Postgraduate Module Descriptor

EPSM000: Educational and Professional Studies

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Module Aims

The principal aims of the module are to:

  • develop your knowledge of contemporary education policies and key pedagogical theories;
  • enable you to reflect critically on children’s learning and development, pedagogy and teachers’ roles and responsibilities in multi-professional  contexts; and
  • engage with relevant government reports, policies and academic research in order to develop critical appraisal of contemporary social trends and issues in theory and practice

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. identify and critically evaluate educational theories and issues, and engage in critical debate about current educational issues, drawing on evidence from theory, policy, research and practice;
2. understand theories of pedagogy, learning and development and consider how these can inform professional practice;
3. demonstrate confident academic and pedagogic subject knowledge to teach in the early childhood and primary phase of education;
4. demonstrate secure understanding of the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage, including assessment frameworks;
Discipline-Specific Skills5. critically evaluate the relationship between educational theories and practice;
6. produce a critical synthesis of relevant literature to develop an argument;
7. use appropriate technologies for data handling and writing;
8. use research findings and data in support of an argument (including government reports);
Personal and Key Skills9. demonstrate competence in self-management: the management of time, tasks and evaluation of your professional learning;
10. demonstrate competence in learning independently and cooperatively;
11. demonstrate competence in communication and presentation – including the capability to express ideas coherently in written tasks, participate in group tasks by expressing ideas and personal judgement, and argue rationally using relevant sources to substantiate opinions and arguments;
12. demonstrate competence in using IT - search electronic databases in the library, use ELE, email, word processing, use the internet for resources and information;
13. work productively in different kinds of teams (formal, informal, project based);
14. identify and reflect on the main features of practice-based problems and develop strategies for their resolution; and
15. interpret and use data effectively.