Educational Leadership MA

·          Theories and models to facilitate critical reflection

·          Professional review and self-evaluation activities

·          Skills audit, assumptions analysis and needs identification

·          Personal development and learning from experience principles

·          Concepts of teacher agency and professional identity

·          Critical incident analysis and context-based reflection

·          Action planning for future professional goals and learning

·          Guidance on developing a learning journey portfolio

• Advice about successful completion of assignment

This module aims to engage teachers in reviewing and evaluating their own professional biography. It requires them to take stock of where they are currently, to reflect on their professional learning journey and to make explicit what they have learned from their experience. To do this, the module enables participants to develop the capacity to reflect critically in ways that reveal the knowledge, skills, values and beliefs on which they draw in their daily professional practice. The module also facilitates participants being able to utilise this enhanced self-awareness to identify and plan appropriate future personal and professional development and learning.

This module focuses on the distinctive nature of leadership and management within faith schools which make up approximately one-third of schools in England. Participants will be encouraged to reflect critically on the distinctiveness, mission and ethos of the faith school and its role in integrating an authentic expression of faith in a context within which children are developing in their understanding and where learning is spiritually alive. Particular emphasis will be given to the relationship between spirituality, values, vision and leadership, including the concepts of servant leadership and the headteacher as spiritual leader and interpreter of faith for the school community. This will be set within a dialogue at the nexus of theology, spirituality and theoretical understandings of organisations and leadership. Critical consideration will also be given to evaluate the value of faith schools, the current and future issues they face and the impact of secular perspectives on faith schools and their leadership implications.

The module aims to:

1. Explore the nature, purposes and practice of leadership in faith schools.
2. Develop a clear, coherent vision for the leadership of faith schools.
3. Evaluate the distinctiveness of faith schools and key challenges they face.
4. Provide opportunities for widening critical understanding of leadership with particular reference to faith values and perspectives.

Developing personal understanding of, and improving practice in, educational leadership by:

1. Examining what it means to be a leader in educational settings
2. Analysing research and literature associated with effective leadership
3. Investigating leadership approaches and practice frameworks
4. Critically applying leadership approaches/frameworks to personal practice.

This module is designed to provide robust and coherent theoretical foundations for leaders in schools and other educational settings and also to contribute to long-term capacity building in educational leadership. Although it sets out to establish a critically informed understanding of leadership models and theory, this is undertaken in close association with an exploration, appreciation and analysis of current accounts by students of their own leadership experiences. The module programme begins with a close analysis of leadership practice in context, drawing upon the shared experiences of the students and articulated in “Leadership Stories”.  A comparative study of Leadership Approaches, using a selection of frameworks proposed in generic leadership literature as well as literature targeted at educational leadership, will provide the scaffolding for a critical review of these personal accounts and for students to propose key elements of a contextualised model of leadership to influence their own practice.  

The module aims to:

1. Develop personal understanding of, and improve practice in, educational leadership;
2. Examine what it means to be a leader in educational settings
3. Analyse research and literature associated with effective leadership
4. Investigate leadership approaches and practice frameworks and critically apply leadership approaches/frameworks to personal practice.

The module focuses on three key and related dimensions of educational leadership, referencing particularly the experience of leaders in schools.  The module covers three key areas of personal and organisational challenge for leaders in the complex, and ambiguous settings of a school system undergoing continuous radical change:

Power – the nature and distribution of power, influence and trust in public services, the use and misuse of power by leaders and the dilemmas associated with the exercise of power in educational settings, particularly schools. 

Politics – the practice of politics, particularly by national and local community leaders in education, but also taking account of organisational politics as they impact on the development, quality and governance of schools.  

Policy – the creation, development and implementation of policy - how professional leaders might understand, analyse, influence, change and build best practice around policy. Students will be asked to draw on their own experience, consult with fellow professionals and engage with the leaders and democratically elected representatives of local communities to gain strategic and operational insights into effective leadership practice in current contexts.

The module aims to:

1.    Develop a critical understanding of the conceptualisations of power, politics and policy as they relate to educational settings;

2.    Enhance the capacity of students to Identify and evaluate leadership practice in schools and the wider education system where these three concepts are in evidence;

3.    Enable students to draw on the literature and personal experience to identify and analyse the skills that are needed by school leaders to respond to the challenges and opportunities of power, politics and policy in educational settings and of schools in particular;

4.    Prepare and present a coherent and critically informed account of the interplay between power, politics and policy in a current school setting.

