Course description
Course Details
The programme has a flexible structure which meets individual student needs, and includes: core modules covering the central issues of educational study and research, option modules which provide breadth of study and a dissertation module which allows for specialist study in an area of your choice.
The organising principles which underpin the programme provide links between the MA modules and our research strengths. These research strengths are in the areas of:
* Professional Education
* Enhancing Teaching and Learning
* Inclusive Education
The MA in Education is designed to enable you to identify problems and questions in areas of interest and to design study plans and research strategies to deal with them. It will help you to develop skills and enhanced professional practice within learning organisations, and will offer you effective support undertaking research in a particular area of educational study.
Core modules
* Learning, Teaching and Assessment
* Professional Education
Main topics of study: the nature of professionalism; the professional identity: race, class and gender; the nature of education and training; aims and values in education and training; the role of the professional educator; professional ethics and judgement; ideologies and discourse and the professional educator; accountability in professional education; educational change and professional development; the future of professional education and training: national and international comparisons.
* Research Methods in Education
Main topics of study: the work of educational professionals as research-informed activity; beginning the process of inquiry; the idea of experiment; surveys; interpretative research, case studies and interviewing; ethnography and observation; evaluation; action research.
* Dissertation
All students enrolled on the MA in Education award will be offered a choice of focus for their dissertation which allows them to opt for a specialist MA in Education award.
Recent examples of dissertations by students taking this course include:
o Evaluation of a project in ICT;
o An investigation of teaching programmes for children with dyslexia;
o Provision for gifted and talented pupils.
Option modules (three)
* Educating the Very Able Child
Main topics of study: evolving changes in the conception of giftedness; models of identification and implications for practice; critical evaluation of strategies for provision; issues such as acceleration and enrichment; strategies for curriculum differentiation; principles for designing and evaluating enrichment projects; higher-order thinking skills in the curriculum; the role of questioning; effective use of resources; involving parents in the education of gifted pupils; designing, evaluating, modifying and implementing school policies for gifted pupils; continuity of provision for gifted and talented pupils between Key Stages.
* The Internet and Multimedia in Education
Main topics of study: computer 'platforms' and operating systems - Windows, MacOS, Unix/Linux - and transfer of files across these; ASCII and binary files; graphic, sound and video file formats; Telnet and FTP; the nature of multimedia, 'hypertext', and the Internet; current ideas about and critiques of these; multimedia authoring software - including Hyperstudio, Mediator and Powerpoint; scanners, cameras, audio equipment and CD-writers; good and bad practice in design for multimedia; advanced uses of the Internet - e-mail, newsgroups/mailing-lists, searching techniques; intranets (case studies); E-learning environments, including WebCT; the National Grid for Learning and LEA / school provision.
* Managing the Educational Organisation
* Sustainable Development
* Children's and Young People's Rights
* Perspectives on Special Educational Needs
* Report: A Special Study
Dissertation
Special Features
Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate
If you complete the taught elements of the MA but do not proceed to dissertation, you can claim the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip). The Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) is available to those students who terminate their studies after four modules.
Teaching Methods
A variety of teaching methods will be employed, including lectures, seminars, workshops, small group discussions and distance learning. Student attainment is assessed in all modules. Each (single) module assignment is expected to be 4,000 words in length.
