Course specification and structure
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PMEDUCAT - MA Education

Course Specification


Validation status Validated
Highest award Master of Arts Level Masters
Possible interim awards Postgraduate Diploma, Postgraduate Certificate, Advanced Diploma in Professional Development
Total credits for course 180
Awarding institution London Metropolitan University
Teaching institutions London Metropolitan University
School School of Social Professions
Subject Area Education
Attendance options
Option Minimum duration Maximum duration
Full-time 1 YEARS 6 YEARS
Part-time 2 YEARS 6 YEARS
Course leader  

About the course and its strategy towards teaching and learning and towards blended learning/e-learning

This course seeks to offer students tools and languages through which to interpret and extend understanding of their experience as practising teachers and educators. Its programme has been designed to deepen and broaden students’ understanding of Education as a multi-disciplinary domain and whose critical themes, discourses and practices can speak to their diverse professional experiences and realities. The course recognises the diverse range of academic knowledges and professional experiences that students, whether working in London or from settings across the globe, bring to and encounter in their work and seeks to offer a curriculum which both enables enhanced professional practice and promotes opportunities for academic and intellectual development. The degree is constructed around the notion of the educator as vital contributor to the working of democratic, inclusive and diverse societies and the maintenance of an informed, intellectually critical and socially-aware citizenry.

The core course is taught via a conventional timetable, however, the approach to learning and teaching is blended with use made of the University VLE and some modules being taught in remote networked formats. It is envisaged that there is room for development of the programme to incorporate more flexible arrangements that will allow the course to respond more adroitly to student needs and availability.

Course aims

The course aims:

  • to offer students a multi-disciplinary and critical exploration of educational practices, policies, theory, key themes and institutions in London and beyond;
  • to deepen students’ understanding of curricula, schooling and pedagogic institutions through Education as a multi-disciplinary domain and inter-disciplinary synthesis;
  • to give students access to a range of theoretical discourses and languages through which to understand and interpret their practice and appreciate the contribution made by scholarship, research and researchers to them;
  • to explore critically those discourses of improvement, progress and transformation that have informed innovation and shaped policy changes for a generation;
  • to recognise and incorporate the unique affordances of London and the educational implications of its place as a post-colonial global city;
  • to offer international students knowledge and understanding of the education system in England and Wales;
  • to extend students’ subject knowledge in targeted areas and offer opportunities for guided self-directed study and scholarship;
  • to offer students opportunities to engage with the academic expertise, interests and specialisms of the staff team and build from their contributions to research and scholarship;
  • to allow students access to research methods and practices and require them to design, undertake and report on a research project that has the potential to contribute to the wider scholarly and academic community.

Course learning outcomes

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of the academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

  • apply methods and techniques appropriate to their own research or advanced scholarship in Education;
  • apply knowledge with originality, based on a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in Education;
  • evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in Education;
  • evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses;
  • deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgments in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences ;
  • exercise self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level;
  • advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level;
  • exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations;
  • learn independently for the purposes of continuing professional development.

Course learning outcomes / Module cross reference

- Apply methods and techniques appropriate to their own research or advanced
scholarship in Education:

ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation
ED7125 Specialist Study Module

- Apply knowledge with originality, based on a practical understanding of how
established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret
knowledge in Education:

ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation
ED7123 Research Methods in Education

- Evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in Education:

ED7121 Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
ED7130 Curriculum Leadership
ED7122 Critical Theory and Education
ED7123 Research Methods in Education
ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation

- Evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate,
to propose new hypotheses:

ED7130 Curriculum Leadership
ED7122 Critical Theory and Education
ED7123 Research Methods in Education
ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation

- Deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound
judgments in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions
clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences:

ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation

- Exercise self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act
autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level:

ED7130 Curriculum Leadership
ED7125 Specialist Study Module
ED7123 Research Methods in Education
ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation

- Advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills
to a high level:

ED7121 Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
ED7130 Curriculum Leadership
ED7122 Critical Theory and Education
ED7123 Research Methods in Education
ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation

- Exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations:

ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation
ED7130 Curriculum Leadership

- Learn independently for the purposes of continuing professional development:

ED7P33 MA Education Dissertation
ED7125 Specialist Study Module

Principle QAA benchmark statements

There are no existing benchmarks for PG Education.

Assessment strategy

The course is assessed by coursework and there are no written examinations. Each module has been designed with an assessment strategy that seeks to synchronise process aspects of learning with content and to incorporate opportunities for formative as well as summative assessment, where appropriate. The strategy is designed to enable students to gain familiarity and fluency in the use of established academic modes of critical discourse and the representation of arguments.

Organised work experience, work based learning, sandwich year or year abroad

The core Curriculum Leadership module offers opportunities for learning in school settings. Students have been attending partner schools in the Gravesham Consortium, Kent.

Course specific regulations

N/A

Modules required for interim awards

PGDip Education: 4 core taught modules plus two options

PGCert Education: 3 taught modules to include ED7122 and either ED7130 or ED7121

Career opportunities

The course will be of benefit to anyone with an interest in education, whether as a parent, teacher, researcher, community worker or education administrator. Recent graduates have gone on to careers in the education sector as deputy head teachers, special needs teachers, and behaviour management co-ordinators.

Entry requirements

You will need:

  • a good degree in education or social science
  • GCSE English

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

Official use and codes

Approved to run from 2013/14 Specification version 1 Specification status Validated
Original validation date 01 Sep 2013 Last validation date 01 Sep 2013  
Sources of funding HE FUNDING COUNCIL FOR ENGLAND
JACS codes X300 (Academic Studies in Education): 100%
Route code EDUCAT

Course Structure

Stage 1 Level 07 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
ED7121 Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment Core 20 NORTH SPR MON EV
          NORTH SPR THU PM
ED7122 Critical Theory and Education Core 20 NORTH AUT WED EV
ED7123 Research Methods in Education Core 20 NORTH AUT MON EV
ED7130 Curriculum Leadership Core 20 NORTH SPR THU EV
          NORTH SPR WED EV
ED7P39 Education Dissertation Core 60 NORTH SUM NA  
          NORTH SPR NA  
          NORTH AUT NA  
ED7125 Specialist Study Module Option 20        
ED7139 Applying Learning Technologies Option 20 NORTH AUT+SPR NA  
ED7140 Web-based Learning and Teaching Option 20        

Stage 1 Level 07 January start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
ED7121 Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment Core 20 NORTH SPR MON EV
          NORTH SPR THU PM
ED7122 Critical Theory and Education Core 20        
ED7123 Research Methods in Education Core 20        
ED7130 Curriculum Leadership Core 20 NORTH SPR THU EV
          NORTH SPR WED EV
ED7P39 Education Dissertation Core 60 NORTH SUM NA  
          NORTH SPR NA  
ED7125 Specialist Study Module Option 20        
ED7139 Applying Learning Technologies Option 20        
ED7140 Web-based Learning and Teaching Option 20