Postgraduate Module Descriptor

EDUM036: Secondary Education and Professional Studies

This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.

Module Aims

The principle aims of the module are to:

enable you to gain an understanding of a range of contemporary education policies and issues, theory and practice;
support you in reflecting critically on children’s learning and development, pedagogy and teachers’ roles and responsibilities; and
support you to meet the Standards for Qualified Teacher Status.

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 Skills	1. identify and evaluate educational theories and policies and to engage in critical debate about current 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 knowledge to teach at Secondary level; 4. demonstrate secure understanding of the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and other policies relevant to teaching in Secondary schools.
Discipline-Specific Skills	5. critically evaluate the relevance of educational theories to practice; 6. synthesise relevant educational literature in support of an argument; 7. use appropriate technologies for data handling and writing in education; 8. present data and findings in a form appropriate for educational contexts; 9. use research data in support of an argument in education (including government reports).
Personal and Key Skills	10. manage your own learning development and evaluation of your learning; 11. learn effectively both independently and co-operatively, and be aware of your own learning strategies; 12. express ideas and opinions, with confidence and clarity, to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes with rational argument based on relevant and reliable ; 13. work productively in different kinds of teams (formal, informal, project based, etc); and 14. think creatively about the main features of a given problem and develop strategies for its resolution.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

The module introduces students to current thinking in Education and Professional Studies and develops students’ curricular, pedagogic and academic subject knowledge in the field of Secondary education. Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Theories of learning and motivation;
Psychology of teaching and learning;
The curriculum;
Educational ideology: What is education for?
Talk about it: The role of talk in learning;
Child and adolescent mental health;
Cognitive neuroscience and learning: Addressing ‘neuromyths’;
The impact of technology on learning;
Challenging notions of ability, intelligence and potential;
English as an Additional Language (EAL) 1: Understanding theories of additional language acquisition;
EAL 2: Connecting theory and practice;
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) 1: Organisation and policy;
SEND 2: Teaching and learning;
Classroom and behaviour management;
Do you know what they know? Assessment for learning and the use of data;
Safeguarding and child protection;
Addressing (in) equalities and overcoming potential barriers: Taking ethnicity and sexual orientation as examples;
British values and the PREVENT strategy;
Writing a literature review;
Critically engaging with literature: Topical research;
Evidence in education: What can RCTs tell you – and what they can’t;
Ethics
Research methods design for teacher research: Action research;
Research methods design for teacher research: Case study;
Professional practice: Widening participation, Challenging the gap, Unseen children, Pupils from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, Pupil safeguarding, SEND code of practice, Pupil premium.

The above topics will be addressed in a variety of ways:

Education and Professional Studies led input: a suite of online study materials which covers a range of topics relevant to your professional development as a Secondary teacher;
Introduction to Research: a series of online study materials that will introduce you to the expectations of working at Masters level and of carrying out a small-scale, classroom-based research study;
Subject Seminars: will follow up and expand some of the Education and Professional Studies topics introduced in the Autumn term programme, in a subject-specific context;
Professional Studies seminars: will follow up Education and Professional Studies topics covered in the Autumn term programme, in a specific school context;
Seminar Days: Five days when you will return to the university to share school-based work experiences and further develop the links between the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching.

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
105	195	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	20	Education and Professional Studies lead input: self-study video and audio recordings with associated tasks to be completed weekly in the Autumn term
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	4	Introduction to Research lead input: self-study video and audio recordings with associated tasks to be completed weekly in the Autumn term
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	8	Research in Education taught sessions on seminar days, in subjects
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	18	Subject Seminars in the Autumn term
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	20	Professional Studies seminars in Spring and Summer terms
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	25	Directed study tasks and framework tasks related to the Professional Studies seminars
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities	10	Seminar Days: follow up in a subject-specific context
Guided Independent Study	20	Completion of set readings from journals, textbooks and/or web-based resources
Guided Independent Study	20	Completion of set tasks
Guided Independent Study	20	Preparation for weekly debates and seminars
Guided Independent Study	20	Preparation for individual/small group presentations
Guided Independent Study	115	Preparation for and completion of formative and summative assessment (i.e. research plan/proposal, final report on research study)

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).