Program Overview

MA Education Leadership

Course Overview

Our full-time MA Education Leadership is designed to help you gain the mastery you need, in terms of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to respond effectively to the changes and challenges in the world of education today. It also provides a choice of themes for study and an approach to extend and develop your educational leadership knowledge, skills and interests for career development.

In this MA, you will be able to accumulate credit through the successful completion of modules which are geared to your needs and appropriate to your stage in terms of career and interests. It provides an opportunity to consider theory and practice in education through a wide range of professional lenses; including teacher, lecturer, governance, leadership and management.

Key Details

• Recruiting to: UK / RoI / Settled in UK, EU / EEA / International
• Course Location: Lancaster
• Institute: Institute of Education, Arts and Society
• Delivery Style: In-Person
• Course Duration: Full-time: 1 Year
• Course Start Point: September
• Award: MA

Course Structure

What you will learn

This is an internationally recognised one-year advanced study master's degree (QAA, 2020). It consists of three semesters (36 weeks), with four shorter 30 credit modules and one longer 60 credit dissertation module. Collaboratively, students critically evaluate current research, scholarship and practice to systematically address a range of complex issues in education leadership. They critically engage with this complexity, develop skills and knowledge in relation to quality of education, communicate ideas and share findings.

This MA is specifically designed to support each student’s professional development and enrich their contribution or accelerate career development in their chosen leadership context. Learners on this programme demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of research in a chosen field of education leadership, enhancing their capacity to show originality in the application of knowledge and practical understanding.

Year one

This MA is designed to run as full-time face-to-face experience. We seek to create a stimulating and innovative community of learning that is facilitated by an expert tutor team. You will experience a learning environment that is well equipped, flexible, and stimulating. This provision will also allow you to access material and appropriate learning activities on programme and module virtual learning environments.

• Theories of Education Leadership
• Education Policy
• Leading Advanced Professional Learning
• Challenging Disadvantage
• Critical Analysis of Theory and Practice

Teaching & Assessment

How you will learn

Learning and teaching on this course integrates a variety of methods and resources that support the needs, preferences and interests of different learners. The programme is delivered using a range of teaching and learning strategies appropriate to adult learning (andragogy). Expert knowledge contributions are combined with effective use of learning technologies to promote powerful social and individual learning opportunities.

Research-informed teaching on the programme draws on sector specific knowledge and expertise in a global/international context. Tutors supporting this programme are experts in their field and the team has substantial experience in tutoring MA and research students. The intention is to ensure you have a sense of being part of a learning community and that you are able to engage in learning experiences that are intellectually stimulating and enriching.

Academic, digital and professional graduate skills development sessions are built into the programme’s modules and the University’s academic skills team also provide support specifically designed for Master’s level study throughout the year.

International applicants will benefit from specific guidance and support relating to studying in the UK, developing English language proficiency and career, employability and CV development for the UK and international market.

How you will be assessed

You will engage in a variety of different forms of authentic assessment, to provide a creative and balanced strategy across the programme. A range of engaging and challenging opportunities, that are relevant to the needs of the workplace, allow for effective feedback to enable student success.

The focus of assessments is particularly designed to be relevant to the needs and interests of you as an individual with an emphasis on the interaction between leadership theory and practice in education. The programme promotes the concept of ‘assessment for learning’ through formative and summative assessment opportunities in each module.

Formative Assessment is designed to help you learn more effectively by giving them feedback on their performance in order to indicate how it can be improved and sustained. The formative assessment tasks included in each module will help you to make progress in terms of preparation for the summative assessment. There is a direct relationship between the formative and the summative assignment and academic skills/research skills development.

Each module in semester one has a short final, summative assignment. These summative assignments draw on a range of strategies and during the course of the year you will be assessed through literature review, construction of a critical reading log, academic poster and presentation. This aligns to the University-wide Learning Teaching and Assessment plan moving forward in terms of authentic assessment that will contribute to professional understanding and employability.

The assessment of skills culminates in the longer dissertation module. At this stage in the MA, a detailed module guide will ensure that your supervisor and Personal Tutor can track and monitor your progress and provide interim feedback to support and help you.

Entry Requirements

• Bachelor Hons Degree 2:2 or equivalent
• Honours degree

Tuition Fees

• £6,900 - UK (Year)
• £14,900 - International (Year)

Career Outcomes

Current and future career prospects for successful graduates of this programme are excellent. This is based on the University’s employment data for our existing part-time programme (100% in the last academic year). This programme is designed for students to achieve significant career progression. This informs programme curriculum content, which supports career progression options. The programme’s learning, teaching and assessment strategies that intentionally focus on knowledge, skills and understanding that support career advancement.