Preparing to Teach

To find the location and availability for any of the meetings below, click book now.

Spring – Summer 2012 for Additional Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Additional Applied Science and iGCSEs

We are pleased to announce that the following new free Preparing to Teach courses are available for GCSE Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Additional Science, Additional Applied Science and AQA Level 1/2 Certificates in Science (iGCSEs). We have full day courses at key locations led by AQA's Senior Examiners for GCSE Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Additional Science.

These courses will give you the opportunity to discuss:

• new exemplar questions (Units 2 and 3) with pupil responses and commentaries
• the managing and marking of Controlled Assessments, including exemplar ISAs, with pupil responses and commentaries
• new Quality of Written Communication (QWC) questions, with pupil responses and commentaries
• the use of command words such as 'evaluate' and 'explain'
• up to date information on how the move from modular to terminal examinations will affect science specifications.

Note: If you teach GCSE Additional Science or the separate sciences, you will only need to attend one of the courses above, as there will be some overlap in material.

We are also running half day courses for:

AQA Level 1/2 Certificates in Science (iGCSEs)

These courses will give you the opportunity to discuss:

• new exemplar questions (A/A* and B/C level) and pupil responses, commentaries and mark schemes
• new Quality of Communication (QC) questions and command words explained.

GCSE Additional Applied Science

These courses will give you an overview of the Additional Applied Science specification and the opportunity to discuss:

• exemplar questions, Quality of Written Communication (QWC) questions and commentaries
• Controlled Assessment exemplar assignments
• specimen question papers and mark schemes.

Preparing to teach Online meetings

We also offer Preparing to Teach Online meetings that consist of a series of videos that offer advice and guidance on the new GCSE Science specifications, particularly for Controlled Assessment. You can watch footage of commentary from Senior Examiners and see examples of schools carrying out Controlled Assessments. After you've watched them you can discuss any issues you have with other colleagues in the forums.