About the course

The MA Education provides an excellent opportunity for you to develop both intellectually and professionally. The programme is ideal for individuals looking to develop more critical and theoretical perspectives on a broad range of educational matters.

Successful Masters level study will enable you to further develop and reflect on your practice. Our practice-focused modules, such as ‘Reflecting on Practice’, will allow you to reflect critically on aspects of your own practice, and widen your understanding of the latest teaching developments and education research at local, regional, national and international levels.  For example, we believe our MA teaching fits well with the latest government strategies and policies published under the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy and the Early Career Framework.  We would anticipate that the programme will prepare you to make positive changes in your learning communities and to become an effective mentor for both, early career and more experienced colleagues.

Undertaking our MA will enable you to demonstrate to employers a level of critical and intellectual rigour, which can place you at the forefront of developments in practice.  You will have the opportunity to demonstrate the capacity for sustained and systematic engagement with current evidence-driven curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and contemporary policy matters.  This can potentially put you in a stronger position for progression, promotion and leadership in education. 

The programme is available on either a full-time (one-year - all taught modules and dissertation) or part-time (two-year - taught modules in year 1, dissertation year 2) basis, which allows you the opportunity to study flexibly around current work commitments without the need to give up your job.   Students can also study for MA Education via a modular route. This means that they can accumulate their degree credits by taking individual modules over a period of maximum of 5 years.  It depends on each individual student how many modules they would like to take in a given year, depending on their individual needs and capabilities.

Applicants who already hold a postgraduate qualification in Education may be considered for Accreditation of Prior Learning (see APL tab for further details).

Aims of the course

The aims of the programme will enable you to:

• Demonstrate systematic knowledge and critical awareness of a range of educational theories and issues that reflect your chosen specialisations;
• Communicate effectively to specialist and non-specialist audiences through higher level writing and presentation skills;
• Critically reflect upon an array of educational practices and policies (including your own practice, where appropriate);
• Draw upon appropriate theories, methodologies, practices and a wide range of evidence to design and undertake small-scale independent research on an educational issue of your choice.

Programme benefits:

• Research-led teaching.
• Emphasis of robust theoretical understanding and strong practice and policy focus.
• Engage with highly qualified, experienced academics working at the forefront of their fields.
• Excellent student support and supervision.
• Opportunities to engage with policy and the wider social world through social media initiatives and public engagements.

Keele Graduate attributes

Engagement with this programme will enable you to develop your intellectual, personal and professional capabilities. At Keele, we call these our ten Graduate Attributes and they include independent thinking, synthesizing information, creative problem solving, communicating clearly, and appreciating the social, environmental and global implications of your studies and activities. Our educational programme and learning environment is designed to help you to become a well-rounded graduate who is capable of making a positive and valued contribution in a complex and rapidly changing world, whichever spheres of life you engage in after your studies are completed.

Further information about the Keele Graduate Attributes can be found here.

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements include a good honours degree (minimum 2:2) from an awarding institution, or its equivalent. For applicants who fall short of this requirement, relevant work experience, or evidence of experience in the field may be considered as an alternative. Admission to the programme may be subject to an interview.  

Applicants from a country where English is not the first language are required to take one of the internationally recognised English language tests such as Academic IELTS. The minimum entry level is IELTS 6.5, with a minimum score of 5.5 in each subtest, or equivalent English language test scores.

Course content

The MA in Education consists of seven taught modules, followed by a 60-credit dissertation.

Mode of study

Each module is structured around taught input that is delivered via a range of means, depending on the module. The taught sessions will be delivered via a mixture of large and small group activities, individual tasks, and workshop sessions. Research training is also undertaken, in preparation for your dissertation, and will be supported by a personal dissertation supervisor. Towards the end of your studies, you will be required to submit a dissertation with a target lenght of 15,000 words. This will be the result of original research carried out during your MA studies, under the supervision of a member of academic staff.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

The MA is taught and assessed by Keele University staff who are highly qualified, experienced and respected academics, working at the forefront of their fields. The breadth and depth of this expertise brings a unique inter-disciplinary flavour to the programme, and enables us to offer you excellent support and supervision.

