Course description
MA
Students likely to enrol on the MA in Education taught at our European centres will be teachers or other educational professionals working in British or international schools outside the UK. You will study in one of our centres in Amsterdam, Rome or Malaga. Each centre has excellent facilities for study.
The programme brings together experienced teachers and educational managers from across Europe to study with tutors from Oxford Brookes University. It is an exciting opportunity for professional development through intensive study. For busy and dedicated professionals this represents a great opportunity to study close to home within a developing community of other supportive practitioners. Alongside high quality input from experienced tutors, the programme offers key elements in this kind of advanced study - manageability and greater access.
Experience of our MA and other international programmes has shown that students completing such programmes are often highly successful in gaining promoted posts and crossing performance thresholds, whether in the international or UK home contexts.
Course content
You will complete the set programme of study which comprises:
* four compulsory taught modules (two single and one double);
* two taught modules from either a curriculum or a management strand;
* a dissertation equivalent to three modules.
Compulsory modules
* 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 own research skills through preparatory work for the dissertation.
* Reflective Professional Development introduces methods of critical enquiry. It also aims to develop your reflective practice and provide you with an opportunity for systematic review of your progress, thereby helping you to explore and document the coherence and progression of your experience of the course.
* Action Research (double module) comprises a taught unit on action research methods, including the management of change, leading to an action research project. The project will require students to demonstrate an understanding of issues raised within their particular programme of study to date and reflect on these within their own institutions.
* The Dissertation will involve you in a piece of investigative research and will comprise approximately one third of your work for the degree. Your dissertation will focus on a research problem of particular interest to you. It need not necessarily be based in an educational setting and may be literature based, but should be relevant to educational concerns.
Optional modules
* Innovation in Teaching and Learning 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 learning and their concepts of an educational curriculum.
* Challenging Principles and Practice in Curricula in Schools explores the ways in which curriculum, teaching and learning theories are translated into effective international school education. It enables students to consider ways to develop the curriculum and enhance and monitor learning and teaching experiences in school. Staff development and the management of continuing professional development are also discussed.
or
* Leading and Managing People in Education combines theoretical perspectives in personnel management with practical concerns in staff performance management; it includes research on staff evaluation and appraisal, communication strategies, decision-making processes, team building and team effectiveness, and notions of leadership.
* Leading and Managing Change builds on your experience as an observer of, and participant in, the process of management in the education sector. You will consider four key themes: organisational behaviour, policy and planning, improvement and accountability.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Oxford Brookes tutors visit each European centre for a 2-3 day intensive teaching session three times a year. The tutors offer a mix of presentational methods including lectures, tutor-led and student-led seminars, workshop activities and group, peer and individual tutorial sessions. Online support, discussions and conferencing will also feature. The approaches employed are intended to promote both constructive and critical reflection on a range of management, research and study skills. Various groupings are used for teaching purposes in order to reflect the specialist interests of students but opportunities are also provided for comparative activities and discussions, exposing students to a wide range of professional responsibilities in order to develop comparative perspectives, analysis and understanding.
Many of those taking the programme are experienced professionals in education and the methods of teaching, learning and assessment recognise the high standards demanded by this group. All teaching, learning and assessment draw on the different professional backgrounds, experience and knowledge of participants and encourage critical reflection on that experience and knowledge.
Quality
Teaching quality at the Institute was acknowledged by the recent Quality Assurance Agency assessments.
The Westminster Institute of Education is the largest provider of government -funded continuing professional development.
