
Core Modules:
Practice-Based Inquiry (30 credits)
The content will involve students in active critical consideration of participating in and leadership of practitioner inquiry in relation to professional context mapping and workplace learning.
These processes will be achieved through:
- Conceptualising different kinds of practitioner inquiry relevant to work-based understanding and development (purposes, processes, contexts, dilemmas, outcomes)
- Examining a range of approaches to educational inquiry, with an emphasis on action research
- Developing an inquiry into the student’s professional context
Dissertation (60 credits) (Masters degree only)
This involves the researching and writing of a substantive piece of scholarship within the field of the course. Students will choose a topic in consultation with their course leader and an appropriate supervisor. The topic will normally be based on interests and skills which they have developed in the course of the modules already studied.
Elective Modules: (30 credits each) (select 3)
Critical Perspectives on Curriculum and Pedagogy
This module critically examines contemporary debates surrounding orthodoxies in curriculum, learning and assessment in schools, and how these relate to policy and practice. In particular it considers the way different orthodoxies frame what children and young people learn in schools, how they learn and how assessment practices inform learning processes. The module will explore these orthodoxies in terms of their origins and purposes and it will consider alternative models from an international perspective.
The module starts by considering the history, politics and ideology of the curriculum as it currently exists. It then develops understanding through application of psychological, social and cultural theories of learning and assessment. These theorised views of schooling and classroom practices enable students to analyse and critique the wide-ranging policy and research discussions about curriculum, learning and assessment that are currently underway. Students will be engaged in considering how developments of, and alternatives to, current practices will impact learning and teaching in the future.
Leading Learning
The module will address the essential features of effective learning, as relevant to the sector by examining:
- The process of learning
- Supporting learning (for example, through adults, peers and technology) both within and beyond the educational organisation
- An overview of approaches to improvement and raising achievement in educational organisations
- Monitoring and evaluation of learning: the use of data, target-setting, monitoring
Debating Special and Inclusive Education
This module focuses on critical issues in special education and inclusive education across the globe, and application of theories, policies, societal issues, and education and inclusive systems on educational provision for individuals who are marginalised, including those with special needs.
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Key topics include:
- Critiquing definitions of special and inclusive education.
- Exploring the sociological, political and theoretical perspectives of inclusion.
- Understanding inclusive pedagogies and systems.
Effective Leadership and Change in Education
This module will address the nature and practice of leadership in education. It will look at six themes:
- Concepts of leadership
- Change
- Leadership qualities, behaviours and competencies
- Power and authority
- Organisational cultures and distributed leadership
- Professional development
Social Contexts of Learning
This module focuses on how people learn together in pairs, teams, small groups, the classroom, or an informal community. It works through classical and modern theories of social learning, explaining the social aspects of almost any type of learning and mechanisms that boost the power of learning together.
Equipped with these theories, it explores the various technologies mediating and supporting social learning, such as social media, participation in the World Wide Web, online communities, online communication platforms and virtual reality.
Learning Theories for a Digital Age
This module looks at how people learn and how learning is supported in a digital age. It explores current and historical theories of learning and how they inform the design of learning technologies. It will help you understand the potential of digital technology for learning in a variety of contexts (such as schools, colleges, workplaces, museums, both face-to-face and online) and help you develop an ability to critically reflect on examples of learning technologies in current use.