MA Learning in Communities
Entry requirements
A level: ABB (required: no specific A level subjects required) IB: 34 points with 655 at HL
About this course
MA (Hons) in Learning in Communities, an education degree focused on community learning and development, youth work, and community capacity building. Core topics include Research Methods, Critical & Analytical Thinking, and Ethics & Professional Practice. Students complete supervised professional practice placements and conclude their studies with a dissertation. The first year covers policy contexts and teaching strategies alongside a first supervised professional practice placement. The second year explores community-based agencies and includes a second professional practice placement and optional courses from the wider university. The third year involves designing programmes of education, completing a professional portfolio of evidence, and presenting a professional viva. The fourth year focuses on independent study, research workshops, a fully developed research proposal, a systematic literature review, a written submission in the form of an academic journal article, and a dissertation.
Modules
- learn about frameworks for locating practice in the wider policy context, and start to consider some of the implications
- prepare for the task of developing disciplined and systematic approaches to practice
- discover a range of teaching and learning strategies in CLD settings
- complete your first supervised professional practice placement
- study the principles and practice of working with people and groups
- explore the historical development of, and debates relating to, the distinct areas of practice
- research the structure, culture, operation and resourcing of community-based agencies
- have the opportunity to study option courses from subjects in the wider University
- complete a second professional practice placement
- learn to draw on a range of theoretical sources to make competent, confident and defensible judgements in practice
- deepen your understanding of the domains of practice through critical analysis of contemporary issues
- apply your knowledge, skills and understanding of practice through routine methods of enquiry and research
- learn how to design, plan and implement programmes of education and action in communities
- complete your professional portfolio of evidence
- present a professional viva (oral exam) as evidence of your overall learning.
- a dissertation
- a fully developed research proposal
- a written submission in the form of an academic journal article
- a systematic literature review
- study more independently and develop your research project
- share your research, and related research, with the student group
- benefit from research workshops where you can share and discuss practical approaches and draw on academic knowledge and advice
- community
- equality
- social justice
- citizenship
- democracy