Professional Enquiry: School Leadership and Management – MSc/Postgraduate Diploma/Postgraduate Certificate

www.ioe.stir.ac.uk

The Postgraduate Diploma, leading to the Scottish Qualification of Headship (SQH), lies at the heart of this Master’s programme. The SQH programme is accredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and delivered in partnership with the Western Consortium. The Consortium is committed to providing a sound partnership on which to continuously develop the Scottish Qualification for Headship programme, incorporating the new framework for Continuing Professional Development for Educational Leaders (SEED, 2003).

Programme Objectives

The programme supports the professional growth of practitioners and enables them to contribute effectively to the improvement of practice in their own professional setting and the wider professional community.

Specifically, the programme will enable participants to develop the means of using critical reflection to enhance their practice, develop the leadership and management competencies specified by the Standard for Headship in Scotland (SEED 2005) and to gain a sound understanding of school leadership and management practice and theory as it applies in school settings.

Entrance Requirements

Registered or eligible to register with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and have a minimum of five years’ teaching experience. You must be nominated by your employer and have access to a school in order to undertake work-based learning.

English Language Requirements

If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your proficiency such as a minimum IELTS score of 6.5 (minimum 6 in each skill) or TOEFL 577/233/90 (Paper/Computer/Internet).

Funding

The PG Diploma with SQH programme is funded by the Scottish Government via the employing local authority of the candidate. Please refer to the Postgraduate Certificate Professional Enquiry: Leadership and Professional Enquiry: Supporting Professional Growth for funding arrangements for these parts of the Master’s.

Modes of Study

Part-time only: 5 years

For students who exit without completing the project or dissertation, the following maximum periods of study apply: Diploma: 5 semesters; Certificate: 2 semesters.

Programme Start Date

September (for PG Diploma with SQH).

See Postgraduate Certificate Professional Enquiry: Leadership and Professional Enquiry: Supporting Professional Growth for alternative start dates.

Programme Director

Alison Fox

The Stirling Institute of Education

Structure and Content

For the award of the MSc you must complete the four School Leadership and Management (Scottish Qualification for Headship, SQH) modules and either:

• Professionalism and Reflective Practice: Leadership and Constructing Professional Knowledge: Developing Teamwork (see Professional Enquiry: Leadership) or
  
• Supporting Professional Growth, and Developing Processes to Support Professional Growth (see Professional Enquiry: Supporting Professional Growth). These modules can be undertaken before or after completion of the four School Leadership and Management modules (SQH).

The Postgraduate Diploma Professional Enquiry: School Leadership and Management (with SQH) curriculum is structured to help you develop your practice through leading and managing a whole school improvement project in your school. You will reflect upon, analyse and evaluate your experience and your own leadership practice and will apply what you have learned. You will also be expected to draw on the ideas and experience of others through dialogue with your peers, mentors and tutors, and access other sources of information. By using a variety of sources you will begin to formulate principles of leadership and management in relation to specific professional actions which you are required to undertake, and subject these to further evaluation.

The Postgraduate Diploma is made up of the four SQH modules:

• Educational Leadership: Establishes key principles underpinning professional practice: self-evaluation and reflection and the development of evidence-informed practice, both on an individual and institutional basis, to promote the effective management and enhancement of learning. Headship is established within a wider context of debates and policy decisions about the nature and purpose of education and the role of teachers and school leaders. A central theme is your self-evaluation and your planning of personal professional development within the context of your school.
  
• Developing Capability for Improvement: Leaders and managers are faced with multiple changes occurring concurrently in a school which is striving to improve year on year. Therefore the ability to lead and manage change that improves this environment is essential. This module incorporates national perspectives provided in the first module with the particular needs and priorities of your own school. This will lead to an analysis of your school’s capability and capacity for change. Finally, on the basis of your analysis and a literature search, you will plan a strategic, work-based project which you will lead in your school over the next 15 months.
  
• Leading and Managing to Improve Learning Part I: This module provides experience in initiating a whole school intervention focused on improving learning and teaching. The bulk of the work will consist of carrying out the agreed project and individual study targeted at the development of your capacity to reflect critically on your own practice. The module will allow you to practise the key professional actions defined by the Standard for Headship and receive detailed feedback so that you can develop a robust command of these actions by the end of the final module.
• 
  Leading and Managing to Improve Learning Part II: This module continues the improvement intervention introduced during the previous module. The purpose is to enable you to practise and demonstrate competence in both the professional actions of the headteacher and other essential elements as outlined in the Standard for Headship. Emphasis is placed on evaluating the extent to which strategic intervention has enhanced the school’s improvement capability.

Candidates for the Postgraduate Certificate Professional Enquiry: School Leadership & Management will complete the first two of the SQH modules.

Timetable

Contact the Institute for information on your timetable and reading lists.

Career Opportunities

The Postgraduate Diploma in School Leadership and Management (SQH) is a nationally approved programme for demonstrating the Standard for Headship.

Research Opportunities

PhdD/MPhil by Research
The programme will develop specific and generic skills to allow you to develop a career in a broad range of public sector, private and voluntary organisations, including Higher Education.
Doctor of Education (EdD)
The EdD is aimed at professionals working in educational training and public sector settings who wish to pursue high-level research in some aspect of their professional practice.

The EdD has a more professional and vocational orientation than the PhD and is designed for staff in education and health authorities, schools, colleges, universities and related areas, who wish to develop their understanding of what research can offer practitioners and policy-makers in their decision making, the policy implications of research, and how to conduct research in their own professional domain.

Research is organised into three clusters, led by professors, and draws together staff from across the Institute.

The three clusters are:

• Contexts of Learning (Professor Biesta)
• Inclusion and Social Capital (Professors Allan and Field)
• Communication, Learning and Interaction (Professors Plowman and Edwards)

For information on our current research projects and activity, visit: www.ioe.stir.ac.uk/research

Research Proposal

Research proposals should be around 2,000 words and include the following: executive summary, importance of the proposed research, prior relevant research and literature review, research questions and methodology, any limitations or particular requirements for the research.

• PhD/MPhil by Research: Guidelines fFor guidelines on writing a proposal, visit: www.ioe.stir.ac.uk/research/students.php
• EdD: A 2,000-word statement is required, indicating previous professional experience and general focus of the research.

RAE Rating

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