100% online MA Education

This module critically evaluates creativity in classroom practice. You will consider the perspective from which creativity is defined and the criteria that are used as the basis for the definition. You will explore the practical implications of teaching creatively and teaching for creativity and will have the opportunity to critically examine alternative models of learning and teaching and how they can be incorporated into professional practice.

This module offers insights into many different aspects of inclusive education.
Inclusive education has been positioned and promoted as a positive reaction to segregated schooling, inequality and prejudice. Inclusion, more generally, has permeated policy and social discourse in the last few decades as a concept and practice that attempts to include everyone into the local community. For example, community work rather than imprisonment, community housing rather than mental health institutions and mainstream education that is promoted for all pupils including those with a range of difficult learning needs. In the face of this, politicians and policy makers emphasise their commitment to issues of inclusion and social justice and, in the process, the meanings, policy and practice of inclusive education have been rethought – nowhere more so than in relation to special educational needs.

Can children learn while playing? Is play embedded in early years pedagogy? This module encourages students to examine play as a core method of learning for children and teaching for early years practitioners. It introduces students to the contemporary theories and practices surrounding the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and how these are reflected in historical and contemporary policy debates. It also explores national and international literature, engaging students in the analysis of how teachers use play to facilitate learning, as well as scaffold and extend children’s knowledge. This module also aims to enable students to apply a range of critical theories and recent research on young children’s learning to their own contexts.

This module analyses the significance of reflective practice in enabling you to develop informed insights and perspectives on key philosophical, sociocultural and political debates about educational and workplace settings. You will engage actively with a variety of theories and practices associated with reflective practice, with more thoughtful reflection being put forward as the key to reflective practice. You will reflect on an aspect of your educational practice and develop an action plan for future practice.

This module enables you to critically explore the changing relationships between work and education and the implications for individuals and society. In the module, you are encouraged to interrogate the wider social and historical connections between policies, socio-economic change, education and work. You are invited to critically analyse the links between education, employment and the various social constructions of self-identity.

The module examines in-depth, using a range of materials, the ways in which professional identities are constructed and informed by wider social and economic factors.

This module explores the changing world of education in the context of social, political, economic and cultural globalisation. It reflects on the nature of international identity, both for teachers and learners, and critically explores what `international’ means, educationally, in this context. The module enables you to understand, and reflect critically on the expansion, origins, tensions, and challenges experienced in international education. It invites you to critically examine the primary aspects of globalisation and their impact on education in any setting and to explore the concept of professional identity in the context of a globalised education policy and practice.

This module introduces you to key issues and methodologies underpinning research in the social sciences. You will be introduced initially to how to construct a research project by looking at how to develop and build research questions and how these might be operationalised in your own study. You will be encouraged to begin close planning of your own project. The outcome of the module will be for you to begin to develop both a design and a methodological rationale for your work and the methods you will choose to use.

This module explores a range of research methods – both qualitative and quantitative – and it introduces you to the advantages and pitfalls of these as research tools. You will be supported throughout to reflect on your own understanding of the social world and its implications for developing justified strategies for carrying out your research project. The aim of the module is to enable you to develop concrete plans for the development of the research methods and approaches in relation to your proposed thesis topic.

In this module you will specifically focus on the structure of your final dissertation. The module will equip you to develop specific sections of your dissertation which will include writing an introduction, doing a literature review, writing a methodology chapter, choosing an appropriate approach to data analysis and drawing conclusions. In the module, you will also be introduced to research ethics and will be supported to complete a research ethics application so that you can begin data collection.

The dissertation module provides you with the opportunity to carry out and write up an original piece of research at master’s level. You will draw on the knowledge you developed in the Research Methods module, as well as knowledge and skills gained throughout your postgraduate study in other modules, to conduct your research. The project could be empirical, text-based or a combination of both approaches. You will design and undertake your project in close collaboration with your supervisor and submit a dissertation upon completion.