The specific content of the module will be negotiated and agreed with the individual schools and teachers participating in the MA Educational Leadership programme but the following topics in the psychology of leadership are indicative:

Authentic Leadership
Positive Psychology and Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Inspirational Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Leader-member exchange theory (LMX)
Leadership and the Shadow
Neuroscience and Leadership
Systemic Leadership (Leadership and Systems)

The module aims to:
1. Develop a critical understanding of the theories, concepts, and potential applications of psychology in leadership;
2. Synthesise knowledge and experience of these approaches to leadership in order to develop appropriate responses to different situations;
3. Develop and extend the capacity of individuals to lead and manage others in educational settings.

The module is concerned with the ways in which leaders of education can make a difference – the relationship between the concepts of innovation and change, how change works and what drives and constrains change but also the knowledge, skills and understanding that leaders in schools use to bring about change.The module covers three broad areas: Leading Structural and Organisational Change

• Change theory, values, purpose and perspectives – planned and emergent
• Theories and approaches to change leadership and management
• Leadership of change in complex and ambiguous settings
• Leadership dilemmas: ethics, power, influence and trust 

Leading people in change 

• Personal response to change - locus of control and transition curve
• Leadership and Followership
• Leading teams at times of change
• Sense making and sense giving
• Resistance to change
• Embedding change
• Leadership and change management skills and competence

 Leadership of key change events or processes in schools

• New, merged or reorganised school
• Reform of teaching, learning and curriculum
• Technology-related change or innovation
• Challenge to change arising from systemic failure or external inspection
• Step change in whole school culture or priorities arising from local community
• Change to accommodate expansion, contraction, or austerity measures

The sharing and critical examination of personal experience by participants in the programme will help to secure a strong practice focus for the module and this element will help to align the module with the rest of the programme.   

The module aims to:

1.    Analyse the nature and significance of leadership and change in educational settings;

2.    Analyse, evaluate and apply theories of leadership and change;

3.    Evaluate difficulties inherent in leading change in schools and develop coherent leadership responses to current challenges to change.

Developing personal understanding of, and improving practice in, educational leadership by:

1. Examining what school governance involves for lead governors, school staff with leadership responsibilities and other leaders in educational settings
2. Analysing research and literature associated with governance, especially in relation to schools
3. Investigating leadership approaches to improve the quality and effectiveness of school governance
4. Critically applying leadership approaches to personal practice.

This module is designed to provide learning opportunities for leaders in schools, whether directly involved as governors or professional staff or indirectly as part of the support system for school governance. These opportunities will include: developing a deeper understanding of governance in its wider social, historical and organisational contexts; an overview of emerging regulatory challenges and accountabilities in governance in England;  identifying and applying key aspects of effective governance practice for leaders in educational settings. This module has been developed primarily as part of the MA in Educational Leadership but there is wider potential application.  Given the interest that the module has generated already, it is expected that it could also be offered as a stand-alone programme for school governors with leadership responsibilities or staff and consultants providing School Governor Support Services. The module content has been developed following a pilot programme undertaken with the Cheshire West and Chester Association of Governing Bodies and further subsequent consultation with the Board of the Governor Network North West (GNNW).  GNNW brings together local authorities, teaching schools, school federations and Higher Education and is a NW licensee for the Chairs of Governors’ Leadership Development programme offered through the National College for Teaching and Leadership (previously NCSL). The module content recognises that governance in schools has not been given high priority in the past but is now the subject of close attention by the Government as it seeks to strengthen accountabilities in its diversified school system and school reform programmes. The module provides students with an opportunity to share experience and to explore and critically apply ideas and practice from literature and research associated with:1.    Governance as a concept, its values base and practice in private, voluntary and public sector settings.2.    Evaluating the concept of leadership as it applies to school governance, including changing national policy towards schools, expectations on governing bodies and the diversity of schools.3.    Building and sustaining appropriate and productive human relationships in school governing bodies – especially on the governing body and between leading governors and the executive leadership team – in particular the chair of governors and the headteacher or principal. 4.    Identifying and reflecting on key leadership skills and processes required for progressive improvement in the quality of governance - such as leading through influence, trust building, influencing and managing meetings.5.    Roles, expectations and competences for leading governance – judging how far existing models are fit for purpose and sustainable.6.    Leadership dimensions of the review, audit and inspection of school governing bodies, incorporating Ofsted arrangements. 7.    Leading governance beyond the school – system leadership and support and the governance of collaborative and networked arrangements.8.    Models and methods for developing personal and collective leadership capacity in school governance.The sharing and critical examination of personal experience by participants in the programme will help to secure a strong practice focus for the module and this element will help to align the module with the rest of the programme.   

