Teaching and Learning

The MA Teaching and Learning offers the opportunity for teachers and other educational professionals to enhance and develop their professional knowledge and understanding.

Course overview

The course will support the development of your understanding of learners, equipping you to best support their learning. You will explore the relationship between educational policy, theory and personal practice, which will enhance and strengthen your understanding of professional practice in teaching and learning.

The course enables you to reflect on your own practice and to develop your expertise based on your own interests and professional context. In the final stages of the course you will develop research skills and be supported to engage in a piece of professional research.

Why study this course with us?

The degree has been developed drawing on the latest policy, research and practice in education, to offer a course that will equip students with skills in critical evaluation and practitioner research to be effective teachers and to make informed contributions to development in policy and practice in schools and educational settings.

The course draws professionals teaching from all phases of education, which brings a richness to seminars with participants drawing on their experiences in different contexts. This also offers students the opportunity to gain insight into other age phases, which informs their own professional understanding.

Assignments in the course are designed to enable students to explore the learning in the module in the context of their own age phase, subject or area of interest, providing the opportunity to develop an individualised and bespoke learning experience.

At the dissertation stage, drawing on the extensive expertise of the faculty staff, students will be matched with tutors who have expertise in their area of research and will develop an in-depth study of a particular aspect of professional practice.

Teaching methods

The course will be taught at the University of Chester, Wheeler Building. Students will have access to classrooms, IT suites and education library resources. Some sessions will be accessible online through a highflex approach. x

Teaching approaches are designed to engage you as a self-directed learner, and include: lectures, group work, discussion, independent research, personal contextualised reflection, tutorials, and use of the University's Moodle virtual learning environment.

Each module is taught in two ‘weekend schools’ per academic term, with sessions on Friday evening from 5pm to 7pm and Saturday from 9am to 4pm. There will be opportunities for tutorials with module tutors outside of these times and an expectation that you will engage in independent study.

Assessment

You will be assessed through a broad range of different assessments including presentations, projects, portfolios and essays. The final phase of study provides the opportunity for you to engage in your own research in an area of interest which is presented in the form of a dissertation.

Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, 2:2 or higher and be engaged in teaching and learning in a school or other learning setting/context. Applicants with other degree classes and significant experience may be considered through interview and if they can demonstrate, on application, their ability to work at Level 7