Program Overview

What makes Education at Worcester special?

The MA Education is a flexibly taught and inclusive masters course designed primarily for those who work or aspire to work in any field of education and training and whose aim is to develop and improve upon their practice, enhance their professional profile and engage in rigorous research and high level inquiry into their working context.

Whatever stage you are at in your career, we invite you to come and join our learning community. We will equip you as you enter the next phase of your professional life to achieve the excellence you desire for yourselves and those you seek to inspire.

Overview

Key features

• Awards: The course offers the following awards:
  • MA Education (180 credits)
  • Postgraduate Diploma Education (120 credits)
  • Postgraduate Certificate Education (60 credits)
• Specialist pathways: The choice of a number of specialist pathway awards are also available in the following areas: Early Childhood, Leadership and Management, Mentoring and Coaching, and Special and Inclusive Education
• Flexibility: The programme of study can be completed on a full-time or part-time basis. Modules are delivered at weekends, in the evenings and online to maximise accessibility and to allow students to retain their other professional and family commitments
• International and full-time route: This route meets the needs of professionals wishing to study and familiarise themselves with the UK educational environment alongside their own contrasting experience. The programme consists of two taught modules in each of the first two semesters and a dissertation in the first half of the second year

Summer Schools

Study abroad with an international summer school and see how different countries approach education.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

• A good honours degree (2.2 or above) and a significant interest in education and/or equivalent professional qualifications, experience and evidence of continuing professional development
• International students must hold a qualification equivalent to a UK first or second class honours degree
• All International student for whom English is not their first language are required to achieve IELTS 6.5 or equivalency – with no less than 5.5 in any element. Additional information can be found on our English Language requirements page

See Admissions Policy for other acceptable qualifications.

Other information

• Students with relevant previous study at postgraduate level or with extensive experience may be considered eligible for recognition of prior learning. Please contact the Registry Admissions Office for further information or guidance on .
• Further information on Recognition of Prior Learning can be found on our Registry Services pages

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative.

Awards

| In many cases it is possible to gain credit for previous study or experience. Previous study at the same level in other institutions is recognised as transferred academic credit, and professional learning can be analysed through the completion of an Independent Study. Up to 50% of taught elements of the award for which you are registered may be achieved through Recognised Prior Learning (RPL). It is possible to study towards a Masters award (five modules) or either of the interim awards:

Postgraduate Certificate

• To gain a Postgraduate Certificate students must successfully complete two modules, which may be all taught or a combination of taught and individual study modules.

Postgraduate Diploma

• After completing the Postgraduate Certificate, it is possible to complete a further two modules to achieve the award of Postgraduate Diploma.

International Pathway

• This pathway meets the needs of professionals wishing to study and familiarise themselves with the UK educational environment alongside their own contrasting experience. The programme consists of two taught modules in each of the first two semesters and a Dissertation in the third semester. A Masters Degree can enhance your career aspirations and offers you the chance to excel through promotional opportunities. It may enable you to work in management and advisory roles.
  ---|---

Programme Structure

Programme Structure (Generic MA Education)

MA Education - 180 credits

• MA Education students are required to complete Contemporary Issues in Education: Theory, Policy and Practice (30 credits), Research Methods in Education (30 credits), two optional modules (30 credits each), plus a Dissertation (60 credits).

Postgraduate Diploma Education - 120 credits

• PG Dip students are required to complete Contemporary Issues in Education: Theory, Policy and Practice (30 credits) and three optional modules (30 credits each).

Postgraduate Certificate Education - 60 credits

• PG Cert students choose any two modules (30 credits each).

Modules

Mandatory Modules

• Research Methods in Education
• Contemporary Issues in Education: Theory, Policy and Practice
• Dissertation in Education

Optional Modules (Generic Route)

• Developing Learning Communities
• Understanding and Developing Pedagogy
• Leadership in Context
• Leadership, Theory, Research and Practice
• An Introduction to Coaching and Mentoring
• The Practice of Coaching and Mentoring
• Current Issues in Religion, Worldviews and Values Education
• Interpretations of SEND - Critical Concepts and Issues
• Supporting Dimensions of Need in SEND
• Negotiated Learning
• Negotiated Learning: Employment-based Critical Reflection
• Negotiated Learning: Subject Knowledge and Pedagogy
• Enhancing Learning and Teaching

NB – Optional modules are not guaranteed to run during every academic year.

