Program Overview

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Education MA

Overview

Our MA Education allows you to consider education in all of its complexity, as something that both reflects and works to construct different aspects of our social lives and the way our society is organised.

This course aims to strengthen and refine your ability to critically reflect upon your own teaching. You will engage with contemporary theories in education and examine how you might apply them to the practice you carry out. It is ideal for those who are looking to take the next step in their career within the education/teaching sector.

We have designed a course that is extremely flexible and meets the needs of individuals and organisations. These include:

• a range of optional modules - tailor your degree to your personal and professional interests
• different modes of delivery - taking account of individual needs and professional contexts

With an advanced education degree from the University of Nottingham, you will graduate with all the knowledge, practical skills and confidence to pursue your career goals.

We welcome approaches from educational organisations looking for a bespoke programme for their staff.

Please note that this course is not a teacher training course, there is no placement and graduates do not gain Qualified Teacher Status. Please visit our website for postgraduate teacher training if this is the route you wish to follow.

We also offer a distance learning version of this course - MA Education (Online)

Alumni Profiles

View our alumni profiles to see what they say about their experience on the course and how it has helped with their career.

Why Choose This Course?

• Learn from experts who are internationally recognised for their research in this area
• Over 100 years of experience in the field of education
• Excellent research The majority of our research outputs are assessed as internationally excellent.
• Top 60 in the world for education
• Tailor your degree with a wide range of optional modules to suit your personal and professional development

Course Content

The taught element of this course is made up of 120 credits, plus a 60-credit dissertation.

There are currently three core modules. You can choose the remaining modules to suit your specific interests from a range that covers many of the key areas of education. If you qualify for recognition of other learning, you will not have to take the full 120 module credits.

Current areas include:

• Early childhood education
• Education
• Educational leadership and management
• Digital teaching and learning
• Special and inclusive education

While each module has its own particular focus, all are concerned with investigating contemporary educational issues in the light of historical, political and social contexts, appropriate literature and the shared experience of other students.

The course can be completed over one year full-time (including dissertation). It is available to individuals and cohorts from schools/consortiums.

General Course Reading

• Kelly, A. V. (2009). The Curriculum: Theory and Practice. Sage.
• Sadovnik, A. R. and Coughlan, R. W. (Eds). (2016). Sociology of Education: A Critical Reader (3rd edition). Routledge.
• Darder, A., Mayo, P. and Paraskeva, J. (Eds.). (2017). International Critical Pedagogy Reader. Routledge.
• Swales, J. M. and Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills(3rd edition). University of Michigan Press.
• Bryman, A. (2016). Social Research Methods (5th edition). Oxford University Press.
• Clark, T., Foster, L. and Bryman, A. (2019). How to do your Social Research Project or Dissertation. Oxford University Press.

Other texts you will engage in will be dependant on your optional modules.

Course Leaders

Dr Frans Kruger and Dr Sarah Horrod (contact for academic enquiries)

Modules

• Course structure
• Example timetable

Core Modules

• 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.
• Understanding and Planning Educational Research This compulsory module will develop or build upon your existing critical engagement with educational research, focusing on the complexities of the research process in order that you are able to respond to the kinds of research evidence used in educational discourse, as well as to conceive your own questions and interests in research-oriented terms.
• Dissertation This involves the researching and writing of a substantive piece of scholarship within the field of the course.

Optional Modules

Subject Area: Early Childhood Education

• Global Perspectives on Early Childhood Education This module brings together international scholars in education to introduce contemporary and global topics on early childhood education (ECE).
• Literacies and Learning in and out of School This module covers theories and definitions of literacy, school literacy, children's literature and media, community and lifelong literacies, multimodality, multimedia and new literacies.

Subject Area: Education

• Schools, Society and Mental Well Being The central question that the module seeks to critically explore is the scope and role that educators can play in understanding and supporting mental well-being both within themselves and in their relationships with others.
• Social Theories and Conceptual Frameworks in Education This module critically examines leading examples of social theories and frameworks that both inform and help conceptualise key issues within the field of education.

Subject Area: Educational Leadership and Management

• Leading Learning The module will address the essential features of effective learning, as relevant to your sector by examining the process of learning, supporting learning, and an overview of approaches to improvement and raising achievement in educational organisations.
• Practice-Based Inquiry The content will involve you in active critical consideration of participating in and leadership of practitioner inquiry in relation to professional context mapping and workplace learning.

Subject Area: Digital Teaching and Learning

• Social Contexts of Learning This module focuses on how people learn together in pairs, teams, small groups, the classroom, or an informal community.

Subject Area: Special and Inclusive Education

• Communication and Literacy This module considers typical and atypical development of communication, cognition and literacy, including specific learning difficulties/dyslexia.
• Education for Students on the Autism Spectrum This module will explore key issues concerning the field of special and inclusive education.
• Responding Mindfully to Challenging Behaviour This module considers experiential learning and its relationship to reflective practice and reflexivity.

Learning and Assessment

How You Will Learn

• Seminars
• Group study
• Presentations
• Tutorials

Our MA Education puts you at the centre of the learning process. This is through both your module selection and the emphasis you choose in your approach to the assignments.

How You Will Be Assessed

• Coursework
• Dissertation
• Personal reflections

Each 30-credit module is assessed by a comprehensive written assignment or equivalent. You must achieve a pass of 50% on each assignment to complete the masters.

The dissertation is an original piece of work and should be related to one of the selected modules on an approved topic.

Entry Requirements

Home / UK Students

• Undergraduate degree: 2:1 honours degree (or international equivalent)
• Work experience: Applicants with a 2:2 degree and three years or more full-time relevant professional experience in education-related positions will be considered.
• Additional information: A personal statement is required that demonstrates both a clear understanding of and relevant motivation for pursuing this course.

International and EU Students

• Undergraduate degree: 2:1 honours degree (or international equivalent)
• Work experience: Applicants with a 2:2 degree and three years or more full-time relevant professional experience in education-related positions will be considered.
• English language requirements: IELTS 6.5 (no less than 6.0 in any element)
• Additional information: A personal statement is required that demonstrates both a clear understanding of and relevant motivation for pursuing this course.

Fees

• Home / UK: £10,400
• International: £27,150

Careers

• Careers advice
• Job prospects

We offer individual careers support for all postgraduate students.

Expert staff can help you research career options and job vacancies, build your CV or résumé, develop your interview skills and meet employers.

Each year 1,100 employers advertise graduate jobs and internships through our online vacancy service. We host regular careers fairs, including specialist fairs for different sectors.

International students who complete an eligible degree programme in the UK on a student visa can apply to stay and work in the UK after their course under the Graduate immigration route. Eligible courses at the University of Nottingham include bachelors, masters and research degrees, and PGCE courses.

Graduate Destinations

Career destinations for School of Education graduates include education advisers, language tutors, primary/secondary teachers, vocational/industrial trainers and instructors and those working in the caring professions including counsellors.

A number of our graduates are already in employment while undertaking part-time study for professional development in their chosen career.

Career Progression

95.2% of postgraduates from the School of Education secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual salary for these graduates was £28,108.