Postgraduate Taught

The MA Education (International) is a new pathway through the existing MA Education programme, which is designed and structured to meet the needs of experienced teachers, in International Schools in SE Asia, who don’t possess a professional qualification and who wish to study for a postgraduate award that comprises professional recognition.

The educational aims of the programme are to support the development of critically reflective practitioners, whose work is based on scholarship, professionalism and ethical practice.  It will enable participants to critically examine a wide range of contemporary educational issues and those that relate more directly to their own practice as educators.  A key aim is to provide opportunities for participants to examine their own professional contexts and interests in the light of theory and practical experience. 

By the end of the programme participants will demonstrate systematic knowledge and critical awareness of a range of educational theories and issues that are relevant to the specific pathway, which could include creativity, critical pedagogy, leadership and management and pedagogical content knowledge; they will demonstrate that they can critically examine these theories in the light of practice and vice versa.  Participants will show how, through this critically reflective approach, they have developed their own practice as educators and managed personal and professional change.  They will be able to communicate effectively through use of higher level writing skills, aimed at specialist and non-specialist audiences, with appropriate use of academic referencing

They will develop critical awareness of the philosophies and practices underpinning Educational research and demonstrate that they can design and undertake an independent research study into aspects of their own practice or professional context and report the findings of that study to a range of audiences.

Applicants should have a good degree, usually a 2:2, from a recognised University or ability to demonstrate relevant professional experience to an equivalent standard; and in either case, have English as a first language, or evidence of written and spoken fluency.

The MA Education (international) programme comprises the following modules

Year 1

Learners, Learning and Assessment (30 credits),
International Educational Practice (15 credits),
Creative Practice (15 Credits)

Year 2

The Personalized Curriculum (15 Credits) 
Global Educational Issues (15 Credits)
Research Methods (30 Credits)

Dissertation (60 Credits). 

Applicants who wish to obtain formal recognition of their teaching competence may opt to complete a Teaching Placement module in year

(Applicants with no previous teaching experience must complete an Initial teaching placement module before they undertake the compulsory core-teaching module).

Teaching

The Masters in Education International is a post experience, semi-distance learning programme that is taught on a part time basis over a period of 2 years.  Each academic module is structured around a 3-day residential, which takes place at Harrow International School, Bangkok.  The module residentials comprise a mixture of lectures, workshops, and small group tasks that are key parts of the course, which not only provide opportunities for participants to review, discuss and challenge ideas but also to share good practice.

Further support is provided through modular self-study materials, which comprise both traditional text based and digital resources that are accessed through the KLE; this latter resource is also used to enhance student support and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of issues that arise.

A particularly innovative feature of the programme is the opportunity that is provided through the Postgraduate certificate phase of the programme to obtain an award that teaching competence. 

To obtain this award participants must complete a 12-week teaching placement module in the international school in which they are employed.  If programme members aren’t currently employed in an international school then the programme management team will negotiate a placement on their behalf.  Programme participants with no previous teaching experience must successfully complete an initial 6-week teaching placement to demonstrate their basic competence before embarking on the 12-week placement.  A mentor, who has responsibility for the leadership and management of their learning, will support all them throughout the teaching placement modules.

The programme team includes very experienced teacher educators who have responsibility for the provision of the suite of postgraduate education programmes in the School of Public Policy and Professional Practice.  They all have formal teaching qualifications and extensive teaching experience in secondary schools across the UK and internationally; they also have substantial experience of teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Assessment

The academic programme is assessed through written work in the form of essays, case studies and critical reflective reviews; the use of these forms of assessment enables judgements to be made about participants knowledge and understanding of module content and their capacity to critically examine theory in the light of practice and vice versa. 

The research proposal and dissertation, which comprise the Masters phase of the programme, enable the assessment of participants’ ability to select, apply and evaluate appropriate research methodologies for their chosen individual study.

The assessment of the Teaching Placement modules is structured around an adapted version of the Teaching Standards for England.  To satisfy these standards participants must provide evidence of their ability to plan, deliver and assess lessons that are focused on student learning.  They also need to compile a portfolio of evidence that supports their case for achieving the standards and complete a critically reflective commentary that draws on the evidence in the portfolio.

Formative assessment in the programme takes a variety of forms, it includes the completion of preparatory tasks for the taught sessions that are used as the basis for discussion, on-line tasks that are used to consolidate or extend the work that has been undertaken in the taught sessions and short presentations that are developed either as individual tasks or from small group discussions. 

These activities provide module tutors with opportunities to assess participants level of understanding and engagement, evidence that can subsequently be used during taught sessions to adapt or revise session plans or as the basis for tutorial discussions