Course summary

This course focuses on supporting educators to further develop and enhance their skills, as educators, and more specifically as current or potential future leaders or administrators of educational settings. This course focuses on providing advanced professional development for educators, in line with the view that teaching should now be considered a Masters’ level qualification globally. Educators from international contexts will be supported to continue to develop and enhance their skills, in the context of a lifelong learning approach to the continuous professional development needs of educators. Students will be exposed to global trends and thinking in relation to issues that are faced by school leaders and administrators. They will engage with theorists from a variety of disciplines, and explore how they influence the policy and practice of schools. They will also be supported to develop the skills to become a reflective practitioner, considering their strengths, and how they can continue to develop their skills. Reflection will be underpinned by a range of opportunities to observe practice in UK settings. A range of visits will be organised for students to begin to explore how schools in the UK are run. A substantial observational placement will also be organised within one of the units, giving students an opportunity to explore in greater depth the processes that inform the decisions made about how schools in the UK are run. The placement will be initially organised by university staff. There will be an opportunity to explore the range of policies that impact school leaders, and what freedoms they have in influencing school culture and practice. This will be scaffolded by detailed discussion of the expectations for staff working in educational settings. Students should expect to get DBS clearance before their placement commences. Students will be supported to:- develop an understanding of how education policy develops, the extent to which it is theoretically informed, and how it is practiced in settings- develop their own personal portfolio of skills and knowledge as an educator, reflecting on their own skills, and on the practice they observe in UK settings, based on reflective practice principals- develop research skills to conduct significant independent research in an internationally relevant area of educational research.