ResearchEd National Conference 2025

The first Saturday in September has become a somewhat annual tradition for me to take down to Parliament Hill School in London for the ResearchEd National Conference. This year I was joined by two of my fellow National Education Leads; Ash Morris, who leads secondary science; and Sarah Hutson-Dean, who leads primary science, who I am delighted have contributed their experience to this blog as well.

Me, Ash and Sarah meet in London

Like many others, we started the day in the session with Professor Becky Francis CBE, hoping to maybe get a few advance insights into what might be reported when the Curriculum and Assessment review lands at some point before Christmas. I don’t think there was anything that isn’t already in the public domain, but there were some interesting points made, including the results of the 2024 parents survey indicating that the majority of parents think that the attention given to both core and “non-traditional” subjects is about right in schools, and that academic subjects featured in the top five list of things that parents and pupils at KS4 would like to spend more time on (alongside employment and interview skills, creative thinking and problem solving projects, digital skills, and finance and budgeting). Professor Francis did confirm that the review will examine GCSE volume and time spent in examinations, look at how to facilitate greater choice of subjects whilst maintaining the breadth of curriculum offer that is a key strength of our curriculum. Another key issue the review is looking at is disadvantage, where gaps are still significant, with a commitment to ensuring that “every young person can see themselves in the curriculum, and that it challenges discrimination and extends horizons”. Climate science, digital literacy and financial education were also mentioned as being needed to help young people navigate the opportunities and challenges they would face in the future. Professor Francis echoed the detail of the interim report when she highlighted there was a lot to celebrate about our education system, and many things that we do very well, and so “evolution not revolution” was what the review was looking to achieve.

After this it was my time for my own session on front-loaded feedback in maths, which I gave to a surprisingly large audience (given the other speakers on at the same time). The session seemed to go down well (I got top ratings from everyone that filled in the feedback form) and people coming to see me later to say that they had enjoyed it. 

Me in presenter mode!

Of course, the test for any session is whether people make use of it afterwards, so if you were there and you do incorporate the ideas then please let me know!

Oracy and literacy have been big on the agenda in recent months, so I decided to go and listen to Sarah Davies’ talk on using oracy to support literacy fluency in the next session. Hearing about Sarah’s journey after taking responsibility for literacy in her deputy head role was fascinating, and her commitment to ensuring that each child was treated as an individual and received the right pathway of intervention for them was inspiring. She rightly pointed out that if kids are not able to access exam papers, then all the content knowledge in the world won’t help them – and I was surprised to see maths exams being quite high up in the literacy demands (third only to English and Geography). One thing that Sarah shared that really resonated with me was a conversation she had with one of her staff members about why their top performing pupils were not able to secure places in top universities despite their excellent academic record, because they did not possess the oracy skills necessary to do well at the interview stage – something that would clearly hamper them well beyond applying for universities.

From Sarah Davies’ presentation

During this session, Sarah and Ash were back in the sports hall for the session by Peps McCrea and Dr Jen Barker. Here are Sarah’s thoughts on the session:

Peps McCrea and Dr. Jen Barker shared a powerful message: inclusive teaching is effective teaching. With educational outcomes declining and many teachers feeling underprepared to support children with SEND, they unpacked five drivers of system failure. Yet their talk was full of hope. They reminded us that how we learn is far more similar than different. Our shared cognitive architecture means we all benefit from strategies that secure attention, provide high-quality feedback, and establish strong routines. By designing lessons to be as accessible as possible for the widest range of pupils, and keeping adaptations minimal so every child engages with the same learning, we can lift outcomes without sidelining teachers. Practical strategies like highlighting key sections of text, chunking information with guiding questions, using choral responses, encouraging pair talk, and making the most of mini-whiteboards showed how small, thoughtful choices can have a big impact!

Sarah (with Ash) followed this up by listening to Professor Rob Coe talking about teacher expertise, and said:

Dr. Rob Coe’s session was a brilliant reminder of just how much teachers matter. He showed us that the impact of great teaching goes way beyond test scores, shaping students’ chances in life and even their wellbeing. So what sets great teachers apart? It’s a mix of deep subject knowledge, clear explanations, strong routines, supportive relationships, and lessons that really make students think. Rob shared the ‘Great Teaching Toolkit,’ which breaks this down into four areas: knowing your content, creating a positive and motivating environment, managing the classroom so learning time is maximised, and designing tasks that stretch thinking. One point that really stuck was that just clocking up years in the classroom does not guarantee expertise. Without the right feedback and focus, we can plateau. His challenge to schools was clear: if we want teachers and pupils to keep thriving, professional growth has to be a priority.

After a gorgeous lunch in the speakers lounge and a trip round to the farmer’s market, it was time for the afternoon sessions. The buzz recently with my fellow Twinkl National Education Leads has been around the recently released writing framework so I was very interested to go along to Clare Sealey’s session talking about it. Clare shared some great advice from her work on the sector panel and what the writing framework does and does not mean schools need to consider or do.

 

Whilst I was hearing all about the writing framework, Sarah and Ash were delving into the world of adaptive teaching and its links to cognitive science. Here is what Ash had to say about the session:

The standout session of the day for me was delivered by Jade Pearce, Trust Head of Education for Affinity Learning Partnership, on ‘Adaptive Teaching x Cognitive Science.’ Having always been passionate about the science of learning and committed to teaching in an evidence-informed way, I expected to leave with reassurance that my practice was on the right track. Instead, I came away with fresh ideas and practical adaptations, particularly around the ‘I do, we do, you do’ model for introducing new content, as well as approaches to questioning. Rather than relying solely on questions to check for listening or recall, the session highlighted different styles of questioning and their purposes, which added real depth to my thinking.

The final session I attended was led by Adam Robbins, unpacking the overly simplistic ideas that seem to exist in areas of the profession about motivation, particularly the idea that extrinsic motivation is a “bad thing”, and autonomy being absolutely necessary for motivation. Adam pointed out that there are plenty of times that people are motivated by extrinsic factors over which they have no control, but that these don’t necessarily lead to lack of intrinsic motivation, before unpacking the research that shows that there are levels of extrinsic motivation that tend to come with maturity as well as how extrinsic factors such as competence and relatedness can “fill the gaps” when intrinsic motivation might be lacking. A simple example is marking pupil, which has to be done (low autonomy) but that teachers might be motivated to do because they think it will make them more able to support pupils (competence) or because it feeds into a wider department plan that they are committed to (relatedness).

Outside of the sessions, it was great to catch up with old friends and colleagues like Kat Howard, Kris Boulton, Mark Lehain and David Faram. This is part of what keeps me coming back to ResearchEd; the combination of hearing about things that are really working for people in schools, insight into the latest thinking that might impact education, and the chance to touch base and interact with people who care about education as much as I do just cannot be beaten!

Ash agreed that it was a great day, saying:

Aside from the sessions themselves, it was inspiring to be surrounded by so many dedicated and passionate people, all giving up their Saturday in the name of research! A personal highlight was spending time with my colleagues, Pete and Sarah, and enjoying some excellent Greek food from the nearby farmers’ market at lunchtime, with Pete leading the way.