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MA - Education Leadership

The University of Cumbria’s MA Education Leadership provides excellent opportunities for colleagues in both local and international contexts to gain an award at Masters level in just one year. Modules are designed to take account of the your own educational experience and background. Face to face and full time allows you to work within a focused and dynamic academic community on campus. Modules draw on current international research and the resources available to you reflect a wide range of educational research both in the UK and in an international context. This programme will provide professionals with the theoretical basis of education leadership, to inform their practice and understanding of the role of effective leadership as a catalyst for social change. Options at the stage of dissertation take account of the different interests and educational roles and contexts that you aim to work in when you graduate.

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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.

On this course you will...

  • Join an established, world-class education department.
  • Be guided by tutors who are experts in their field.
  • Enjoy an academic community that has a reputation for excellence.
  • Authentic and purposeful assessment.
  • Completion of a dynamic, research informed MA Education Leadership in just one year.
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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
    During the first semester, this module aims to develop your understanding of theories relevant to leadership in a range of educational contexts. You will consider factors that contribute to good professional practice and select an aspect of this for further exploration throughout your MA journey. It will provide you with an understanding of the importance of the interplay between theory and practice and critically evaluate findings in published research. At its heart, is an opportunity for you to develop professional understanding in an area of your choosing and to consider the implications of this for your own career development. You will be supported to explore the interplay of theory and practice in relation to your chosen area of focus, and you will consider the impact of this on your own professional thinking.
  • Education Policy
    With a particular focus on leadership, this module aims to critically examine the dynamic policy environment in which education operates; to consider a range of perspectives and theoretical frameworks relevant to the participant’s leadership role and use these to critically analyse educational leadership in an age of marketization, performativity and system leadership.
  • Leading Advanced Professional Learning
    Evaluate academic discourse that underpins current issues in the leadership of Professional Learning; to evaluate the literature and theoretical frameworks; to reflect critically on the facilitation of professional learning the relationship between theory and current practice This module considers approaches that may impact on evaluation, quality assurance and continuous quality improvement in professional learning contexts.
  • Challenging Disadvantage
    Moving into semester two, this module aims to encourage critical evaluation of the academic discourse relating to issues of social justice and disadvantage that specifically relate to students’ dissertation topic. It provides an opportunity to draw together learning from previous modules and to reflect critically on the role education might play in addressing inequalities.
  • Critical Analysis of Theory and Practice
    In the final dissertation module, the aim is for students to develop a comprehensive knowledge in an area of practice that is relevant to their own interests and career progression. Identifying a topic and conducting a literature review is intended to draw together learning from previous modules and enhance their future employability through creative and critical thinking.
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  • Location

    Lancaster Campus

    Lancaster is the Red Rose heartland, a student haven full of history and culture. With iconic stone architecture, parkland, and a caring community, this is the place to get involved. The campus houses top-quality facilities tailored to the needs of life-savers, world changers, and future leaders.

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