindset when teaching science. Delegates should be able to identify aspects of the primary National Curriculum which may evoke an emotional response or cause unintended upset to the children they teach and their families. Delegates should leave the session with some ideas about how they would/would not teach potentially emotive topics.
We are experienced teacher educators who have supported student teachers to get to grips with the science National Curriculum. We have also sat with students who have regretted the approaches they took in lessons when they taught the science curriculum in a factually correct way but did not fully consider the lived experiences of the children they teach. This prompted us to develop a taught session, called ‘Teaching science with sensitivity’, which we deliver to all our trainees. Feedback from students is always positive, and we would be keen to share our work with a wider audience. In doing so, we appreciate that many delegates have rich experience that they could contribute to discussion within the session.
Topics that we include are:
The human body, including physical differences, the importance of exercise, a healthy diet, hygiene/dental health and hygiene, drugs and alcohol. Potential concerns: Body differences, body image, addiction within the family, and the impact of socio-economic backgrounds.
Living, dead and things that have never been alive - Potential concern: death. Food chains – Potential concern: awareness of the brutality of predation. Fossils and evolution - Potential concern: conflict with science and families’ cultural/religious beliefs. Living things and their habitats, life cycles and reproduction - Potential concern: sustainability/habitat destruction. Inheritance and Selection – Potential concern: upset caused to children who do not live with their biological parents.
At the Nottingham Institute of Education, we have remained committed to ensuring that professional curiosity, agency and joy underpin our science provision across our primary initial teacher education (ITE) programmes. Maintaining this ambition against a national context of financial pressures in the university sector while meeting government reforms as articulated through the Initial Teacher Training Early Career Framework (ITTECF), the introduction of ITAP (Intensive Training and Practice) and the new OFTSED ITT Inspection Framework has not been easy. Our concern is that some of these challenges are contributing to a constrained provision of primary science in ITE.
We know that we are not alone and we would like to use this session as an opportunity to collectively celebrate and identify next steps in nurturing professional curiosity, agency and joy for our next generation of primary science teachers. We invite you to join us in this interactive presentation where you will be able to share and reflect on how science is positioned in your own teacher educator settings. (Outcomes) By the end of the session, you will: • Gain a developed awareness of practice-based approaches (e.g. outdoor learning, informal contexts, micro-teaching, practitioner research projects) for embedding professional curiosity and developing critical research engagement in primary science ITE. • Critically reflect on how ITE programmes currently develop research engagement and how this can establish professional agency. • Consider wider possibilities, through the ASE and beyond, that will empower student teachers and ECTs in their professional development of their subject, curriculum and pedagogical knowledge in primary science.
Aims: • Understand how science can be given a strong, coherent and joyful profile across a primary ITE curriculum • Explore how purposeful and critical engagement with research can be scaffolded for student teachers and ECTs. • Collaborate as a community of teacher educators to support the identification of practical strategies that can embed professional curiosity and joy in primary science ITE.
Background: At the Nottingham Institute of Education, we have remained committed to ensuring that professional curiosity, agency and joy underpin our science provision across our primary initial teacher education (ITE) programmes. Working as a team of primary science initial teacher educators in England, we have reflected on how to maintain this ambition against a national context of financial pressures in the university sector while meeting government reforms as articulated through the Initial Teacher Training Early Career Framework (ITTECF) and the introduction of ITAP (Intensive Training and Practice. Our concern is that some of these challenges are contributing to a diminished and constrained provision of primary science in ITE.
Our approach has evolved through our ITE undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum design, collaboration with expert practitioners, specialist science expertise within our university and local partnership schools. External examiner feedback and student outcomes have supported the development of this approach, highlighting its impact on confidence, agency and subject knowledge.
We will reflect on how we have deliberately designed, within our primary ITE curriculum, opportunities that encourage a critical engagement with research in primary science. This includes utilising external evidence-informed professional support such as the Primary Science Enhancement Award (PSEA), embedding science within ITAP so that foundational teaching foci, such as high-quality talk and questioning, can be developed through the lens of primary science and promoting practitioner enquiry in primary science within our final dissertation action research projects.
Associate Professor of Science Education, Nottingham Trent University
I started my professional career as a classroom teacher and science lead in a London primary school. I was and remain passionate about classroom learning that promotes a scientific mindset alongside the development of an understanding of key scientific concepts. This professional... Read More →
Our dedicated Chair Trio invite you to drop-in to the “Chair-Chat” sessions on one of the days of Annual Conference 2027. The Chair is a vital role to the ASE, and the elected Chair provides an authoritative voice for the thousands of members that the ASE supports, along with those working within the wider science education community. Those elected remain part of our Chair Trio for 3 years.
