Course description
MA
The MA in Education is designed for experienced teachers, lecturers and educational managers in primary, secondary and further and higher education, and for other professionals working in education. The programme is concerned with the development of critical enquiry and reflection in the field of education, and the development of professional knowledge and expertise.
The modular programme enables students to design their course according to their particular areas of interest. The MA has a core of compulsory research-based modules to support students' studies and to prepare for the dissertation. Students select modules from the optional module programme (overview of choices listed below).
Participants are either self-funded or supported by their employers, although international applicants are encouraged to seek funding from national or British Council sources.
Course content
All students complete two compulsory modules, four optional modules, and a dissertation equivalent to three modules. Students have the opportunity to follow a specialist pathway in either:
* Curriculum Innovation, Change and School Improvement
* Leadership and Management
* TESOL (Teaching English as a Second or Other Language)
The MA programme is based on the completion of a compulsory element, plus optional modules:
Compulsory element
* Reflective Professional Development aims to develop your reflective practice and provide you with an opportunity for systematic review of your progress, helping you to explore and document the coherence and progression of your experience of the course.
* Educational Research will enable you to develop knowledge of a range of research approaches, methods and techniques and to consider ethics in educational research. You will have an opportunity to develop your research skills through preparatory work for the dissertation.
* The Dissertation or Major Project will involve a piece of investigative research and will comprise approximately one third of your degree work. Your dissertation will focus on a research problem of interest to you. It need not be based in an educational setting and may be literature based, but should be relevant to educational concerns. Please note that there is also an alternative for creative practitioners and artist teachers, the Major Project in Education.
Here is a selection of our optional modules - the options you choose are dependent on which mode of study you choose:
* Leading and Managing People in Education brings together a range of themes and concerns in the management of staff in educational organisations. Drawing on national and international examples, it combines theoretical perspectives with practical concerns about staff management and development.
* Leading Change in Education builds on the experience of course members as observers of, and participants in, the management of change in the education sector. Drawing on national and international examples, it combines theoretical perspectives with practical concerns about organisational transformation in education.
* Innovation in Learning and Teaching examines some of the perspectives on and research issues in a number of the key areas in the study of curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment. It explores research into learning and teaching and encourages students to relate these to their own learning and their own concepts of an educational curriculum.
* Challenging Principles and Practice in Curricula in Schools examines some of the national and international perspectives on and research issues in a number of the key areas in the study of curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment. In particular it explores the role of values in curriculum, teaching and learning. Students are encouraged to relate these to their own learning and to their own concepts of an educational curriculum.
* Language Acquisition – Principles and Practice aims to provide you with a thorough grounding in the theoretical models of both first and second/foreign language acquisition and with psycholinguistic theories of learning and skills acquisition. By the end of this module, you will have reflected on the relevance of different kinds of theoretical knowledge of language learning to your own perceptions of teaching and learning in the ELT/ESOL classroom, and how these theories might have practical impact on learner-focused classroom practice.
* Language Teaching – Methods and Approaches focuses on the practice and reflective development of the teacher in the classroom. The module aims to develop teacher understanding of the process and principles behind professional skills such as: researching their own classroom, planning for learning, designing and evaluating teaching materials, formulating and evaluating the syllabus. It also focuses on how the teacher can develop principled pedagogic approaches to language and explore the validity and effectiveness of these approaches for specific classrooms, contexts and student needs.
* Descriptions of English – Language in the Classroom explores the linguistic description of English with a focus on ‘language in use’. The module will go on to look at how our understanding of the English language relates to how we apply this knowledge in the classroom: what should the teacher ‘know’ about language, what should the learner ‘know’, and how classroom materials such as pedagogic grammars and course books approach this.
* Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts in Education critically examines the educational contexts in which children learn another language. Linguistic, social and cultural factors are examined in the light of current theory and practice. Theories underpinning different methodological approaches are explored. The programme seeks to involve students' previous experiences of teaching and learning within multilingual contexts.
* The Challenge of Bilingual and Multicultural Education considers the challenges that face bilingual learners and their teachers. Linguistic, social and cultural influences on language acquisition and development are examined. Issues relating to policy, provision, methodology and community links are also explored. The module aims to involve your previous experiences of learning and teaching other languages. The global implications for language education are also considered.
* Independent Study offers the opportunity to engage in independent study of a topic, issue or area that is not available elsewhere within the programme. You will, in consultation and negotiation with a tutor, identify a topic, issue or area of personal or professional interest and relevance and then draw up a programme of independent study, which may include library and practical research.
Credit towards an MA award can be made up of appropriate work completed outside the course, for example the Oxford Brookes Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Educational Practice (CAEP). Other work may be awarded credits by the University in accordance with the regulations of the University's credit accumulation and transfer scheme (CATS).
Teaching, learning and assessment
Learning methods include lectures, directed reading, workshops, student- and staff-led seminars, and project work. Teaching, learning and assessment draw on the different backgrounds, experience and knowledge of participants, and encourage critical reflection.
Teaching is organised on a module-credit basis, each module involving approximately 200 hours of student input and approximately 24 hours of staff contact as follows:
* Part time on-campus: eight weekly three-hour teaching blocks. Modules are usually taught on Tuesdays or Thursdays (depending on choice), from 5pm to 8pm.
* Full time on-campus: students join part time students in their modules, and complete all modules in one academic year.
* Summer school: modules are taught face-to-face at the two summer schools, and by distance learning throughout the course.
* TESOL online pathway: taught exclusively by distance learning.
Each course module is assessed separately and is based on coursework: eg individual essays, seminar presentations, reports, portfolios, investigative research and group work.
