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Why study MA in Practitioner Research: Improving Professional
Practice?
- To keep up to date with current developments
- To meet, share ideas and learn together with other colleagues
from a range of settings
- To develop your research skills
- To improve your professional practice
- To gain accreditation at Masters Level
Is this programme for me?
The programme is for teachers in early years,
primary and secondary schools, lecturers in Further and Higher
Education, those in student support roles and educational
administrators, colleagues working in Children’s Centres, extended
schools, Sure Start, residential care settings, behaviour support,
health and social care, youth services, Local Authority advisers
and school improvement officers. In fact the programme is designed
to appeal to practitioners from a range of professional fields in
the wider children’s workforce, post-compulsory education and
training and support roles.
How is the programme structured and what will I study?
The programme is studied part-time and is
entirely modular. It includes core and option modules. A typical
study pattern might look like this:
Semester 1
You will study the core module Introduction to
Practitioner Research (30 credits). This is a compulsory module
because practitioner research is fundamental to the programme and
central to its assessment strategies. This module therefore helps
you to understand approaches in practitioner research and methods
of gathering and analysing data to give you the confidence,
knowledge and skills to plan and carry out your own small-scale
investigations.
Semester 2
You will choose one 30 credit module from the
choices offered. We don’t guarantee to offer all choices each
year. Availability is subject to demand.
Modules might include:
- Children and Youth Worlds
- Leadership and Management
- Learning and Teaching
- Early Years
- Education and Wellbeing in Residential Environments
Semester 3 and 4 (normally Year 2 of the programme)
You will choose two linked modules. Again,
availability is subject to demand. In the first of these linked
modules you will review a selection of the literature in the field
and write a research plan for your practitioner research project
which you will then carry out in the linked module which
follows.
Examples of Semester 3 and 4 pairings:
- Integrated Practice in Children’s Services paired with:
Researching Integrated Practice in Children’s Services
- Student Voice – Theory and Practice paired with Researching
Student Voice
- Managing Change paired with Researching the Management of
Change
- Quality Provision in the Early Years paired with Researching
Quality Provision in the Early Years
- The Social Pedagogue paired with
- Researching the Social Pedagogue
Semesters 5 and 6
The Practitioner Research Project/Dissertation is
normally the last module studied on the programme for the MA award.
It is a 60 credit module in which you engage in an extended
research study.
How can I study?
Modules are delivered on Saturdays at York St
John University. In 2012-13 the dates will be:
Semester 1
Saturday 22 September 2012 –
10.00am - 4.00pm
Saturday 20 October 2012 10.00am –
4.00pm
Saturday 10 November 2012 10.00am –
4.00pm
Semester 2
Saturday 02 February 2013 10.00am –
4.00pm
Saturday 16 March 2013 10.00am –
4.00pm
Saturday 27 April 2013 10.00am –
4.00pm
How will I be assessed?
The course is assessed by
coursework rather than examination. Assessment tasks include short
research-based tasks, an essay, literature reviews, writing project
proposals and plans for research projects, practitioner research
fieldwork reports and the extended dissertation study.
What kind of research will I carry out on this course?
You will plan and carry out
small-scale investigations into aspects of your professional
practice which you would like to study and understand better. The
studies undertaken are usually qualitative research studies rather
than quantitative because the nature of this research is that it
tends to be interpretative and concerned with words rather than
numbers and with exploring the different meanings people give to
aspects of social reality.
Degree programme information
Programme specifications
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