| Module |
Credits |
Compulsory/optional |
|
Exploring Approaches to Research
|
30 Credits |
Compulsory |
| In this module students will explore the development of research into educational practice, and its influence on policy and developing practice in a range of contexts. They will critically examine examples of research approaches and their appropriateness for different purposes.
Students will critically review the different perspectives of quantitative and qualitative approaches to research. They will then explore a range of data collection methods such as questionnaires, interviews, observations and evaluate the strengths and limitations of each. Students will have an opportunity to trial a method to evaluate it in greater depth. |
|
Early Childhood Education Dissertation
|
60 Credits |
Compulsory |
| The purpose of this module is to undertake an enquiry which aims to impact on Early Childhood practice or enhance knowledge in a chosen field. The focus for the enquiry should be based upon a problem or issue arising from a professional context or a current issue in field of Early Childhood. In the design of the research students will examine the purposes and principles of research into practice and a range of both qualitative and quantitative research skills and strategies.
A key feature of the enquiry is the emphasis on the impact of the research findings on Early Childhood policy or practice. |
|
Developing Subject and Professional Knowledge
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| In this module students will identify an aspect of their field of interest or professional practice and consider the macro and micro issues and influences that impact upon it. These might relate to local and national policy, political and economic perspectives and global influences. Students will be asked to consider the reasons for selecting this particular aspect and critically reflect on their own positioning, values and identity. Students will benefit from making links between their own knowledge, experience and new ideas and debates in order to contextualise and make explicit their own understanding and development. Students will explore a range of sources and critically analyse and evaluate the relevance of these. They will be asked to consider the ways in which their enquiry has had an impact on themselves and others both now and in the future. |
|
Creativity: You and Your Practice
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| During this module, students will unlock and explore their own personal creativity, using this experience and growing self-knowledge to inform their practice. Students develop their awareness and understanding of their own creative identities, learning about the concepts and theories of creativity which help to challenge assumptions and inform personal values and beliefs. Students will also explore the central role of the teacher/facilitator in identifying, supporting and enhancing creativity in children, young people and adults. In addition, they will be guided to analyse their own role in promoting and supporting creativity in colleagues and others with whom they work. The module will offer an exciting opportunity to meet people from different contexts and discover different perspectives about creativity.
Students will carry out a small scale enquiry related to personal practice or experience, designed to develop an understanding of creativity in action. |
|
Early Childhood: Foundations for Life
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| This module will build on students’ knowledge and understanding of early childhood development, practice and theory to develop their scope to design curricula, enhance service provision and advise policy development. Students will deepen their theoretical knowledge of social, personal, emotional and cognitive child development concepts like inter-subjectivity, companionship and containment and consider their impact on middle and late childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In synthesising ideas and insights from their enhanced understanding of child development, students will analyse existing curricula and policy, and develop new approaches to local and national frameworks for young children’s care, learning and development. |
|
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| This module will cover issues of equality, inclusion and diversity. This will include history, legislation and different theoretical models as well as practical questions of how these issues arise, impact upon and may be tackled in areas of professional practice such as education in a variety of contexts in contemporary society. Participants will consider how different common conceptualisations of identity have profound implications for the extent to which equality can exist in areas of professional practice such as education. Participants will interrogate a range of literature, and media relating to popular culture in order to critically analyse questions of racism, sexism, attitudes to disability, homophobia and other concerns about equality in areas of professional practice such as education. |
|
Leadership and Management
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| In this module students will critically examine dimensions of leadership and management, with a focus on particular issues which are significant for them in their context. The module will encourage students to reflect on and critically evaluate their own leadership and management practice and to become aware of the impact of issues in the leadership of change on practice and the implications for professional development, for themselves and for colleagues.
This module will benefit students by enhancing their awareness of their own development needs, and by developing their skills and confidence to take on leadership roles in a range of contexts. |
|
Education, Social Justice and Social Change
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| This module is designed for all students who are interested in education, in its broadest sense, and the underlying ideas that help to make sense of educational change. In the module students will explore the purposes of education, the ways in which education can change societies and communities, and the way education is manipulated and changed by politicians. Students will explore key thinkers, develop their own original thinking, and build an understanding of education that can enable human beings to flourish and that can bring about radical change in society and beyond. |
|
Inclusive Perspectives on Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| This module will explore the causes and effects of SEND (for example Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD and Autism) from the perspective of multi-professional contexts, critically analysing the strategies and reasonable adjustments employed in a range of settings and environments including mainstream and special schools. Students will discuss issues around access, notions of ability and the negative effects of labelling. They will explore literature in the field in depth, examining a range of perspectives and the values, attitudes and beliefs that underpin practice in the UK and other countries. There will be opportunities to draw upon the experience of the student group throughout the module, particularly in discussions on the rights of those with SEND and medical versus social models of practice. |
