Education (Teaching and Learning) MA, PGDip

Program Overview

The MA in Education from the University of Chester is designed for professionals working with children and young people, offering a blend of contemporary topics and pathway-specific modules in Teaching & Learning. The program emphasizes critical evaluation, practitioner research, and the development of skills for effective teaching and policy contributions. Students can choose to attend classes in person or virtually, with a focus on integrating the program with the work patterns of busy professionals.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Our MA in Education is designed to meet the interests of a wide range of participants from schools, nurseries, universities, colleges and local authorities, as well as professionals working with children and young people outside of education – for example in children's services and health and social care. The common factor for all potential participants is the desire to develop their expertise in the field of education and to make a real difference in the lives of the children and young people with whom they work. The blend of students from different professional backgrounds enables discussion, debate and the sharing of experiences in a supportive and welcoming environment, facilitated by staff who are experts in the field of education. The degree has been developed drawing on the latest policy, research and practice in education, to offer a course that will equip students with skills in critical evaluation and practitioner research to be effective teachers and practitioners and to make informed contributions to development in policy and practice in schools and educational settings.

Outline:

Year 1

The MA in Education is highly relevant to practice and to the exploration and development of professional work in a range of educational settings. The course will enable you to research key issues of personal interest and relevance to your own professional context. We offer a wide range of modules, which cover key contemporary topics in the field of education as well as pathway specific modules that will enable you to specialise in Teaching & Learning.

Modules:

• Enriching and Engaging Mathematics Education (Optional): This module will focus on strategies to support enriching and engaging mathematics education.
Topics covered may include:
• Synthesis of links between the cognitive and affective domain in mathematics pedagogy.
• Analysis of resilience in mathematics learning.
• Analysis of physical, practical, visual, contextual and symbolic learning models to promote engagement and enrichment.
• Develop foci for interventions in mathematics teaching through an analysis of participants pedagogical and subject knowledge needs.
• Link education theory to practice through enquiry.
• How Children Learn Mathematics (Optional): This module is designed to support those working with children and young people to understand how they learn mathematics and how they can creatively support the teaching of mathematics.
Topics covered may include:
• Misconceptions and effective learning models- concrete learning models that scaffold and build effective cognition, exemplified through mental mathematics
• The language of mathematics learning
• Problem solving in mathematics and variation theory
• Research informed mathematics teaching and learning
• Representations of mathematics understanding
• Re-engagement in mathematical debate
• Pupil Identity and Agency (Optional): This module considers holistic development throughout childhood and adolescence.
Students will examine all aspects of development, including physical, cognitive, social and emotional and how these impact on pupils behaviour and learning. The module will encourage students to reflect on how pupils develop identity and can be given a voice in education.
• Emotional Wellbeing and Resilience (Optional): The emotional wellbeing and resilience of children and young people has come to the fore in recent years and it is important that those who work with children and young people have the knowledge and understanding to support them when needed.
Topics covered in this module may include:
• Theories of emotional well-being and resilience, including a critique of new research on models of resilience.
• The relationship between resilience and emotional well-being and the behaviours of children, young people and adults.
• Approaches to supporting resilience and emotional well-being and the impact of this on professional practice.
• The impact of adverse childhood experience and how such early experiences may impact on behaviour and life outcomes for children and young people.
• Transforming the Curriculum (Optional): This module introduces students to current and historical views of the curriculum as a site of tension and conflict.
It will encourage students to develop an understanding of the socio-cultural, political and historical contexts and theoretical frameworks for curriculum development. The module will also consider the influence of policy-making and political ideology on curriculum development.
• Exposition Research Project (Optional): This module builds upon students prior personal and professional experience.
It serves as the culmination of a Masters programme through which students are able to apply a creative focus on both their personal and professional practice. Students will:
• Explore strategies to facilitate an advanced theoretical and professional understanding of both personal and professional practice.
• Produce evidence of knowledge and understanding of both a subject specialism and its professional context.
• Undertake individual creative practice agreed with a tutor.
• Experiment widely and be ambitious in terms of content, form and presentation of both their personal and professional research as it develops throughout the course of the module.
• Contemporary Debates in Education (Optional): This module will ‘stir up’ some of the key contemporary issues facing children and young people today and will debate the complex effect modern day life and education is having on them.
Topics will change from year to year, depending on the key issues of the day and students will have the opportunity to examine debates specific to their chosen pathway.
• Unequal Childhoods – Inclusion, Equality & Education (Optional): This module will explore a wide range of different factors that can lead to inequalities in the lives of children and young people such as poverty, health & wellbeing, race, religion and disability.
It will examine barriers to learning for children and young people and will enable participants to reflect on ways in which they can work to support inclusion and equality in their schools or settings.
• Reimagining Pedagogy & Practice (Optional): This module aims to support students in developing skills of reflective practice and to encourage an in-depth analysis of key issues related to pedagogy in a chosen area of education.
The module will examine the value of Reflective Practice and will enable students to explore a range of pedagogical approaches relevant to their own sector of education. There will be the opportunity to explore alternative approaches to pedagogy from key international contexts and students will be encouraged to develop and justify their own personal pedagogy based on a set of personally held principles which underpin their educational practice.
• Relational Pedagogies in Early Childhood (Optional): This module aims to introduce students to the concept of relational pedagogies and explore their potential for enhancing young children's learning & development.
Topics explored will include the historical and social context of relational pedagogies, the role of relationships in young children's lives including relationships with adults and peers, the importance of partnership with parents in educational settings and the benefits of fostering intergenerational relationships for learning and development.
• Digital Childhoods (Optional): This module aims to critically examine new technologies and the impact these have on the lives of young children.
It will encourage students to engage critically with debates within the field and to consider developmentally appropriate ways of using technology with young children. Topics covered will include:
• The current debate around the impact of technology on young children’s development, culture, health and well-being.
• The meaning of digital literacy and its implications for young children and early childhood professionals.
• Factors influencing online behaviours and risk exposure.
• Early Childhood applications of new technologies.
• Synthesis and analysis of aspects of the theoretical field in relation to the impact of technology on young children.
• Creative Practices (Optional): This module provides a concentrated period of workshop/studio creative practice and the time to develop engagement with creative practices.
Students will have the opportunity to experiment and take risks in creative practice, with time to build up a necessary volume of practice evidence. Through a process of selection and reflection on this evidence, it is expected that students will develop a greater understanding of their personal creative ambitions and find the most appropriate practical methodologies to achieve these.
• Exploring Creativity (Optional): This module will enable students to reflect on their own engagement with creative practice and the ways in which they support creativity in educational contexts.
• Dissertation (Optional): This module aims to support students in conducting their own piece of research within their own workplace or the wider education sector.
The module will cover key aspects of conducting and writing up empirical research such as:
• Employing an ethical approach to research
• Situating the research within a body of literature
• Using an appropriate methodology
• Collecting evaluating and interpreting data
• Writing up the research
• Research Methods & Design (Optional): This module supports students to develop a range of skills in designing, planning and conducting research in a range of educational contexts.
Topics covered include developing research questions, evaluating and selecting a methodological approach, the ethics of research, methods of collecting data and approaches to data analysis.

Assessment:

We use a variety of assessment methods, including digital presentations, essays, projects, and critical reflections, which will enable you to apply the topics studied to your own area of interest and to the age phase or subject area in which you are working.

Teaching:

The course has been structured to integrate with the work patterns of busy professionals. You can choose to attend the taught sessions at the University of Chester's Exton Park in Chester, or to attend by distance learning where participants can join the classroom-based students virtually from anywhere in the world using Microsoft Teams. As the majority of participants will be teachers or other educational professionals, the teaching is concentrated into six Saturdays each year, supplemented by six online evening seminars.

Faculty:

• Dr Heather Macdonald: Senior Lecturer, Programme Leader MA Education
• Debbie Ravenscroft: Senior Lecturer

Careers:

Students who successfully engage in the MA in Education will become reflective practitioners and critical thinkers who can articulate their views with confidence and conviction. The course will enhance participants' knowledge and understanding, developing skills that will support career progression in educational settings. Graduates may go on to work with children and young people in a variety of contexts; take up leadership and management roles; take on roles in further and higher education such as lecturing and research; or engage in advisory roles with local authorities or private companies.