MEd Educational Leadership and Management fully online

What is the point of doing a Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management when I have a PGCE or am an experienced teacher?

1. Professionals do not stop learning at any stage in their working lives.  Doctors and lawyers, for example, have to have regular refresher courses.  In the same way teachers are primarily trained to teach and so to move onto Middle and Senior Leadership positions brings  a whole new set of responsibilities and challenges to navigate.  This programme will enable you to take on those challenges with confidence.
2. Not only will you learn about recent research in education, but you will also learn how to research yourself.
3. Having taken the trouble to gain this qualification will show your employer and future employers that you are a serious, professional employee.  The course will equip you with the ability to talk about particular areas of leadership with acquired knowledge and experience.
4. You will find the course intellectually stimulating as a whole new area of study will be opened up to you.

Course content

The course is distance-learning with the expectation that you will attend online 8 trainee study days over the course of the 18 months and these will be followed by an online discussion as well as an essay. Throughout the programme, each student will be assigned a supervisor who will support them through the assignments and with the final dissertation.  The course covers the following topics:

Module 1 The Leadership Landscape: Role, Responsibilities and Relationships. This module sets the MEd in the broader context of the range of theory that currently exists relating to Educational Leadership and Management.  We will consider how this is reflected in different forms of leadership within schools.  We will look at it means to want to be a leader and how leadership is often portrayed in conflict with management.  The course will also look at your role as a reflective practitioner and how this can enhance your understanding of the course.

Module 2 Leadership in Action: Making Changes.This module introduces the concept of change management and its place within educational leadership.  This is linked to the challenges facing schools today and ways in which the educational landscape has changed over the last fifty years.  This module looks at the different ways in which leaders can bring change about in their institutions and how this links to the different kinds of contexts that you can find in modern schools.  An understanding of these processes includes practical applications to modern leadership challenges, for example with regard to finance and funding concerns.

Module 3 Developing Strategy. The module begins with a focus on different styles of leadership and the effect that this would have on decision-making in schools.  This is then linked to a unit on managing people, whether this is working with staff or with the parental community.  The module looks at managing underperformance and connects this back to work on change management.  Strategic thinking is looked at and how this links to organisational structures and whether there are alternative ways of this being organised. The module links all of this to teaching and learning issues and how leadership is linked to pedagogy.  The research project is introduced in more detail at this point.

Module 4 Researching Leadership and Management. The focus of this module is the development of the research project in relation to each student’s educational context.  This looks at research topics such as finding your critical voice, exploring research paradigms and methodologies, how data can be analysed and confidence in relation to ethics and validity.  The project is set in the context of the educational leadership academic community and the implications for the immediate and wider settings.  These issues are linked to educational research and the organisations that exist looking at these topics.

Module 5 Dissertation. This is the culmination of the programme and the production of a 12,000-15,000-word dissertation.  The students will work independently on this whilst also being supported by their supervisor and with the option of attending online webinars.

Course delivery

Fully online including online live meetings with the tutor.

If you have any questions, please contact us: education@buckingham.ac.uk

To enrol on the course you are likely to be an experienced graduate teacher who is either currently aspiring to leadership or is already in a leadership role.

How to Apply

Please use the ‘Apply Now’ button or contact The School of Education by email education@buckingham.ac.uk or by calling +44 (0)1280 820 222. To apply you will need to supply:

• copy of passport photo page (and visa/work permit where necessary)
• head and shoulder style photo for your University identity card

The closing date for applications is 3 August 2021.

Student Contract for prospective students

When you are offered a place at the University you will be notified of the student contract between the University and students on our courses of study. When you accept an offer of a place on the course at the University a legal contract is formed between you and the University on the basis of the student contract in your offer letter. Your offer letter and the student contract contain important information which you should read carefully before accepting an offer. Read the Student Contract

Applicants must also pay a £275 non-refundable Registration Fee.

Fees are invoiced for in September, at the beginning of the course, and can be paid in termly instalments or in one lump sum. Termly instalments can be arranged directly with the Finance department upon receipt of the invoice.

You may be eligible for a Student Finance England loan. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/funding-for-postgraduate-study