The National MA Education (Wales): Curriculum is a truly transformative and sector leading programme for educational professionals in Wales, from early career teachers to senior leaders with an interest in Curriculum.
The educational landscape in Wales is changing rapidly. Teaching not only requires the mastery of a complex set of skills to guide, motivate, and facilitate student learning, but also the ability to enquire into professional practice in order to improve it.
The National MA Education (Wales): Curriculum programme – which has been collaboratively developed by seven universities in Wales, through direct engagement with a variety of key stakeholders including Welsh Government – will ensure that all education professionals in Wales have the same high-quality opportunity to enhance their professional knowledge, engage with research, and to improve their professional practice in the area of Curriculum.
Students will choose two from three specialist Modules, and will also take modules in
- Advanced Research and Enquiry Skills
- Dissertation (Curriculum)
Specialist modules:
- Exploring Pedagogies
- Curriculum Design and Realisation
- Curriculum Leadership and Innovation
Assessments are all coursework assignments and will be submitted at the end of each module. Wherever possible, assignments have been designed to complement the working contexts and schedules of full-time teachers.
Exploring Pedagogy
This module explores multiple perspectives and international debates around the pedagogical principles which underpin effective learning and teaching within different education settings and contexts. Students will critically evaluate theories of learning and will examine the pedagogical approaches considered to be the most effective to achieve a broad range of learner outcomes. The module is designed to enable students to extend, deepen, evaluate and apply their knowledge of pedagogical theory and research to their own professional settings and contexts. The module will enable students to develop ethically informed approaches to pedagogical practice and it will support their enquiry into various forms of pedagogical practice.
Curriculum Design and Realisation
This module is designed to enable students to engage deeply with the concepts and the international research that have informed recent curriculum development in Wales. It will enable students to consider curriculum design and realisation in different contexts, including their own. The module will equip students to evaluate different curriculum design approaches and to critically appraise the various implementation processes that accompany curriculum change within education institutions and systems.
Curriculum Leadership and Innovation
This module explores theories of leadership and innovation with specific focus on the Curriculum for Wales. Students will critically evaluate different approaches to leadership and apply those theories to their own professional settings and contexts. Furthermore, the context of leadership within the Curriculum for Wales will be explored with emphasis on understanding dispersed leadership and management of Areas of Learning and Experience with reference to teacher agency and responsibility. The module will also draw upon key philosophical and theoretical debates regarding pedagogical theory and allow students to explore their application within their own educational settings and contexts. Additionally, the module will draw upon innovative strategies for curriculum, design, implementation and management and allow students to reflect on their application within heir own educational settings and contexts.