Education

Program Overview

Education MA

Overview

The MA Education is designed to help realise the life and career ambitions of a diverse body of professionals who are working in education and related settings. This programme promotes an unrelenting adherence to socially just and inclusive educational practice, and provides you with opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills to positively influence the lives of learners across all age phases and all types of learning needs.

Course Features

• Online Study Option Available

What You'll Study

Course Content

The overall focus of the course is on equipping you with comprehensive, theoretical, research-informed knowledge and an understanding of differing educational perspectives in diverse contexts.

Compulsory Modules

• Dissertation: Provides an opportunity for you to synthesise, in a synoptic way, the knowledge, skills and understandings developed through the preceding modules, and in particular, the module Researching Education.
• Researching Education: Develops your understanding and critical appreciation of empirical and desk-based research methodologies, and the relationships and distinctions between them.
• Theorising Education: Develops your understanding and critical appreciation of seminal and contemporary educational philosophy and theory and of the approaches to analysis that it demonstrates and enables.

Optional Modules

• Educational Policy: Introduces you to critical issues in education policy and practice.
• Mentoring for Teacher Education: Constitutes a critical exploration of the principles of effective mentoring, models of teacher learning and principles of curriculum design in initial teacher education.
• Curriculum Design: theories and models: Explores the range of approaches used to curriculum design and the ideologies underpinning these approaches as well as the range of other factors that influence curriculum design.
• Interpreting the Evidence Base for Educational Practice: Enables you to reflect on the basis of educational practice and in particular on the role of research evidence.
• Brain, Mind and Knowledge: exploring key concepts in the cognitive sciences: Explores the relation between the disciplines and interrogates the extent to which they can be applied to educational practice.
• Inclusive Education: Evaluating Practice and Analysing Policy: Aims to support you in identifying, analysing and evaluating policies and their implementation in practice, in relation to inclusion and learners with SEND.
• Educational Leadership in Context: Designed to enable you to critically analyse multiple theoretical perspectives on educational leadership.
• The Power of Playful Pedagogies: Provides you with an advanced overview of play and playful pedagogies within the field of early years education.
• Understanding Mental Health: Provides you with a deep understanding of mental health for learners across age phases.
• Social Justice: Allows you to interrogate and explore notions of social justice and understand the significance of these deliberations for your own thinking and practice.
• Critiquing Curriculum Design: Enables you to engage deeply with the concepts and research that have informed recent curriculum development.
• Exploring Professional Knowledge in Education: Provides you with an opportunity to extend your understanding of the relationship between research, professional knowledge and practice through the investigation of a core practice-based question of your choosing.
• Learning and Memory: Allows you to explore current psychological and neuroscientific models of memory, their classroom applications and limitations, and their relation to alternative or expanded theories and accounts of learning.
• Inclusive Practice for Learners with Special Educational Needs: Will allow you to reflect upon and consider the range of Special Educational Needs and how inclusive practice may be achieved for these learners.
• Leadership of Educational Change: Explores educational leadership in relation to identifying, initiating and implementing a positive change in a range of educational settings.
• Learning from International Perspectives in the Early Years: Places you at the cutting edge of contemporary debates, competing and contesting dominant discourses within early years education from an international perspective.
• Critical Approaches to Mental Health: Involves you analysing case study examples to critically evaluate evidence and challenge assumptions about provision for mental health within organisational settings.
• Leading Teacher Education: Supports a lead mentor or teacher educator in designing, implementing, and evaluating an intervention to improve the effectiveness of mentoring in initial teacher education.

How You'll Study

The MA Education pathway is available in a variety of modes of study: full-time, part-time and part-time online, as well as part-time at Burnley College. A full breakdown of the course structure is available in the tables below. All modes of study include twilight teaching. Online study will only be available in the part-time mode.

How You'll Be Assessed

You will be assessed through a combination of 5,000-word (or equivalent) written assignments, project work, portfolios and presentations, as well as a 10,000-word research report and summary. Opportunities to receive formative feedback are embedded into each module.

Who Will Be Teaching You

The programme is delivered by a team of research-active academic staff who have extensive expertise in education and its related disciplines.

