PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION
Programme title: MA Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
Awarding body: University College London
Teaching institution: University College London Institute of Education
Name of the final award (and other exit awards): Master of Arts (MA) Curriculum,
Pedagogy and Assessment
Programme title: MA Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
Postgraduate diploma, Certificate.
UCAS/application code: POO5932
Criteria for admission to the programme
Participants should hold a good first degree in a relevant area and, normally, have
an approved teaching qualification and two years’ teaching experience. They should
show a commitment to and genuine interest in curriculum, pedagogy and
assessment. Some applicants are asked to write a qualifying essay. All applicants
are considered on an individual basis. An interview is not normally undertaken but
applicants are encouraged to make informal contact with the programme leader to
discuss expectations and other matters of detail.
Applicants whose first language is a language other than English may be required
to provide evidence of their English language proficiency.
Aims of the programme
This programme will enable participants to:
And it will support the aspirations of participants to
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assessment, and
Relevant benchmark statements and other external and internal reference
points used to inform programme outcomes
The programme is regularly updated in line with national and international policy and
research in the substantive areas of study.
Programme outcomes: knowledge and understanding; skills and other attributes
The programme encourages a critical understanding of concepts and theories in
CPA. It contributes to the development of reflective and independent-minded
professionals, capable of taking a leading role in these fields. More specifically, the
programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate
achievements in the following areas:
Knowledge and understanding
strategic and theoretical options, in CPA assessment, evaluation and learning cational and social
change in the UK and other countries CPA – nationally and internationally lised as well as
decentralised decision-making. Skills and other capacities A. INTELLECTUAL SKILLS
discernment, argument, synthesis and the evaluation of viewpoints mic study and enquiry skills – both
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Better use of oral and written forms of communication boundaries B. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
In addition to the above:
practice in the light of the theoretical principles and ideological perspectives that
inform them practices in participants’ own professional arenas king informed and critical judgments regarding the national and
other policy contexts in which one works teacher as researcher’ C. VALUES values and attitudes in relation to the CPA fields academic frame of mind -professional, intercultural and international
exchanges in education. D. TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
The above skills are transferable to educational contexts beyond the participant’s
present school, classroom or other immediate professional context. In addition:
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y and the considered use of evidence Participants are
encouraged to demonstrate excellence in the way their work is presented –
also to use information and communication technologies appropriately
Teaching, learning and assessment strategies to enable outcomes to be
achieved and demonstrated
A wide variety of teaching and learning strategies are used across the programme.
These have been selected by the teaching team to motivate the learners, to
maximise opportunities for learning and to provide exemplars of good practice in
teaching and learning. These include: discussion and activities in pairs, small groups
and within the whole group, individual and group research and presentations, case
studies and action research undertaken in the learners’ own institutions, focused
tutorials for the dissertation including feedback and target-setting, and teacher led
exposition.
Formative and summative assessment takes place during each of the modules and
is organised around a variety of assessment instruments: written assignments such
as essays, reports and case studies; small action research projects undertaken in
the learners’ own workplaces; research assignments and presentations. Students
are invited to submit up to 1,000 words of each essay at draft stage and receive
written formative feedback.
Programme structures and requirements, levels, modules, credits and awards
The masters award is based on a 180 credit modular system. The Institute of
Education uses the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), as
a guide to support periods of study undertaken abroad and to assist student
mobility.
Currently it is assumed that two UK credits equate to one ECTS. Therefore a module
of 30 credits would typically equate to 15 ECTS credits.
Students gain credits as follows: 1 core (required) module (1 x 30 credits), 1
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recommended modules (1 x 30 credits), 2 elective modules chosen from modules
within or outside the cluster (2 x 30 credits), and 1 dissertation of 20 000 words (1 x
60 credits) which is researched based. Students may choose to follow an additional
designated module (30 credits) and submit a report of 10 000 words (30 credits) in
place of the dissertation.
For their core (required) modules, participants take the modules Curriculum
Development: Issues and Principles. The recommended module is Investigating
Research. Elective modules are selected from the following OR from other modules
outside the cluster:
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Assessment for Learning and Teaching
Assessment: Issues and Practice
Guiding Effective Learning
Educational Testing
Critical Reflection on Teaching and Learning in Classrooms.
All modules are supported by a collection of key readings which help participants focus
on session contents in the context of their professional experiences.
Part time students beginning in the Autumn will take the core module Curriculum
Development : Issues and Principles in that first term. Full time students will take
Curriculum Development: Issues and Principles and Investigating Research.