Teaching and assessment

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and the university VLE. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures. Tutorials offer additional support both during taught modules and significantly through offering supervision for the dissertation. The VLE is employed to support face-to-face sessions with additional resources and is also utilised to deliver online modules, on both a synchronous and asynchronous basis, where journals and discussion forums are also hosted. Four modules are delivered online to add to the flexibility and accessibility of MA provision; these are available to all students (MAED4118, MAED4119, MAED4101 & MAED4106). Online modules mirror the content of their face-to-face counterparts whilst adding additional activities, which offer online interaction including formative and summative feedback on assignments, blogs, and discussion fora. Reading Lists, including direct links to many of the required / recommended sources, are available online through Talis Aspire. Assessment grades and written feedback are likewise made available via module VLEs.

You are assigned a Personal Academic Tutor (PAT); the PAT will work with them throughout their studies on the MA. Meetings with PATs are formally scheduled on at least 2 occasions in the year.

Contact time

Modules for the MA in Education are delivered in a number of ways; consequently, the precise contact time depends on the options selected and the mode of delivery. Modules are offered during the weekends on Saturdays, on weekday evenings and via online learning.

In a typical week full-time students will have around four to ten contact hours of teaching, and part-time students two to five contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected. During completion of the dissertation students are supported through supervision, which as a minimum includes six hours of one-to-one support.

Typically, class contact time will be structured around:

• FT 2-4 hours lectures, PT 1-2 hours lectures
• FT 2-6 hours seminars, PT 1-3 hours seminars

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, FT students are expected to undertake around 30 hours of personal self-study per week and PT students 15 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve weekly tasks, reading, and VLE engagement.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and 100 per cent of course lecturers have, or are working towards, a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessment, which is graded and counts towards the overall module grade.

A range of assessment methods are used to provide students with the maximum opportunity to achieve success. These include: essays, critiques and analyses which encourage critical thinking; critical reviews; individual and group seminar presentations; poster presentations; reflective accounts and case studies and presentations of cases.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course for a FT student is:

Semester 1

• 1 Reflective Diary
• 2 Essays

Semester 2

• 1 Research proposal
• 1 Academic poster
• 1 Essay
• 1 Presentation

The precise assessment requirements for part time students will vary according to the modules selected.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Duration

• Full-time: 18 months
• Part-time: Three years

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Scheduled teaching takes place on Saturdays, during the evening or online.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Careers

The course has a tradition of improving the career profiles of participants, as many case-studies of former students demonstrate. This award is intended to prepare students to deepen their engagement with issues in the educational workspace, fostering transformative personal and organisational learning for those involved. The programme additionally offers preparation to continue study for some participants wishing to go on the professional doctorate (EdD) award or to an MPhil/PhD.

The University maintains close links with education providers locally and regionally and meeting workforce need is the ethos of a number of modules and pathways in the MA Education. In addition, the course is also designed to enable those with an intention of working in an education context to deepen their understanding of education in a range of contexts and building the skills which will enhance their career opportunities. For example, the Institute of Education works with members of the Careers and Employability Service. Where appropriate, many modules have an applied focus intended to facilitate the development of learning, which will have direct impact on professional contexts from which participants are drawn.

The course team is comprised of academic staff with a breadth of backgrounds in education, research profiles in specialist areas and in most cases extensive experience of education in various contexts. Staff within the Institute, and the Institute itself, maintain strong relationships with schools, colleges and other education providers.

Please note – the MA Education is an academic qualification that is beneficial to careers in education, but it is not a teaching qualification and does not offer Qualified Teacher Status. Find out more about training to teach at Worcester.

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fee for full-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 is £9,450 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 is £17,900 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes/PGCert/PGDip courses in the academic year 2025/26 are £788 per 15-credit module, £1,575 per 30-credit module, £2,363 per 45-credit module, and £3,150 per 60 credit module. For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fees for part-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2025/26 are £1,492 per 15-credit module, £2,983 per 30-credit module, £4,475 per 45-credit module, and £5,967 per 60 credit module. For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Postgraduate loans

The Government will provide a loan of up to £12,471 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024 per eligible student for postgraduate Masters study. It will be at your own discretion whether the loan is used towards fees, maintenance or other costs. For more details visit our postgraduate loans page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses. If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.