The fast-moving policy changes and reforms in 21st century education create a high demand for professionals with advanced leadership and management skills. 

Whether you’re a leader-educator, you aspire to a leadership role, or you’re a graduate interested in UK and global education policy, our MSc course is designed to enhance your professional development and career prospects across both the public and private sectors. 

Our programme is informed by a range of academic disciplines relating to education leadership, management and administration, public policy analysis and complexity thinking. 

Through it, you'll develop qualities, competencies and skills essential for success as a leader or manager in education, such as advanced people skills and critical insight, as well as cutting-edge knowledge of educational research. You will also learn practical strategies and techniques for solving complex organisational and educational problems. 

ABOUT

Our interdisciplinary MSc course has been designed to enable you to embrace the problematic aspects of leadership and management with confidence, understanding and insight. What’s more, our high-quality curriculum will support you in developing an expansive view of leadership and management in the context of national and international political and economic structures. 

You'll examine international developments in education policy, and link these to your experience of leadership or your experience of working under the leadership of others. You'll also explore groundbreaking insights into education reform developed through the cutting-edge approach of complexity thinking. 

Whether you're interested in advancing your professional development, large-scale reform in the international education policy space, or improving education in your local community, you'll be able to tailor your studies through our range of modules. Our course will foster your capacity for innovation in solving complex problems arising in everyday practice. It will also hone your independent learning, critical thinking and advanced communication, all of which are vital to becoming an effective educational leader or manager. 

Our expert teaching team includes experienced academics who are internationally renowned for their research in 21st century education and who have rich first-hand experience of leadership and management in a variety of educational contexts. 

Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to demonstrate the advanced skills essential for strategy and policy development and implementation.

Depending on your previous professional experience and career aspirations, you will also gain knowledge, understanding and advanced problem-solving skills to succeed in a range of education-related roles. Our course is designed to open career paths in schools, the post-compulsory sector and not-for-profit organisations, as well as leadership and management research and consultancy.

The high-quality, interdisciplinary curriculum will also offer you a solid foundation for progressing to doctoral research.

CAREER DESTINATIONS

• Compulsory and post-compulsory public education sectors and local government

• Middle leadership and senior management roles in schools and colleges

• NGOs, not-for-profit and private educational development organisations

• Education policymaking in the public and private sectors, think tanks, research organisations and charities