The module aims to:

1. Develop personal understanding of, and improving practice in, educational leadership;
2. Examine what it means to be a leader in the context of school governance
3. Analyse research and literature associated with effective leadership in relation to school governance
4. Investigate leadership approaches and practice for school governance
5. Critically apply leadership approaches/frameworks to personal practice in school governance.

This module focuses on the relationship between globalisation and education. It begins by exploring key theories of globalisation and how globalisation influences national education policy making. After exploring key globalisation theories the module focuses on the economic, political and culture dimensions of globalisation and enquires into students’ personal and professional experiences of globalisation in different contexts. 

The module aims to:

1. Define globalisation in relation to key theories.
2. Explore way that globalisation influences educational policymaking.
3. Develop a clear, coherent understanding of how globalisation impact on leadership.
4. Provide opportunities for widening critical understanding of globalisation with particular to educational leadership.

The module is concerned with the ways in which leaders of faith schools can make a difference – the relationship between the concepts of innovation and change in faith settings, how change works and what drives and constrains change but also the knowledge, skills, faith and understanding that faith leaders in schools use to bring about change.The module covers three broad areas: Leading Structural and Organisational Change

• Change theory, values, purpose and perspectives – planned and emergent
• Theories and approaches to change leadership and management in faith settings
• Leadership of change in complex and ambiguous settings
• Leadership dilemmas: ethics, power, influence and trust 

Leading people in change 

• Personal response to change - locus of control and transition curve
• Leadership and Followership
• Leading teams at times of change
• Sense making and sense giving
• Resistance to change
• Embedding change
• Leadership and change management skills and competence

 Leadership of key change events or processes in faith schools

• New, merged or reorganised faith school
• Reform of teaching, learning and curriculum
• Technology-related change or innovation
• Challenge to change arising from systemic failure or external inspection
• Step change in whole school culture or priorities arising from local community
• Change to accommodate expansion, contraction, or austerity measures

The sharing and critical examination of personal experience by participants in the programme will help to secure a strong practice focus for the module and this element will help to align the module with the rest of the programme. 

The module aims to:

1.    Analyse the nature and significance of leadership and change in faith schools;

2.    Analyse, evaluate and apply theories of leadership and change;

3.    Evaluate difficulties inherent in leading change in faith schools and develop coherent leadership responses to current challenges to change.

1. Investigating the role of the mentor/coach;
2. Analysing the difference between coaching and mentoring within the workplace to facilitate appropriate interventions;
3. Effectively utilising coaching and mentoring practice to benefit the performance of individuals and organisations;
4. Reflecting upon the personal and professional impact of coaching and mentoring.

Note: If participants are already providing coaching and mentoring they can use this as the basis of points 3 and 4 above, subject to agreement from the individual being coached/mentored. If individuals do not currently engage in coaching or mentoring, then they should identify an individual to coach/mentor in order to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours.  

 Module aims

1. Critically appraise the role of coaching and mentoring within the educational leadership context;
2. Equip individuals with the critical skills to be able to coach or mentor individuals in order to seek improvements in performance which benefits individuals and organisations;
3. Review research relevant to mentors/coaches working with other professionals to benefit individuals and educational settings;
4. Enable individuals to develop an understanding of models of coaching and mentoring in order to enhance their own practice.
5. Develop an awareness of diverse problems and issues in education in relation to teacher support and development across career phases and in different policy contexts

Module content will be negotiated with the module tutor.

This module provides a valuable opportunity for participants, either individually or as a group, to reflect critically on an area of personal or professional relevance by engaging with appropriate literature and research in the negotiated field.

Module content will be negotiated with the module tutor.

This module provides a valuable opportunity for participants, either individually or as a group, to reflect critically on an area of personal or professional relevance by engaging with appropriate literature and research in the negotiated field.

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.

This module aims to:  

1. introduce students to a range of research strategies and methods; 
2. encourage critical reflection on methodological issues;
3. develop an understanding of ethical issues in research and the responsibilities of a researcher;
4. equip students to conduct a small-scale research project;
5. enable students to write a research proposal that will serve as a basis for their work on the MA dissertation.