Education MA

Programme Structure

MA Education

The Master of Arts (MA) Education is designed primarily to support the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of teachers and other graduates who are working as members of the Children's Workforce or are employed in early childhood settings. Students can take up to three years to complete a postgraduate certificate and up to six years to complete a Master's qualification.

The MA Education serves:

• the needs of professionals
• the requirements of the national agenda
• the expectations of scholarship
• the entitlements of children and young people.

MA Pathways

There are three Pathways through the MA (Education) leading to the following named awards:

• MA Education (Inclusive Practice)
• MA Education (Drama)
• MA Education (Leadership and Management)

In addition, participants may prefer not to specialise, but to select from a range of modules. This would lead to the award of MA Education. Module credits can be combined from both University and School-based CPD.

PG Certificate Pathways

You can also choose to complete a postgraduate certificate in a specialised area:

• Postgraduate Certificate Education (Leadership and Management)

• Postgraduate Certificate Education (Teaching and Assessing for Dyslexia)
• Postgraduate Certificate Education (Working with Pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders)
• Postgraduate Certificate Education (Managing Emotion and Behaviour)
• Postgraduate Certificate Education (Singing in the Curriculum)
• Postgraduate Certificate Education (Curriulum in Dance Education)

Students can take three years to complete a postgraduate certificate and six years to complete a Master's qualification.

Pathway 1: MA (Education) Inclusive Practice

Current inclusive policy requires mainstream schools to provide for pupils with a wide range of special needs. This presents a considerable challenge to schools and teachers. This Pathway is designed to enable teachers, in particular, to consider positive approaches to providing inclusive provision for pupils who have difficulties in cognition and learning, communication and interaction. The Pathway is also designed to provide practitioners with the requisite knowledge to meet the needs of those who have sensory and/or physical impairments or emotional and behavioural issues.

The Pathway begins with a compulsory module, Inclusive Practice: An Introduction which provides the theoretical framework to:

1. familiarise students with the ontology and epistemology of special education in terms of its historic and recent political and social narratives;
2. contextualise the Pathway within the discourses of disability.

Modules are taught according to these frameworks and are designed to extend teachers' knowledge and understanding of a range of atypical cognitive and social processing experienced by children and young people, these modules promote the critical evaluation of current research into pedagogy which supports the teaching of pupils with special needs.

Inclusive Practice is perhaps the most obvious Pathway for which multi-professional modules will have relevance, as SEN practitioners frequently have to work with other professionals such as Educational Psychologists, Social Workers and Medics.

The modules available in this Inclusive Practice Pathway are as follows.

• CD7010 Inclusive Practice: An Introduction
• CD7011 Emotional Aspects of Teaching and Learning
• CD7012 Identifying and Assessing Children and Young People with Dyslexia
• CD7013 Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia
• CD7014 Origins and Theory of Autism
• CD7015 Pedagogical Models of Working with Autism
• CD7016 Behavioural Approaches for the Management of Teaching and Learning

Pathway 2: MA (Education) Drama

The Drama Pathway has been developed as a result of [Professor Allan Owens's] practice and research into the educational applications of drama and theatre in education and other professional and social settings. It provides a practical and theoretical base for teachers and other members of the wider professional workforce seeking to develop a drama and theatre pedagogy within and beyond the context in which they operate. This includes professionals working in education, the arts, justice, health, social work, voluntary, community, heritage and business settings. Pathway flexibility ensures that the needs of students from a wide range of pedagogic and cultural contexts can be met. The Pathway is designed to be responsive to the individual interests of both UK and international students.

There are three specialist modules in the Pathway (20 credits each). All of the modules seek to combine theory and practice in ways that enhance subject knowledge, understanding of subject related pedagogy, workplace practice and curriculum change where appropriate.

The modules available in this Pathway are as follows:

• CD7001 Drama Education: Thinking Through Practice (Curricular Possibilities)
• CD7002 Drama Education: Practice and Theory in Professional Settings
• CD7003 Drama Education: The Intercultural Dimension

Pathway 3: MA (Education) Leadership and Management

One of the TDA's areas of priority is identified as ‘working with other professionals and school leadership'. The challenge for schools is to develop different levels of leadership from subject leaders to headship. This Pathway is designed for aspiring head-teachers and deputies to reflect on their role in the school and to begin to consider and develop their own styles and philosophies of leadership.

The Pathway facilitates critical reflection on practice for those who already have successfully completed NPQH (National Professional Qualification for Headship) and who wish to complete a Masters qualification to strengthen their professional profile. The University awards 60 credits to NPQH, in line with the UCET national protocols. It also offers a Pathway for those who do not yet have NPQH but who wish to pursue middle management positions or to aspire to NPQH and headship in the future.

The philosophy for learning in this Pathway links professional practice, theories of leadership and school based enquiry for improvement. It takes as its central premise, the understanding that managing people is perhaps the most important aspect of successful leadership.

The Pathway offers a variety of modules that explore aspects of leadership. Modules on offer include:

• CD7018 Critical Thinking for Leadership
• CD7170 Leading through Effective Teams
• CD7020 Mentoring and Coaching in Educational Settings

You will also have the opportunity to conduct action research in your own settings.