Entry Criteria

• An undergraduate degree (normally a 2.2 or above) in a field related to education or an equivalent qualification acceptable to Edge Hill University.
• Applicants, who come from a different academic background, which is equivalent to degree level, or have 2 or more years of relevant work experience, are welcome to apply.
• Or a Masters degree or equivalent in a relevant field.

English Language Requirements

You are expected to have English language proficiency minimally equivalent to overall 6.5 with no element below 6.0.

Facilities

The Faculty of Education enjoys the enviable position of being one of the country’s leading providers of transformative education, training and research for the teaching and education workforce. Housed in a state-of-the-art £9m building, the Faculty of Education enjoys a stunning setting from both its lakeside and piazza buildings.

Finance

Tuition Fees

• UK Full-Time: £9,250 for the course
• UK Part-Time: £51 per credit for 180 credits
• International: £17,000 for the course

Your Future Career

Preparing you for a wide variety of roles across the education workforce in the UK and internationally, this MA can enhance your professional career opportunities and employability.

On successful completion of the programme, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to make a significant and positive contribution to a range of education settings and education-related contexts.

You will graduate well placed to apply for more senior positions both within your current workplace and with other providers. The skills and experience acquired through this MA will also provide you with essential preparation for progressing onto research qualifications, such as a PhD or Professional Doctorate.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The MA Education program at Edge Hill University is designed to equip professionals in education and related fields with the knowledge and skills to positively influence the lives of learners across all age phases and learning needs. The program emphasizes socially just and inclusive educational practices and provides opportunities to develop expertise in the field of education. It prepares individuals for further study at the PhD and EdD level.

Outline:

The MA Education program offers a range of pathways covering different age phases and learning needs:

• MA Education (Children and Young People's Mental Health)
• MA Education (Cognitive Science and Learning)
• MA Education (Curriculum Design)
• MA Education (Early Years)
• MA Education (Evidence Informed Practice)
• MA Education (Leadership)
• MA Education (Special Educational Needs)
• MA Education (Teacher Education)
The program consists of compulsory modules and optional modules. Compulsory modules include:
• Dissertation (60 credits)
• Researching Education (30 credits)
• Theorising Education (30 credits)
Optional modules include:
• Educational Policy (30 credits)
• Mentoring for Teacher Education (30 credits)
• Curriculum Design: theories and models (30 credits)
• Interpreting the Evidence Base for Educational Practice (30 credits)
• Brain, Mind and Knowledge: exploring key concepts in the cognitive sciences (30 credits)
• Inclusive Education: Evaluating Practice and Analysing Policy (30 credits)
• Educational Leadership in Context (30 credits)
• The Power of Playful Pedagogies (30 credits)
• Understanding Mental Health (30 credits)
• Social Justice (30 credits)
• Critiquing Curriculum Design (30 credits)
• Exploring Professional Knowledge in Education (30 credits)
• Learning and Memory (30 credits)
• Inclusive Practice for Learners with Special Educational Needs (30 credits)
• Leadership of Educational Change (30 credits)
• Learning from International Perspectives in the Early Years (30 credits)
• Critical Approaches to Mental Health (30 credits)
• Leading Teacher Education (30 credits)

Assessment:

Assessment methods include:

• Written assignments (5,000 words)
• Project work
• Portfolios
• Presentations
• Research report (10,000 words)
• Summary

Teaching:

The program is delivered through a combination of face-to-face and online sessions. Teaching methods include:

• Dialogue
• Discussion
• Collaborative learning
• Tutor support
• Interactive and experiential learning
• Use of technology (presentation tools, virtual classrooms, social media)
The program is taught by a team of research-active academic staff with expertise in education and related disciplines.

Careers:

The MA Education program prepares graduates for a wide range of roles in education, including:

• Senior positions in current workplaces
• Positions with other providers
• Research qualifications (PhD, Professional Doctorate)

Other:

• The program is available full-time, part-time, and online.
• The program is designed to be flexible and tailored to individual interests and professional requirements.
• The program provides opportunities for students to develop essential transferable skills, such as communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving.