MA Educational Practice and Research (Part Time)

Key details

MA EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE AND RESEARCH (PART TIME)

Start Year

2021

Attendance

Part Time

Award

Degree of Master of Arts

Duration (years)

As an educator, your career is based on the ongoing process of learning. Our Educational Practice and Research MA is your opportunity to develop and explore your own thinking, expanding your knowledge in the same way that you help your students expand theirs.

Whether you’re looking to further your career, investigate an area you feel requires additional research or simply pursue your own academic interests, our part-time MA will build on your existing professional expertise.

You’ll be taught using the latest cutting-edge research, by academics who are both leaders in their field and fully committed to the development of new ideas and thinking.

You’ll also work alongside other professionals to actively share and discuss educational practices. You’ll enjoy flexible study patterns that complement your professional work commitments, and you’ll graduate with a wide range of skills that will prove invaluable in your future career.

About

Our part time Educational Practice and Research MA is designed for school teachers, further and higher education lecturers, and other practitioners currently working in an educational environment in the UK. It’s the ideal course if you’re looking to extend your professional development by studying for a Master’s level degree.

At UEA, you’ll discover a stimulating and challenging environment in which you can discuss and analyse classroom practice through a broad range of optional modules. You’ll benefit from a supportive learning community thanks to our diverse range of teaching and assessment methods, and our flexible learning options.

You will also have the chance to carry out research in an area that interests you, personally and professionally. This is your chance to explore and add to the latest thinking in your field, as well as cultivating greater understanding and innovation in your own teaching practice

Highlights of the course:

Flexible, personalised part-time study, to complement your professional work commitments.
January start date, avoiding the beginning of the academic year.
A broad range of module options, delivered in the evening and/or at weekends.
An annual MA conference, to meet and listen to eminent guest speakers from within the field of education, and hear about research topics currently being pursued by participants in their Dissertation module.
Accreditation of prior learning (APL) for any Master’s-level credits you’ve acquired through previous study (see Course Structure, below)
Fast-track study routes available.
Discounted fees for UEA Alumni.
Scholarships available for students working in eligible schools.
If you have not previously studied at Master’s level, you may be eligible for a Postgraduate Loan.

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the courses listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the regular review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. Changes may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will inform students.

Assessment for Year 1

We employ a range of assessment and feedback methods throughout the programme, including assignments, small-scale research projects and portfolios of evidence.

Structure

If you have previously studied for a Master’s-level qualification such as a PGCE, and acquired credits in the process, accreditation of prior learning (APL) allows you to use those credits towards this course and reduce your overall study time.

To complete our Master’s in Education Practice and Research, you’ll need to acquire 180 credits in total. So the length of your study is determined by the number of APL credits you already have.

One year part time: Requires APL of 90 credits. You’ll then study one 30-credit module option and complete a 60-credit dissertation.

Two years part-time: Requires APL of 60 or 90 credits. You’ll then need to complete one or two 30-credit module options, as well as your 60-credit dissertation.

Three years part-time: Requires APL of zero to 60 credits. You will then need to study up to four 30-credit module options across three years and complete a 60-credit dissertation.

The module options we offer are determined by our academic team’s interests and areas of research, which means you can be sure that you’re learning at the forefront of your field. The module options are routinely updated and you’ll be able to choose from a range of topics. Examples of the type of modules we cover include:

Understanding Health and Wellbeing in School Contexts
Writing Pedagogy
The Use of Technology in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics
Shared Literary Reading in Primary and Secondary Schools
Assessment: Principles, Issues and Practice
Leading Teaching, Improving Learning and Global Education Reform

Please note that modules are subject to change each year

Teaching and Learning

Teaching

You will be taught by academics with years of practitioner-based experience across all educational phases. Experts in their field, they are totally committed to inspiring and nurturing your ideas.

Our teaching is informed by the latest cutting-edge research and practice, and your learning will comprise of small group seminars and workshops, which will either be delivered in the evening or at weekends, depending on the module(s) you’ve chosen. Guest speakers are invited to attend some of these sessions and you will be expected contribute to your sessions too, sharing and applying experiences from your own professional context. Our small group format is designed to encourage active debate and reflective dialogue between all group members.

Our teaching is supported by an annual MA Conference for all course participants. During the conference you will meet and listen to eminent guest speakers from within the field of education, and hear presentations by current dissertation students on their chosen research topics.

Independent study

Independent study is a key feature of this programme. You will be encouraged to read extensively in between taught sessions, and contribute your thoughts and ideas in a variety of different ways.

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Assessment for Year 2

We employ a range of assessment and feedback methods throughout the programme, including assignments, small-scale research projects and portfolios of evidence

Structure

To complete our Master’s in Education Practice and Research, you’ll need to acquire 180 credits in total. So the length of your study is determined by the number of APL credits you already have.

One year part time: Requires APL of 90 credits. You’ll then study one 30-credit module option and complete a 60-credit dissertation.

Two years part-time: Requires APL of 60 or 90 credits. You’ll then need to complete one or two 30-credit module options, as well as your 60-credit dissertation.

Three years part-time: Requires APL of zero to 60 credits. You will then need to study up to four 30-credit module options across three years and complete a 60-credit dissertation.

Understanding Health and Wellbeing in School Contexts
Writing Pedagogy
The Use of Technology in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics
Shared Literary Reading in Primary and Secondary Schools
Assessment: Principles, Issues and Practice
Leading Teaching, Improving Learning and Global Education Reform

Please note that modules are subject to change each year.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching

You will be taught by academics with years of practitioner-based experience across all educational phases. Experts in their field, they are totally committed to inspiring and nurturing your ideas.

Independent study

Independent study is a key feature of this programme. You will be encouraged to read extensively in between taught sessions, and contribute your thoughts and ideas in a variety of different ways

Admissions Live Chat

Open Days

Assessment for Year 1

We employ a range of assessment and feedback methods throughout the programme, including assignments, small-scale research projects and portfolios of evidence.

Compulsory Modules

Optional A Modules

(30-60 credits)

UNDERSTANDING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN SCHOOL CONTEXTS

Code EDUA7007X

Credits 30

This module seeks to engage teachers with the theoretical and practical understanding of the concepts of health and wellbeing as it relates to the school context. During the module teachers will consider the possibilities for developing an active awareness of these issues for both themselves and their students by exploring a range of current initiatives at primary and secondary levels including the role of mindfulness training, healthy eating initiatives and physical activity. The module will reflect on recent government policy in this area as well as the impact of media stories. Teachers will also develop skills in their own health and wellbeing media literacy as well as consideration of potential interventions that they can take back to their own classrooms.

WRITING PEDAGOGY

Code EDUA7009X

Credits 30

This module is about the teaching of writing in primary and secondary schools. It will consider the nature of writing and its processes and how individuals, children and adults, become writers. It will provide opportunities to identify and reflect upon the range of skills, knowledge and understanding that contribute to the development of a skilled writer in schools and explore the teaching and assessment approaches that best support young and developing writers. Students will reflect upon and theorise their own classroom practices. It will support teachers’ own writing practices and explore the ways that these practices inform teaching and learning.

DIGITAL RESOURCES IN MATHEMATICS TEACHING AND LEARNING

Code EDUA7015B

Credits 30

This module introduces seminal studies in the use of digital technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics, including: Number and Arithmetic, mainly at primary level; Algebra and Geometry, mainly at secondary level; Calculus and Linear Algebra, mainly at university level; Mathematical Reasoning and Proof across educational levels; and, Mathematical Notation, Language and Representations across educational levels. Issues of teacher knowledge, beliefs and teacher education in relation to the use of technology are addressed across educational levels and through reference to key developmental and sociocultural theoretical perspectives. The module sessions touch on a range of technological environments including: Dynamic Geometry Environments; Computer Algebra Systems (CAS); Graphing Calculators (GC); programming languages (e.g. Logo); spreadsheets; and, internet applications. Although the module does not aim at the development of technical or usability skills, the engagement with technological environments naturally increases the expertise in them – and the appetite for deploying them in the mathematics classroom.

TALK AROUND TEXTS FOR LEARNING AND ORACY

Code EDUA7015X

Credits 30

shared literary reading in primary and secondary classrooms. It explores teaching practices and conventions associated with literary study such as ‘reading round the class’, using set texts and responding to poetry in schools. Often these activities entail reading texts aloud, followed by whole-class discussion or group activity. Frequently they prepare students for writing in distinctive genres requiring a critical and analytic perspective on the study text. What features of shared literary reading stimulate deep response? What range of responses do students offer? How can literary pedagogy be developed and refined?

ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES ISSUES AND PRACTICE

Code EDUA7016B

Credits 30

This module will introduce students to the theory, concepts and practices that inform educational assessment. We will explore the grand theoretical themes in educational assessment including assessment purposes, validity, fairness, reliability, and consequences. We will discuss these ideas in relation to real life examples and controversies - from assessment for learning, to high stakes examinations. We will also examine contemporary issues in assessment design, such as inclusive assessment, digital assessment, innovative domains, and large-scale assessments. Throughout the module will encourage the participants to reflect critically and creatively on their own assessment practice.

LEADING TEACHING, IMPROVING LEARNING AND GLOBAL EDUCATION REFORM

Code EDUA7018B

Credits 30

As governments in many countries across the world seek to transform their education systems, questions about leading teaching and improving learning are more important than ever. How do we know that our students are learning and making progress? What forms of knowledge are needed to improve teaching? Can we scale up local improvements or borrow policies from other countries to improve teaching and learning locally? This module enables you to investigate the relationship between approaches to improving learning ‘locally’ and the tendencies towards standardisation and complexity reduction characteristic of global education reform. You will have opportunities to reflect on the leadership (or management) of improvement initiatives that are sensitive to the individual needs of children, young people or adults learning in diverse local contexts. Through a depth study of a specific ‘local’ issue, you will also have an opportunity to examine the complex nature of leadership initiatives and policies aimed at improving teaching and learning. The advantages and limitations of researching the ‘local’ and the ‘particular’ will be discussed in relation to knowledge gleaned from large-scale educational surveys, schools’ ‘league tables’ and international comparisons.

DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGIES THROUGH LESSON STUDY

Code EDUA7003X

Credits 30

This module will enable school-based teams of teachers to carry out a Lesson Study. Its viability will therefore depend on a) the recruitment of school-based teams (ideally 3-4 teachers) from a particular subject area, or teaching cross-curricular content in common; or b) the recruitment of individual teachers who are in a position to lead a lesson study group in their school. Lesson study is a collaborative form of teacher research that originated in Japan and has rapidly spread on a global scale to many countries, including the USA, UK, Sweden, Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong Lo Mun Ling and her co-workers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education blended Lesson Study with variation theory developed by Ference Marton and his associates at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Variation theory provides teachers engaged in Lesson Study with a pedagogical tool for developing innovative teaching strategies aimed at ’learning with understanding.’ This form of Lesson Study informed by a learning theory, which focused the teachers’ attention on the quality of their pupils’ learning experiences, became known as Learning Study. It is this theory-informed approach to Lesson Study that the module will aspire to facilitate in schools. However, participating teachers will also be encouraged to explore the relevance of other learning theories as pedagogical resources for Lesson Study. The module will engage participating teachers in the progressive development of teaching and learning through a series of action research cycles in their schools. A lesson will be defined in terms of a focus on a particular object of learning, such as a topic, concept or complex skill, rather than a particular unit of time. An object of learning has both a specific and general aspect. It will involve the acquisition of specific subject knowledge, but also the development of those general capabilities involved in putting that knowledge to practical use in the contexts of everyday life and work. Deepening understanding of an object of learning will involve pupils’ in discerning both the specific and general aspects of an object of learning. In each cycle of a Learning Study, called ‘research lessons’, a group of teachers, often supported by an academic facilitator, test and modify their lesson design(s) and pedagogical strategies by observing a lesson, interviewing a sample of students from the class, and comparing pre and post lesson evidence of their levels of understanding . The data as a whole is subjected to a post-lesson analysis by the group, which then forms the basis of an amended lesson/pedagogical design for testing in the next cycle. The cyclical process of Lesson Study may be organized by participating teachers for public presentation to an external audience, both within and outside the school. In this way it contributes to a stock of professional knowledge that can be used by the teaching profession as a whole. This module will present Lesson Study as a process in which the professional development of participating teachers cannot be divorced and set apart from its role as a mode of producing public knowledge for the teaching profession as a whole. In this respect links will be made to Lawrence Stenhouse’s idea of the ‘teacher as researcher’ and its relationship to his process model of school-based curriculum development. Teacher teams involved in/with the module will be required to collectively construct a Lesson Study in publishable form for presentation to professional peers. It will be structured around a Research Poster presentation depicting the process, research methods, theoretical resources used and literature reviewed, and the major findings.

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Open Days

Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.

This is the second year of your taught masters programme.

Assessment for Year 2

We employ a range of assessment and feedback methods throughout the programme, including assignments, small-scale research projects and portfolios of evidence

Compulsory Modules

Optional A Modules

(30-60 credits)

UNDERSTANDING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN SCHOOL CONTEXTS

Code EDUA7007X

Credits 30

WRITING PEDAGOGY

Code EDUA7009X

Credits 30

DIGITAL RESOURCES IN MATHEMATICS TEACHING AND LEARNING

Code EDUA7015B

Credits 30

TALK AROUND TEXTS FOR LEARNING AND ORACY

Code EDUA7015X

Credits 30

ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES ISSUES AND PRACTICE

Code EDUA7016B

Credits 30

LEADING TEACHING, IMPROVING LEARNING AND GLOBAL EDUCATION REFORM

Code EDUA7018B

Credits 30

DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGIES THROUGH LESSON STUDY

Code EDUA7003X

Credits 30

Admissions Live Chat

Open Days

Important Information

Entry Requirements

Degree classification

2.2 or equivalent

Degree subject

All Subjects

Additional entry requirements

Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or at least three years of current relevant employment in an educational institution. Students need to be employed in a substantive role, which allows them to apply the course theory.

Applicants should normally have a good first degree from a recognised higher education institution and hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The University will also take into account the employment experience of applicants without QTS. Applicants should submit at least one employment reference.

Students who have completed the University of East Anglia's Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) with 90 Masters level credits, within the last 5 years, can transfer 90 credits from their UEA PGCE course.

Graduates of other Universities may apply to transfer relevant Masters level credits. Applicants wishing to transfer credits from other institutions will need to apply for accreditation of prior learning (APL) and should contact the admissions office at edu.pgt.admiss@uea.ac.uk. The University APL/APEL policy can be found here.