Got a question? Ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes? Ever thought about getting involved in Committee activities? Are you wanting to know more about Professional Registration or writing an article in one of the ASE journals? First time attending our flagship Conference?
If this is your first ASE Conference, then please come along and say Hello.
We look forward to hearing your questions and will endeavour to answer them or point you in a selection of possible right directions!
Associate Professor Learning and Teaching / Outgoing Chair of the ASE 25/26, University of Hertfordshire & Creative Primary Science Education Consultancy
I worked in primary schools for over twenty years as a classteacher, senior leader and Deputy Headteacher. I taught across Key stages 1, 2 and 3 in UK and in Spain. During this time I developed a passion for science, art and design, improvised drama, assessment for learning, creativity... Read More →
Primary Science Education Consultant / Co-Chair of the ASE
Claire Seeley has been a teacher for over thirty years in a wide variety of contexts including both inner city and rural schools England. Claire is also a Primary Science Consultant, providing both continuing professional development and initial teacher training. She has a passion... Read More →
Associate Professor of Science Education, Nottingham Trent University
I started my professional career as a classroom teacher and science lead in a London primary school. I was and remain passionate about classroom learning that promotes a scientific mindset alongside the development of an understanding of key scientific concepts. This professional... Read More →
Our society is facing technological advancement, environmental challenges, and evolving labour market demands. As such, science education is increasingly expected to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to deal with these issues and thrive in an uncertain future. Science teachers are at the forefront of this effort, adapting curricula, pedagogies, and assessment practices to prepare students for a complex and interconnected world.
The panel discussion will explore how the global science teaching workforce is responding to these challenges and opportunities. Drawing on international perspectives, it will examine the ways teachers are fostering critical thinking, real world problem-solving, creativity, scientific literacy, collaboration, inquiry-based learning, sustainability, digital technologies, and adaptability essential for future readiness. This includes highlighting how science educators are empowering learners not only to succeed academically, but also to contribute meaningfully to their communities and address global challenges. The discussion will reflect on the pivotal role of the science teaching profession in shaping resilient, informed, and engaged citizens who are prepared to thrive in the future and help create it.
The last year has seen radical changes in the numbers of trainee physics teachers recruited, retained as well as those returning to the profession.
What does the future hold?
The Institute of Physics laid out its own vision for a thriving teaching workforce in its 3Rs report, published in September 2025. What has changed since then and what have we learned?
Our dedicated Chair Trio invite you to drop-in to the “Chair-Chat” sessions on one of the days of Annual Conference 2027. The Chair is a vital role to the ASE, and the elected Chair provides an authoritative voice for the thousands of members that the ASE supports, along with those working within the wider science education community. Those elected remain part of our Chair Trio for 3 years.
Got a question? Ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes? Ever thought about getting involved in Committee activities? Are you wanting to know more about Professional Registration or writing an article in one of the ASE journals? First time attending our flagship Conference?
If this is your first ASE Conference, then please come along and say Hello.
We look forward to hearing your questions and will endeavour to answer them or point you in a selection of possible right directions!
Associate Professor Learning and Teaching / Outgoing Chair of the ASE 25/26, University of Hertfordshire & Creative Primary Science Education Consultancy
I worked in primary schools for over twenty years as a classteacher, senior leader and Deputy Headteacher. I taught across Key stages 1, 2 and 3 in UK and in Spain. During this time I developed a passion for science, art and design, improvised drama, assessment for learning, creativity... Read More →
Primary Science Education Consultant / Co-Chair of the ASE
Claire Seeley has been a teacher for over thirty years in a wide variety of contexts including both inner city and rural schools England. Claire is also a Primary Science Consultant, providing both continuing professional development and initial teacher training. She has a passion... Read More →
Associate Professor of Science Education, Nottingham Trent University
I started my professional career as a classroom teacher and science lead in a London primary school. I was and remain passionate about classroom learning that promotes a scientific mindset alongside the development of an understanding of key scientific concepts. This professional... Read More →
Teacher confidence is frequently discussed in primary science, yet it is rarely treated as a strategic priority within school improvement planning or within the support structures offered by organisations working alongside schools. This session explores the argument that meaningful and sustained improvements in primary science cannot happen without intentional investment in teacher confidence.
