Education (Mentoring and Coaching)

Entry requirements

A good honours degree (2.2 or above) and a significant interest in education and/or equivalent professional qualifications, experience and evidence of continuing professional development.

Please see the University website for full details.

Months of entry

January

Course content

Coaching and mentoring are terms that are regularly used in education settings, yet there is often little discussion about what these important processes involve. There is also a lack of clarity about the skills required by coaches and mentors, with policy documents often choosing to focus upon process rather than what it takes to be an effective coach/ mentor.

Both of our MA Education coaching and mentoring modules provide greater clarity about what these terms involve, and how they can be delivered effectively within an education setting.

Key features

• Through our MA Education coaching and mentoring modules, you will have an opportunity to:
• Reflect on your own coaching and mentoring skills, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of provision within an education institutions
• Relate theory to practice, and consider how your own practice – and that of your institution – could be enhanced
• Learn in a variety of ways, including through reflective practice, paired exercises, coaching practice, group discussions, reading, and individual research
• Share your own experiences, and learn from other people’s some of whom will work in different sectors of education
• Develop valuable coaching and mentoring skills, which you can put into practice and highlight in future job applications and interviews
• Be taught by an experienced and highly qualified professional coach who, as well as working as a part-time lecturer, runs her own coaching company.
• Flexibility: The programme of study can be completed on a full-time or part-time basis. Modules are delivered at weekends, in the evenings and online to maximise accessibility and to allow students to retain their other professional and family commitments.
• International and full-time route: This route meets the needs of professionals wishing to study and familiarise themselves with the UK educational environment alongside their own contrasting experience. The programme consists of two taught modules in each of the first two terms and a Dissertation in the first half of the second year.

Where could it take you?

The course has a tradition of improving the career profiles of participants, as many case-studies of former students demonstrate. This award is intended to prepare students to deepen their engagement with issues in the educational workspace, fostering transformative personal and organisational learning for those involved. The programme additionally offers preparation to continue study for some participants wishing to go on the professional doctorate (EdD) award or to an MPhil/PhD.

The University maintains close links with education providers locally and regionally and meeting workforce need is the ethos of a number of modules and pathways in the MA Education. In addition, the course is also designed to enable those with an intention of working in an education context to deepen their understanding of education in a range of contexts and building the skills which will enhance their career opportunities. For example, the School of Education works with members of the Careers and Employability Service. Where appropriate, many modules have an applied focus intended to facilitate the development of learning, which will have direct impact on professional contexts from which participants are drawn.

The course team is comprised of academic staff with a breadth of backgrounds in education, research profiles in specialist areas and in most cases extensive experience of education in various contexts. Staff within the School, and the School itself, maintain strong relationships with schools, colleges and other education providers.