The first iteration of our A Level Engagement Project ran in 2025-26. It was funded via competitive funding from the excellence and impact funding of the Political Studies Association.
Project partners were:
- Financial Times
- Political Studies Association
- Developments in American Politics book team
- 50 States or Bust! research project
You can find recordings of all the talks delivered at the project conference on Feb 25th 2026 here (with further details on the specifics of the talks below).
Project Affiliates were:
- Dr Adam Burns, Brighton College
- Dr Ursula Hackett, Royal Holloway, University of London
- Dr Caroline Leicht, The University of Manchester
- Caitlin Lewis, The University of Manchester
- Dr Amy Tatum, Bournemouth University
- Dr Andrew Wroe, University of Kent
The line up for the 2025-26 online conference was:
- Dr Adam Burns, Brighton College
- Thomas Evans, Financial Times
- Dr Pete Finn, University of Greenwich
- Dr Ursula Hackett, Royal Holloway, University of London
- Dr Caroline Leicht, The University of Manchester
- Caitlin Lewis, The University of Manchester
- Dr Katie Pruszynski, The University of Sheffield
- Dr Amy Tatum, Bournemouth University
- Dr Dafydd Townley, University of Portsmouth
- Dr Andrew Wroe, University of Kent
The essay competition winners in 2025-26 were:
- Best overall essay: Matthew Fong, Tonbridge School
- Best argument: Eleanor Carney, Godolphin and Latymer School
- Most original essay: Charlie Hawkins, Eastbourne College
- Best use of evidence (joint winner): Ifeoluwakiishi Bayo-Awonaike, Christ’s Hospital
- Best use of evidence (joint winner): Zac Woodcock, Brighton College
- Best discussion of a social problem: Caitlin Arthur, St Mary’s Catholic School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Full details available: here
You can find write up of the 2025-26 iteration of the project on p.21 of the June 2026 edition of PSA News.
Project materials:
As well as year to year activities and events, one of the aims of the FT-APG A Level Project is to generate an archive of pedagogic material that is useful for student, and those teaching, at FE and HE levels. You can find materials from the first iteration of the project below.
- Dr Adam Burns, Head of Politics at Brighton College, giving a talk entitled ‘How to ace your A Level politics exam’ (talk delivered at the inaugural FT-APG Online A Level Conference, Feb 25th, 2026)
- You can find a blog post based on Adam’s talk: here
- Dr Amy Tatum, Bournemouth University, discussing the importance of critical engagement with GenAI tools (talk delivered at the inaugural FT-APG Online A Level Conference, Feb 25th, 2026)
- You can find a piece with further advice on critically engaging with AI: here
- Caitlin Lewis of the University of Manchester exploring (via the marking criteria of the FT-APG A Level Essay Competition) how to move from writing an A Level essay to writing at university level (talk delivered at the inaugural FT-APG Online A Level Conference, Feb 25th, 2026)
- Dr Ursula Hackett, Royal Holloway, University of London, mapping how evidence can be used in an essay (talk delivered at the inaugural FT-APG Online A Level Conference, Feb 25th, 2026)
- You can find a blog post based on Ursula’s talk: here
- Dr Andrew Wroe, University of Kent, and co-editor of the Developments in American Politics book series, discussing how to utilise evidence from books in an essay (talk delivered at the inaugural FT-APG Online A Level Conference, Feb 25th, 2026)
