Our MA Educational Leadership masters is a flexible course for anyone interested in critically exploring educational leadership. We offer a full-time route and a part-time route so you can study at a pace that suits you.

Whether you are a current or aspiring leader in education or related field, our course appeals to a variety of backgrounds and professions. You’ll be joining a diverse and thriving community of postgraduate students from the UK and across the world.

Critically analyse the key approaches and debates in the field of educational leadership from UK and global perspectives and develop your understanding of different leadership models. 

You will evaluate and learn to think with a range of theoretical frameworks to deepen your critical analysis of leadership. You’ll also use theory to examine and challenge your own beliefs and assumptions. This enables you to reframe how educational leadership is practiced and contribute to new and innovative methods for the future. 

We aim to empower you to approach your own research with confidence. You’ll extend your understanding of research techniques to prepare you for completing your own dissertation. You’ll be supported by active researchers in our internationally renowned Educational and Social Research institute (ESRI). 

We’ve designed this postgraduate course to allow you to specialise and focus on areas of education that interest you. You can specialise by choosing an option unit based on work by world-class researchers in the Faculty of Education. Your option units may include topics such as literacy and language, educational philosophy, learning in informal settings, or international perspectives in education.

When you graduate, you’ll achieve a masters degree that highlights areas of your personal and professional interest.

Our broad and reflective course aims to progress your career in education and enhance your academic skills for further research ventures. 

By choosing your own topics and option units, you can focus on your areas of interest – your priorities, targets and aspirations. 

Our graduates have used our courses to help further careers, either in their current sector, or to make an informed move into a different role or field of education. If you’re considering pursuing a research degree in education, this masters course is a good foundation towards that ambition.