MA Education

  The Professional Enquiry module engages participants in a systematic and critical enquiry into an area of education related  closely to their own professional context and of personal interest. In this context, education is understood to encompass life-long learning and training as well as pedagogic and educative processes taking place within and outside of educational institutions. Participants are expected to engage critically with relevant literature and emphasise contestability in various viewpoints and positions. This small-scale research will include the collection and analysis of primary data. Participants will relate theory to practice and make recommendations based on their findings. Please note: participants enrolled to a named award route must ensure their enquiry is clearly relevant to that route.

The module aims to develop a critical understanding of the theories, principles and concepts that underpin assessment and  learning. Students will examine examples of assessment drawn from their own educational experience and identify strategies for enhancing learning and teaching.

  In this module you will have an opportunity to critique current theory and practice around equality and diversity in education and wider society. It will provide you with opportunities for critical examination of contemporary and established theories around inequality, social justice and policy responses to diversity. Its aim is to equip students with a broad understanding of issues of equality, diversity and social justice in an educational settings including ways in which to meet the needs of diverse students within these settings.

The module encourages critical awareness of pedagogical strategies and approaches to developing inclusive educational practice. By examining socio-cultural views on the development and learning of disabled learner and those with additional need, you are encouraged to explore the perspectives related to the notion of pedagogy

An introduction to the fundamental importance of critical reflection and reflexivity in professional learning in education covering issues such as professional development in a changing world, identity, positionality and ethics. The module will form part of the research strand of the award leading into the research and development module and then into the professional enquiry.

This module supports a deeper understanding of education globally; you will explore the context education world wide, contextualising and reflecting on your own learning experiences. You will engage in activities that support your transition into the UK education systems. Covering areas such as referencing and academic writing at a higher level.

This module builds on the knowledge, skills, and understanding of leading mentoring and coaching within a wide range of organisations. You will be critically reflecting on some of your previous experiences and learning, and deepening your professional knowledge, understanding, and skills in a wider context. You will be encouraged to take an innovative approach to guiding others in their development of coaching mentoring practice and will use your skills as a reflective practitioner to lead coaching mentoring within your organisational settingl.

This module will explore theories of change and improvments in pedagogy. Participants will also be encouraged to explore their own principles and values that underpin such change, e.g. is all pedagogic change soley about improving academic outcomes? This will allow participants to critically engage with pedagogic innovations within their own subject or responsibilities within the education setting. Participants will be expected to write a critical reflection on persuasion and change exploring such areas as professional motivation and the rhetoric of change that underpins the content of a professional presentation. Additionally, participants will be expected to produce the critically justified presentation (a Powerpoint or Prezi etc.) with in depth commentary intended for collegues which makes clear the academic justification for the change, intended impact on learners and provides motivation for change in collegues' practice. This will enable a strategy for disseminating the plan, inspiring change in colleagues and establishing agreed success criteria.

In this module you will explore the digital identities and habits of learners and teachers within educational settings working collaboratively and individually to achieve this. You will examine existing theoretical perspectives in digitally mediated education and consider how emergent pedagogical frameworks might be utilised to engage with learners digital habits. You will specifically examine the changing role of the learner and teacher/facilitator within this emerging paradigm. In your groups you will identify a problem and propose an intervention that takes into account the habitual use of digital tools by learners and show how it can be used for effective learning. You will critically evaluate the process and product of your collaboration and your own individual contribution as a member of your group. An example might be: For example, you might look at the ways in which blogging is used in social spaces and critically appraise its functionality for learning purposes. Is their any research into the habits of bloggers, what is the demographic etc., Is it likely to translate to a school space? Does it fit any particular theories of learning? Further you could supplement this by looking at its use in education. Any aspect of digital engagement might be chosen: mobility, gaming, social software, you tube etc.

This module is designed to enable the mentor to critically explore the implications of mentoring relationships with emphasis on supporting the reflective practice skills of their mentees.

The aim of the module is to explore the impact of the leadership within the context of multi-agency working. This will emerge from critical self-assessment and links to key theorists. There will also be an opportunity to reflect upon contemporary issues through a problem-solving case study approach reflecting a wide range of stakeholders.

In this module you will have the opportunity to look at how children and young people are represented in the media and the wider culture both in the UK and abroad. By focussing on issues such as child poverty, teenage pregnancy and charitable advertising campaigns, you will learn to recognise how dominant images of childhood and youth can impact on prevalent (mis)understandings and expectations of children and young people. You will study visual and textual data taken from a wide range of media sources, and contemporary images will also be compared with historical representations in order to trace how ideals around childhood and youth have changed over time. The theoretical underpinning of the module is that childhood and youth are socially constructed, and that this can be explored by analysing the cultural representations of children and young people which surround us every day. You will have the opportunity to develop digital literacy skills as you learn how to analyse and compare images and media products.

The aims of the module are to introduce and enhance students actual and potential role as a systems thinker; enabling students to engage in system leadership and identify and propose practical improvements to complex issues, by using a range of systems thinking ideas, tools and techniques. The module will enhance students’ capacity to engage strategically with complex situations, where the focus may be upon communities, institutions and networks at a local, regional or international level. Students will learn how to understand inter-relationships and engage with multiple perspectives. To this end, students will have the opportunity to explore the nature and role of systems thinking for analysing existing practice and develop a proposal for enacting systems thinking in education.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to draw upon historical and theoretical perspectives to consider the development of the statutory assessment process for children and young adults with special educational needs, disability or learning difficulties. You will research and critically evaluate the development of the English system of assessment that includes statementing and educational health and care plans through the investigation of case studies rooted in your professional or personal experience. You will also appraise the benefits and challenges of holistic approaches to such things as reassessment of need that includes the views of children young people and parents when it comes to meeting those needs. The module will also include the opportunity to critically consider the approaches of another country to educational inclusion and such to reassessment to develop a comparative review of alternative systems.

In this module you will engage in a review of the complexity surrounding the use of virtual technologies to support teaching and learning online . Framed in terms of digital competencies you will review educational online resources, the social, practical and pedagogical challenges of teaching and learning online; including safety, handling inappropriate communication, maintaining student participation, managing group learning and considering the qualities of virtual environments. You will audit the strengths and weakness of your own digital competences and design and evaluate an online teaching and learning experience using a variety of digital tools. (You might for example adapt a face to face programme to online or facilitate group working). You will critically evaluate the online teaching and learning experience using a range of relevant frameworks.

In this module, you will look at the different ways in which children and young people learn and the range of pedagogical approaches which can facilitate this learning. You will be encouraged to evaluate and analyse ways of teaching and interacting with children and young people and to relate their thinking to theories of learning.