The Association for Science Education

Promoting Excellence in Science Teaching and Learning

Http://www.ase.org.uk

Membership is open to anyone with an interest in science education.

The Association for Science Education (ASE) is the professional body for those involved in science education at all levels from pre-school to higher education, including primary and secondary teachers, lecturers, advisors, technicians, teaching assistants and business partners. ASE provides an international network of individuals supported by a team of permanent staff providing a unique service for members and support for science education more widely.
Currently there are about 17 000 members registered in one or more of the following four categories of membership: primary teacher, secondary teacher, technician and trainee teacher.

Aims of ASE

The aims of the Association are to promote excellence in science teaching and learning through:

• Encouraging participation of members and others in a wide range of activities;

• Enhancing professionalism by fostering high quality professional development and, from 2005, promotion of Charter Science Teacher status:

• Working in partnership with other organisations from the worlds of education, science, industry and business.

More specifically, this is achieved in a number of ways which include:

• Representing the views of science teachers and others at all levels of government;

• Providing advice and guidance on specific problems and issues;

• Publishing high quality journals for members and others.

• Developing specialist ASE publications and commercially published books all at discount prices to members.

• Organising a major programme of events including an Annual Conference with more than 300 events over 3 days attended by 3000 or more delegates.

• Presenting a wide range of Professional development opportunities at all levels.

Structure of ASE
ASE is governed by its members through ASE Council which is made up of the officers and one representative from each of the 18 Regions. The national committees report to Council and include: 11-19, Primary Science, International, Laboratory Technicians, Publications, Safeguards in Science, Research. Two autonomous special interest groups (one for Science Advisers, and the other for Science Teacher Education) also further the aims of the Association.
The permanent staff at the headquarters in Hatfield, Hertfordshire include a Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and teams to support Conferences and Events, Curriculum Development, Membership and Publications.
There are 18 Regions each organised on a voluntary basis through their Region and Section committees to arrange events and in-service training for members (free or at a very low cost). It is these activities that are a focal point and means of networking and exchanging good practice.
Twelve part-time Field Officers support the regional network that underpins the membership structure of the Association and provide advice and support to members and permanent staff of the Association.

Journals
Education in Science is the house magazine of ASE and it is sent to all members of the Association five times per year. It is a professional, rather than an academic journal, intended to provide a means of communication between all sections of the membership - member to member, as well as being an important means for keeping members and others informed about what ASE is doing on their behalf. We try to ensure that the magazine has wide appeal across the membership covering all phases of education - early years, primary, secondary and post-16 – as well as carrying material for teacher educators, student teachers, technicians, researchers, curriculum and professional developers. Published: January/April/June/September/November ISSN: 0013-1377
SSR (School Science Review) is a journal for those teaching science to pupils and students aged 11-19 and all those interested in this aspect of education. Whilst most readers are teachers in schools and colleges, a significant number of teacher educators and education researchers also read the journal. SSR is distributed world-wide.
Published: March/June/September/December ISSN: 0036-68911
Primary Science Review: Primary Science Review aims to share information and ideas that support effective practice in science education at the primary school level and at the transition to early secondary education. To this end we publish articles about teaching, about learning and about assessing science for all children in the age range 3/4 to 12/13. Published: February/April/June/October/December ISSN: 0269-2465
Science Teacher Education is a professional journal, published by ASE, for all concerned with the pre-service education, induction and professional development of science teachers. Published three times a year, this journal aims to inform and contribute to the development of science teacher education in all phases of education.
Articles are written for and by teachers, lecturers, advisers, inspectors and others involved in science teacher education. Some articles are commissioned, while others are unsolicited. In addition to the main articles, the journal carries reports from conferences, book reviews, letters and notices about events pertinent to science teacher training. Published: September/December/May ISSN: 0961-6152

Projects
ASE in partnership with a wide range of organisations undertakes a variety of curriculum development and other forms of project which currently include: Science Across the World, Upd8, scienceonestop and Red Hot Science.
ASE also plays a leading role in national and local initiatives in science education including the establishment in 2004 of the National Network of Science Learning Centres.

Further details of the Association for Science Education can be found on the web-site www.ase.org.uk