Investigating Research is currently taught in one week as an intensive course in the
Autumn term, as well as over ten sessions in the Spring term.
Students who for academic or personal reasons are unable to successfully complete
the 180 credits required for the masters award may exit with the completion of 60 or
120 credits respectively and be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate
Diploma in the subject area.
Participants can, for good and unavoidable reasons, apply for deferral of coursework
elements, but must complete within the space of four years (excluding interruptions in
study) from their start date.
Information about assessment regulations
Participants must successfully complete all elements of the programme, to achieve
the minimum credits required for the award. All coursework, is assessed according to
the grade-related criteria for the programme level, found in the programme
handbook.
All assignments are independently marked by two staff members, who meet to
discuss and reconcile the marks and comments for each individual. Assignments are
graded from A to D, with D being a ‘fail’ grade. Participants are permitted to
represent a failed assignment on one further occasion, within 12 months of the
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original submission.
An external examiner is appointed and plays an important role in monitoring the
quality of the programme and evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching and
support provided for the programme participants and the reliability of the judgments
made in assessing them.
Further details about assessment regulations can be found on the UCL website.
Support for learning
The programme team is conscious of the characteristics of the student body, which
includes full-time international and home practitioners and part-time home
practitioners, many of whom have been away from formal educational experiences
for an extended period. Support for participants takes into account that participants
are also autonomous and responsible professionals, sometimes in senior positions.
Support strategies for Masters students:
- A programme handbook that gives detailed information about the programme and
advice on study skills and individual module packs with detailed advice on
assessment.
- An induction programme including introduction to the Institute library, Moodle, IT
and other facilities provided by the Institute.
- A personal tutor, including face to face and email contact.
- Peer support and networking is facilitated in the group by the use of Moodle and
collaborative projects.
- Critical and supportive feedback on written work: attempts to be ‘diagnostic’ of
student need.
- Individual and group tutorials for research, including support from a tutor who has
specialist knowledge and experience of research. The tutor meets with the trainee in
five 1:1 tutorials and offers guidance and support in the writing of the dissertation.
- Extensive library and other learning resources and facilities, including access to
online journals.
- Access to the full range of welfare and union facilities afforded to all Institute
trainees, including the writing centre for support with academic writing.
The Institute of Education is committed to admitting and supporting participants with
disabilities and welcomes applications from them. Participants do not need to be
“registered disabled” to draw on these services, though in order to provide services
in the long-term we will need to ask for medical or other evidence, as appropriate.
Disabilities Support can also support people who have a temporary mobility /
dexterity impairment / other difficulty as a result of an accident, injury, illness or
surgery.
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We aim to treat every person as an individual, with needs which may differ from
those of other people with a superficially similar disability. We do not therefore have
standard procedures for participants with dyslexia, nor standard procedures for
visually impaired participants: each person's needs are considered individually.
Methods for evaluating and improving the programme
Methods for evaluating and improving the programme include:
- An end of term written evaluation of the programme completed by all students on
each module.
- Internal moderation of both written work and practical teaching on modules is
undertaken by programme tutors, including Awaydays on development issues.
- The external examiner has a quality assurance role; s/he looks at 10% of the
programme members’ written work, including all D grades and 10% of each other
grade.
- Five yearly external Period Programme Review and revalidation – the last one in
June 2015 highly commended the programme and teaching approach. A key
recommendation was that good practice on the programme should be shared with
other programme leaders in UCL and the IoE.
- Peer Enquiry into teaching
- Annual Programme Review prepared by programme team and considered by the
Faculty Learning, Teaching and Quality Professional Development Committee Indicators of quality and standards
In recent years we have seen all of the following:
- Progression of Masters students to the PhD or Ed D
- Promotion of some students to management roles in their schools
- Programme participants delivering teaching to other practitioners in their own
institutions or on a regional or national basis
- Publication of outstanding coursework in peer reviewed journals.
- Promotion of some students to curriculum or assessment leadership positions in
their Government education departments.
Mode of study
Face-to-face. Part time over a minimum of two years, and a maximum of four years.
Or full time over a minimum of one year. All students start in October when the core
module is taught. Most teaching takes place in the evenings between 5.30-8.00 to
allow part-time home students and full-time international students to study and learn
together and from one another. There is the occasional full-day Saturday session
and occasional group tutorials during the day for full-time students, or in the evening
for part-time students.
Language of study
English
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Date at which the programme specification was written or revised. Initials of
author.
SA February 2016
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