Taught elements of the programme are delivered through a mixture of lectures, seminars and small group tasks. Online support materials will also be available and comprise both text based resources and a range of electronic resources.  All sessions and activities are a key part of the programme, and this should allow you to fully immerse yourself in your studies (whether full or part-time study).  

Furthermore, as a postgraduate student, you are able to attend the School’s annual research seminar series, which will enable you to become involved in the School's research culture. You may also have the opportunity to engage directly with policy and the wider social world, through appropriate public engagement and social media initiatives. 

Assessment

Assessment is based on written work in the form of module assignments, blog posts, case studies, policy analyses/policy briefs, research proposals, followed by an end of course dissertation with a target word lenght of 15,000.

Additional costs

• Additional costs for textbooks, inter-library loans, photocopying, printing, and potential overdue library fines.
• Travel, subsistence and accommodation costs are to be covered by the student.

APL

Accrediatation of Prior Learning

Where appropriate, an Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) route is also available, subject to a successful APL application.  This will include, but not be limited to, those who have satisfactorily completed a PGCE (60 credits), NPQH, NPQSL, NPQML and other certificates and diplomas related to Education.

Up to 60 Level 7 credits can be accredited through the University’s APL procedure against the MA Education modules, with the exception of the Research Methods and Dissertation modules.

The University’s full APL procedure can be found here 

Module descriptors

Issues in Inclusive Education (EDU-40118): 15 credits
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 not least of all, mainstream education 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.  This module offers insights into many different aspects of inclusive education. 

Reflecting on Practice (EDU-40114)*: 15 credits
This module is intended to foreground the significance of reflective practice in enabling practitioners to develop informed insights and perspectives on key philosophical, social cultural and political debates about education/ workplace setting. Participants will engage actively with a variety of theories and practices associated with reflective practice, with more thoughtful reflection being posited as the key to reflective practice. Participants will reflect on an aspect of their practice and develop an action plan for future practice. They will be assessed through a reflective assessment that they will develop over time (including an official observation of practice), related to critically analysing an aspect of their practice.
* subject to Senate approval

Global Education Issues (EDU-40100): 15 credits
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 students, and critically explores what ‘international' means, educationally, in this context.

Research Methods (EDU-40123): 30 credits
This module addresses issues about research design and analysis with an emphasis on qualitative and ethnographic perspectives. Students are prepared to consider the ethical issues entailed in designing and conducting various forms of enquiry, such as narratives, life histories, auto/biographies, case studies and other qualitative or ethnographic methods. The module also explores the political and social contexts related to the research process and analysis. It considers aspects of the research process such as the researcher's own reflexivity, and the negotiation of consent and involvement in the research process.

Creative Practice (EDU-40101): 15 credits

The module critically examines creativity in classroom practice. Students are asked to consider the perspective from which creativity is defined and the criteria that are used as the basis for the definition. Students 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 can they be incorporated into practice.

Global Citizenship Education (EDU-40120): 15 credits
What role does education have in creating good citizens? What does it mean to be a citizen today? Both of these questions have long informed educational policy and practice in different ways across the world. Education has been seen as key to creating a nation's loyal subjects, skilled workers, intelligentsia, political activists – helping, in short, to shape people's sense of their place and values in their country and community. But as the nature of the world has changed, the citizenship role of education has begun to be contested. In particular, it is argued, the nation-state is no longer so central. So education today has the function of creating ‘global citizens', in which ideas such as multi-cultural identity, sustainable development, values and the common good are important. Through lectures, seminars, workshops and group presentations, this module explores how ideas of citizenship have been reflected in educational policy and practice over the past century and in different countries today.