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9 July 2026

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Trethewey guides AQA into the vocational skills landscape

As AQA pushes beyond GCSEs and A Levels and returns to technical education, the charity’s chief strategy and vocational officer Anna Trethewey believes awarding organisations must do more than assess learning

Jessica Hill

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We have the resources and social commitment. Why wouldn’t we be working with young people and adults across education?

Anna Trethewey, chief strategy and vocational officer, AQA

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For most people, AQA is synonymous with GCSEs and A Levels, processing 3.6 million GCSE, AS and A Level entries each year from 1.1 million students.

But lately, England’s biggest awarding bodies have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons; looming strikes at AQA, controversy over executive bonuses at City & Guilds, and a rebuke from Ofqual over exam breaches at Pearson.

Former teacher, Ofsted deputy director and self-confessed policy nerd Anna Trethewey wants to shift that narrative. She is leading AQA’s most significant strategic shift in years: expanding beyond its academic heartland into technical education, apprenticeships and adult skills.

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