Drawing on examples from classroom, school and trust-level practice, participants will reflect on how confidence influences curriculum enactment, practical science, pupil engagement and teaching quality. The session will explore why confidence is often overlooked because it is perceived as difficult to measure, despite its clear impact on outcomes for both teachers and pupils.
Participants will also be challenged to consider the extent to which current professional development and science support models genuinely create space for teachers to develop confidence over time. Rather than viewing confidence as a by-product of training, the session will argue that it should be deliberately planned for, revisited and evaluated as part of sustainable improvement work.
The session will further explore the link between teacher inclusion and pupil inclusion, recognising that teachers who feel disconnected from science or perceive the subject as “not for them” may find it more challenging to deliver engaging and ambitious science experiences for children.
Through discussion, reflection and analysis of case studies, participants will leave with practical ideas for how teacher confidence can become a visible and valued part of school improvement conversations and wider science support programmes.
Participants will: > Reflect on the impact of teacher confidence on science teaching, learning and inclusion > Consider examples of how schools, trusts and science organisations can intentionally developed teacher confidence over time > Consider how teacher confidence could be incorporated into improvement planning, professional development and external science support programmes > Identify practical ways to revisit, monitor and evaluate teacher confidence within their own contexts > Recognise teacher confidence as a strategic factor in achieving sustainable improvement in primary science
This session draws on my experience as a primary teacher, Science subject leader and nationally recognised Science consultant, working with schools, trusts and organisations to improve science provision across a range of contexts. Through this work, a recurring theme has emerged: where teachers lack confidence in science, this significantly influences the quality of teaching, curriculum enactment and pupil engagement.
My interest in this area has developed through supporting teachers and leaders over time and recognising that confidence is often treated as incidental rather than intentional within school improvement. Schools readily plan and budget for curriculum resources, schemes and assessment systems, yet teacher confidence is rarely identified as something that can be deliberately developed, revisited and evaluated. Equally, organisations supporting schools in science education often focus on provision, resources or subject knowledge without explicitly addressing how teachers experience science themselves.
This is particularly important within primary science, where some teachers may feel that science “isn’t for them”, limiting participation, risk-taking and engagement within the subject. The session also reflects current national priorities outlined in Every Child Achieving and Thriving (2026), particularly the emphasis on sustainable school improvement, workforce development and inclusive practice. While inclusion is often discussed in relation to pupils, this session considers the importance of inclusion for teachers too: if teachers themselves do not feel included, capable or confident within science, this inevitably impacts the experiences and opportunities available to children.
If you are a secondary teacher or science education consultant, come along to the "Meet the 11 to 19 Committee" session at the end of Friday of Annual Conference 2027.
Got a question? Ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes? Ever thought about getting involved in Committee activities? Are you wanting to know more about Professional Registration or writing an article for one of the ASE journals?
We look forward to listening to your questions and will endeavour to answer them!
If you are a primary science educator, come along to the "Meet the Primary Committee" session at the end of Friday of Annual Conference 2027.
Got a question? Ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes? Ever thought about getting involved in Committee activities? Are you wanting to know more about Professional Registration or writing an article in Primary Science or one of the ASE journals?
We look forward to listening to your questions and will endeavour to answer them!
The Padlet for the Teachmeet is here: https://padlet.com/saraheamesscienceleader/ase-conf-saturday-10th-january-2026-primary-science-teach-me-ruozfsim8u6eq9lz
If you are a science technician, come along to the "Meet the Technicians Committee" session at the end of Friday of Annual Conference 2027.
Got a question? Ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes? Ever thought about getting involved in Committee activities? Are you wanting to know more about Professional Registration or writing an article for one of the ASE journals or webpages, or presenting at one of our events and sharing your practice?
We look forward to meeting you and helping with your queries!
Chair of ASE Technicians Committe / Senior Science Technician, The Orme Academy
I've been a school science technician since 2010, currently a senior science technician at The Orme Academy part of Shaw Education Trust, previous to this I was a senior analytical chemist in the pharmaceutical industry.
I have also worked alongside STEM learning as a lead PDL... Read More →
Our dedicated Chair Trio invite you to drop-in to the “Chair-Chat” sessions on one of the days of Annual Conference 2027. The Chair is a vital role to the ASE, and the elected Chair provides an authoritative voice for the thousands of members that the ASE supports, along with those working within the wider science education community. Those elected remain part of our Chair Trio for 3 years.
Got a question? Ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes? Ever thought about getting involved in Committee activities? Are you wanting to know more about Professional Registration or writing an article in one of the ASE journals? First time attending our flagship Conference?
