AQA adds new diverse and modern products to its Media Studies A-level

Published: Thursday 20 Oct 2022

We're delighted to have added nine new products to our A-level Media Studies course to make it more diverse and modern.

Two of the exciting new additions are rapper Lil Nas X's Old Town Road music video, and Zendaya's social media presence. Both will now be included in our list of products that students must study.

The full list of new products, which are all for first assessment in the 2024 exam series, are:

• Lil Nas X – Old Town Road (music video)
• Sephora – Black Beauty is Beauty (online advert)
• The Gentlewoman (magazine)
• GQ (magazine)
• Zendaya (social media presence)
• Horizon Forbidden West (video game)
• The Guardian (newspaper)
• Lupin (TV series)
• The Responder (TV series)

Sandra Allan, our Head of Curriculum for Creative Arts, said:

"The greater diversity that we've brought to our A-level Media Studies course makes it much more modern and relevant.

"We listened to feedback from teachers that they wanted more current and exciting content for their students, and that's exactly what we've done. It's a complete refresh, bringing the course right up to date.

"We've had a great reaction to the new content, including from teachers who aren't currently teaching our course but can't wait to re-connect with it because of the significant changes and updates we've made."

The new products added to our Media Studies A-level are part of a broader review we're carrying across all our qualifications as part of our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Last month we introduced three new texts and a poetry collection to our English Literature GCSE to bring greater diversity to the curriculum.

Earlier this year we added four new plays by writers from ethnic minority backgrounds to our GCSE and A-level Drama courses, and last year we added the study of the campaigning work on social and race issues by footballer Marcus Rashford to our Media Studies GCSE.

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