SED7133 - Contemporary Perspectives on Education

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Critically discuss contemporary perspectives on, and issues in, education, to inform practice;
Synthesise knowledge and critical understandings of 2 contemporary perspectives on education, in order to compose two reflective accounts;
Appraise the findings and conclusions of relevant research and scholarship in order to provide a rationale for constructing an action plan to develop professional practice;
Critically evaluate the impact of their learning on practice by formulating a professional action plan for improving personal and/or institutional practice in education.

Content:

The module will engage students with a broad range of new and emerging issues across different sectors in education.The content will allow students to explore a range of philosophical, theoretical and practical issues facing those working in comtemporary educational contexts, and will allow students to contextualise their learning on new perspectives/initiatives appropriately. Students will develop knowledge, critical understanding and skills through an engagement with the new perspectives from areas such as:
- Psychology and neuroscience;
- Gender studies;
- Achievement and disadvantage;
- Leadership, management and accountability;
- Pedagogy;
- New technologies.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Students will learn through a mix of approaches. These include lead lectures from experts in the field; some guest speakers may be used to deliver lead lectures in specific areas. These lectures will then be linked with seminars / workshops to facilitate discussion and activities to share ideas, engage in activities and thereby promote learning. A dialogic approach in the seminars will allow for significant group discussion and feedback sessions. This will enable students to share ideas with colleagues from other sectors/backgrounds or specialisms. The module will make use of Moodle for fostering peer learning.
At the end of this module which marks the end of phase 1, students undertake a formal reflective review with their Progress Tutor and peers before progressing to phase 2. This facilitates progression and allows any academic issues to be addressed before progression.

Scheduled teaching and learning: seminars, workshops and tutorials
Hours: 64
Intended group size: 20

Guided independent study
Hours: 236

Other relevant matters

Assessment is through a reflective practice assignment. It will address the module and programme learning outcomes, and is directly related to professional practice. As such, students evaluate and reflect upon the new perspectives introduced in the module and critique them within the assignment. The action plan provides opportunities for participants consider their responses to the perspectives and the impact on their own professional context.

Assessment:

001 Portfolio; 6,000 words; end of semester 2 100%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Charlotte Wright
Level - 7
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 7PGS2

Click here to go back to previous page