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.

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 builds upon knoweldge and experience of mentoring in schools. You will critically reflect on mentoring theory and critically appraise your professional practice.  Working with a subject coaching mentor from another school and a university verifier you will deepen your understandng of mentoring theory and practice.  You will have the opportunity to share good practice by contributing to subject mentor training sessions as a presenter or facilitator. You will use your skills as a reflective practitioner to develop strategies to enhance your mentoring practice in school.

This module will support you to critically analyse your strengths and areas for development by using your professional experience and recommended literature to deepen your reflective practice.  You will be expected to utilise audit tools as appropriate to enable you plan effectively for your future learning.  You will create an action plan which outlines how you will address identified development areas and be expected to undertake a critical reflection related to the learning identified on your action plan. In addition, you will be expected to demonstrate awareness of current legislation, guidance, research and initiatives related to your context of work.  The taught sessions will support you to think critically about education and develop your professional attibutes, knowledge, skills and understanding through critical reflection and action so there is an increasingly positive impact on your practice. You will be taught a series of strategies which will develop your skillls of enquiry and the use of evidence. This will also include considering the place of critical incidents in developing professional practice.  On the whole, the module will support you to undertake a critical and enquiry-based approach to your professional practice. 

This module aims firstly to engage participants in a critical discussion about how new educational knowledge is created. Secondly, it aims to support the process of educational research via the development of a research proposal for the professional enquiry, the final module of the MA Education award.

Independent Study allows participants to develop their own learning skills in an area of particular interest to them. Participants will develop in depth and systematic knowledge of key and recent educational research pertinent to their study. They will be able to negotiate outcomes and assessment components within module guidelines. Through support, participants will use critical reflection to explore complex relationships that exist between theory and practice.

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.

This module builds on the knowledge, skills and understanding you have gained in your mentoring role.  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 mentoring practice and will use your skills as a reflective practitioner to lead mentoring practice in school.

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.

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.

This module provides an opportunity for practitioners to undertake a small scale research project with the support of a tutor. The taught sessions provide some focussed input on research skills in the context of the specific studies negotiated.

This module builds on the knowledge, skills and understanding you gained during your initial teacher training.You will be revisiting some of the content of your training course but in the light of your experiences as a newly qualified teacher working in a school context. You will be encouraged to take an innovative approach to  deepening your  professional skills and improving pupils learning. You will attend four taught sessions but the major proportion of the work associated with this module will take place in your own school context in the form of a small scale classroom investigation. You will use your skills as a reflective practitioner to evaluate critically the extent to which you facilitated pupils' progress in learning.

This module builds on your knowledge, skills and understanding gained within a relevant teaching and learning setting. You will be critically reflecting on some of your previous experiences and learning, whilst exploring new material, research and engagement within a special educational needs or alternative education provision setting. You will be encouraged to take an innovative approach to deepening your professional knowledge, understanding and skills in promoting pertinent progress in pupils with specific learning difficulties, special needs or medical conditions that can impact on their attainment within education. You will attend taught sessions but the major proportion of the work associated with this module will take place in your own school or education context in the form of a case study and small classroom investigation. You will use your skills as a reflective practitioner to evaluate critically the extent to which you facilitated pupils' progress in learning.

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.

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.

In this module you will explore governance in education and analyse how to develop system wide change. You will have the opportunity to analyse existing practice and understand how to determine an appropriate course of action for development.  You will develop a plan for system wide change and consider how to strategically implement this within your own professional context. You will identify the potential risks within the plan.  There will be the need to understand how to evaluate the impact of any proposals developed.  Throughout the course,you will determine how to scale the change on a wider scale.