If this is your first ASE Conference, then please come along and say Hello.
We look forward to hearing your questions and will endeavour to answer them or point you in a selection of possible right directions!
Associate Professor Learning and Teaching / Outgoing Chair of the ASE 25/26, University of Hertfordshire & Creative Primary Science Education Consultancy
I worked in primary schools for over twenty years as a classteacher, senior leader and Deputy Headteacher. I taught across Key stages 1, 2 and 3 in UK and in Spain. During this time I developed a passion for science, art and design, improvised drama, assessment for learning, creativity... Read More →
Primary Science Education Consultant / Co-Chair of the ASE
Claire Seeley has been a teacher for over thirty years in a wide variety of contexts including both inner city and rural schools England. Claire is also a Primary Science Consultant, providing both continuing professional development and initial teacher training. She has a passion... Read More →
Associate Professor of Science Education, Nottingham Trent University
I started my professional career as a classroom teacher and science lead in a London primary school. I was and remain passionate about classroom learning that promotes a scientific mindset alongside the development of an understanding of key scientific concepts. This professional... Read More →
I'm a Chartered Science teacher, the registrar and Project Officer for the ASE (running the Keeping Science Practical project). I'm a senior professional development leader for the Science Learning Partnership network and I help the Science Council promote their professional registers. I'm an ex-special school senior leader, an ex-science teacher and an OUP author. I jointly run the ASE's Inclusive Science Educati... Read More →
This interactive workshop will give you a grounded, practical exploration of how AI can support workload reduction without creating additional stress, unrealistic expectations, or dependence on technology.
You will explore real examples of where AI can save time, including planning support, summarising information, drafting routine communications, adapting content for different audiences, generating starting points for resources, and reducing repetitive administrative tasks. Through discussion and short practical activities, you will consider how to evaluate when AI is genuinely useful, when it may be inefficient, and where caution is needed.
A key focus will be on critical use rather than blind adoption. You will consider issues such as accuracy, bias, safeguarding, privacy, and the importance of maintaining professional oversight.
Designed for educators and professionals who are curious about AI but want realistic, manageable approaches rather than technical deep dives or exaggerated claims, this session will leave you with practical ideas, increased confidence, and a clearer understanding of how AI can support, but not replace professional expertise.
Following this session, participants hopefully will be able to:
* Identify appropriate tasks where AI may reduce workload effectively. * Critically evaluate whether AI is the right tool for a specific task. * Apply simple AI-supported strategies to improve efficiency in planning, communication, and organisation. * Recognise common risks and limitations when using AI in professional settings. * Use AI more intentionally, ethically, and with clearer professional boundaries. * Trial at least one realistic AI workflow within their own practice.
PGCE Course Science Lead, Warwick University Centre for Teacher Education
Having been a physics teacher and Head of Department for over a decade, I am now Physics PGCE lead and a teaching fellow at the Centre for Teacher Education at the University of Warwick. I also take on freelance work and have supported OUP with the Kerboodle resources for the new... Read More →
Join us to relax and unwind during lunchtime at the ASE Annual Conference. Enjoy three stunning short films showcasing fascinating wildlife and their ecosystems.
‘The Caretakers’ is a journey into the weird, wonderful and truly astonishing lives of the small yet mighty creatures who keep the world turning – beetles. They have been successful for millions of years, but they’re in serious trouble; what does the future hold for these incredibly important animals, and for us if they disappear? 21 minutes. Director – Tom Hanner
‘Creatures of the Kaleidoscope’ Explore one of natures most magical creatures, the Cuttlefish. Embark on a mesmerising journey of nature’s living kaleidoscopes. Follow these elusive creatures as this documentary delves deep into the extraordinary lives of these remarkable cephalopods, see their unique abilities as they morph into a stunning array of colours and shapes in a blink of an eye. Witness the incredible transformation from vulnerable prey to cunning predators, navigating the vast oceans ever changing surroundings and dangers. 18 minutes. Director – Hannah Jodie Alexander
‘Fascinating World of Wood Ants’ This film visualizes the lifecycle of Wood Ants and emphasizes their vital ecological role in the ecosystem. It showcases their journey, social dynamics, and ecological contributions, highlighting the importance of preserving their habitats in the face of environmental challenges. 11 minutes. Director – Siddique Salim Khan
These short films are kindly made available for viewing at ASE’s Annual Conference through ASE’s long-standing collaboration with the Museo de Ciencias of the Universidad de Navarra.
