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AS and A-level English: September 2025 updates

Welcome to our Autumn 2025 newsletter

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Published

Monday 1 Sep 2025

Welcome to our Autumn 2025 newsletter

We're excited to announce our new Curriculum Connects and training events for A-level English teachers. These will reflect on the summer 2025 exam series and provide useful insights for the new term. Exciting text additions to our A-level Literature specifications are also highlighted for your perusal.

The English Subject Support team – Leanne Ncube, Paul Stover, Wayne Power, Victoria Healey, and I – bring a broad range of experience across assessment, teaching, leadership, and partnership work. In fact, working as part of the wider Team English at AQA, we have as a collective over 100 years of teaching experience between us across a range of educational sectors both here and abroad. Our team is passionate about helping all English teachers, so please find in this update how you can help us to help Early Career teachers.

We wish you a great start to the new school year. We’re looking forward to connecting with many of you at various conferences and events this term and receiving the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment review when it’s published. If you’d like to have your voice heard on reform, sign up to our panels using our web form. In this email you’ll find all the information to get you started this term.

If any members of your team would like to receive subject-specific updates, they can easily sign up for AQA subject updates, so they’re always informed and part of our community.

Jo Stanway

Subject Lead for English

myAQA

Sign up to myAQA to get quick access to resources, CPD training and events, Data Insights (our results analysis tool) and much more this autumn term. Make sure you’ve filled in your myAQA profile including your role and subject specialism so we can instantly start connecting you with the tools, training and resources most relevant to you.

Once you’re logged into your myAQA account, you can also access Centre Services.

myNetwork

Curriculum Connects

Autumn 2025 Curriculum Connects are available to book – come and meet your English Subject Support team to reflect on the 2025 series and network with other teachers. 

Community links

Click here to find out more from the Forward Arts Foundation about National Poetry Day, taking place on 2 October 2025.

Poetry By Heart has great resources helping young people in England enjoy, explore, and confidently perform poetry. 

myResources

Find everything you need on MyAQA

Whether it’s schemes of work, community links or teaching guides, we’ve got what you need, many of which have been updated or are new. Visit the plan, teach and assess tabs on our A-level English web pages. More resources are available on our Centre Services secure web page. 

mySupport

Post-results services

Log into myAQA for post-results services to find information and deadlines and easy summary guide.

AQA NEA advisers

Each school or college has a dedicated NEA adviser. Our advisers are experienced teachers and moderators who can offer guidance and support throughout the academic year on delivering NEA.

They’re there to answer your questions, explain specification requirements, share teaching ideas and discuss general processes, planning and approaches to NEA tasks.

Their details may have changed from last year - so you can find them on Centre Services by going to ‘Pre-exams’ and then clicking on ‘NEA Advisers’. If you do not have an assigned adviser, please contact eos@aqa.org.uk.

Please be aware that contact details are confidential and must not be shared with third parties including students and on social media. Further information about our commitment to data privacy can be found in our privacy notice.

myTraining

Free CPD courses and events

For autumn 2025, we’ve developed a range of free professional development training courses and events to help you improve your knowledge and classroom confidence.

You can find a full list of events and courses on our professional development pages, including:

  • Mark scheme Guidance
  • Getting Started
  • Non exam Assessment
  • Preparing for 2026

Marking the non-exam assessment (NEA)

Are you looking to improve the accuracy of your NEA marking this year? Why not use our free Teacher online standardisation tool during a departmental meeting to check your marking is in line with our lead moderators? 

Specification updates and reminders: new texts for A-level Literature

Available for first teaching this September, we’ve added five brand new additional texts to our updates to our A-level English Literature specifications.

We're not replacing or removing any of the existing A-level texts, and you'll be able to continue teaching the texts you have previously taught across our A-level Literature specifications.

Explore the new texts

ECT Coordinators’ Insights

Here at AQA we care about supporting all teachers including our colleagues who are new to the profession. We need your help in continuing this work. Please fill in this form if you're the Early Career Teacher (ECT) Coordinator or Induction Lead in your school or forward it to them.

Non-exam assessment (NEA)

Rubric infringements

Worried about NEA rubric infringements? Check this reminder, to make sure you've dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s.

NEA digital downloads

You can find detailed guidance on how to upload your 7702/C, 7707/C, 7712/C, 7717/C files on to Centre marks submission (CMS) and FAQs for teachers on preparing students’ work on our NEA web pages.

AQA NEA advisers

Each school or college has a dedicated NEA adviser. Our advisers are experienced teachers and moderators who can offer guidance and support throughout the academic year on delivering NEA.

They’re there to answer your questions, explain specification requirements, share teaching ideas and discuss general processes, planning and approaches to NEA tasks.

Their details may have changed from last year - so you can find them on Centre Services by going to ‘Pre-exams’ and then clicking on ‘NEA Advisers’. If you do not have an assigned adviser, please contact eos@aqa.org.uk.

Please be aware that contact details are confidential and must not be shared with third parties including students and on social media. Further information about our commitment to data privacy can be found in our privacy notice.

The use of AI within assessments

JCQ’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use in Assessments: Protecting the Integrity of Qualifications document provides teachers/assessors involved in delivering JCQ qualifications with the information they need to manage use of AI in assessments. All relevant staff need to be aware of and familiarise themselves with the new guidance and instructions. If AI misuse is detected or suspected by your school or college, and the declaration of authentication has been signed, the case must be reported.

Remember, if you have any learners who use a word processor, it must have all internet connectivity disabled. This is to help prevent, among other things, the potential misuse of AI in exams.

Using AQA resources for AI tools

AQA does not allow anybody (including schools and colleges) to use any AQA materials to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered tools or technologies. This includes question papers, specifications, mark schemes, reports, teaching resources and other such materials. While we understand how useful these tools are, putting any AQA material into an AI tool would be in breach of copyright law, and AQA policy.

A-level English anthologies

When you make entries for AS and A-level English, we automatically send clean copies of the anthologies for exams that are ‘open book’ based on your school/college entries. It’s important to make sure you’re using the edition of poems that are in the anthologies. These are also free to order for AQA schools and colleges.

You can find the anthologies available for each of our English qualifications and how to order additional copies on our website.

Student Advisory Group – recruitment for 2025/26

We’re looking for learners to join our Student Advisory Group to help us make key decisions about the future of exams. We’d love to hear from learners who’ve completed AQA specification GCSEs since 2024, as well as from those taking AQA AS and A-levels. We also really want to hear from students taking our vocational qualifications, or vocational qualifications with any other exam board, as long as they have sat at least one AQA qualification.

Since the Student Advisory group began they’ve; represented the student voice each year at the Parliamentary Youth Reception, shared their views at the Curriculum and Assessment Youth Shadow Panel, fed into our Curriculum and Assessment call for evidence response, given insights on AI in the Classroom at the 2025 Festival of Education, helped with reviewing books for our English literature set texts list, and much more.

So if you know any learners who you think would be interested, please pass this on. Full details of the role and how to apply can be found on our website. Applications open on Monday 8 September and close at 5.00pm on Monday 22 September 2025.

Apply to become an AQA examiner for 2026

Enhance your teaching career while shaping learners' futures. Become an AQA examiner and gain unique insights into assessments, boost your professional growth, and earn extra income, all while making a real impact.

Becoming a moderator or examiner can be a valuable experience for you as a teacher and your school/college. Our vacancies are open, and you can apply on our website.

Contact our team

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