The MA Literacy and Education programme has two central aims: to broaden and deepen the subject knowledge of students in the key areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening; and to relate these to the current context of the classroom.

The programme investigates the theoretical background to how learners acquire skills in each of these key areas: these include the processes involved in the decoding and comprehension of text; the development of writing skills and genre theory; and oral language acquisition. It then relates these to the classroom context by considering practices that support the acquisition of these skills. These include the Reciprocal Teaching approach to the teaching of reading; writing strategies to support genre writing; and the concepts of dialogic teaching and exploratory talk.

Both of these theoretical and practical elements are explored with reference to recent and relevant research, and the needs of particular literacy learners are considered. These include those learning English as an Additional Language and those experiencing literacy difficulties learners.

The programme also acknowledges that learners experience a variety of literacies beyond the classroom and this provides the opportunity to investigate social and family literacies. There is also an opportunity to consider role of technology and the effects that this may have on changing current literacy practices. As such, this programme explores literacy in both its educational and wider sociocultural contexts.

This programme will equip practitioners with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to support the needs of literacy learners in a variety of contexts.

The programme is designed to be responsive to the specific cultural, historic and practical context of individual organisations, and of individual participants.

Entry requirements are flexible to allow for credit to be given to work based learning through AEL (Accreditation of Experiential Learning)

Applicants must: have an undergraduate honours degree (or equivalent: e.g. certificate of education; higher level professional training in education with demonstrable parity in experience), minimum 2:2 classification or equivalent.

In the case of applicants whose first language is not English, then IELTS 7 (or equivalent) is required. International qualifications will be checked for appropriate matriculation to UK Higher Education postgraduate programmes.

It is recommended that applicants are able to spend some time each week in an educational setting, on a paid or voluntary basis in order to gain maximum benefit from the practice based focus of the learning and assessment on this programme.

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in face to face seminars, workshops and lectures as well as collaborative activities and discussions in a virtual learning environment.

All M level modules are assessed by the submission of a single portfolio of 5,000 words or equivalent. The dissertation comprises a 1,000 word research proposal and a dissertation of 13,000 words

The programme supports development and demonstrates achievement in relation to subject leader, advanced skills teacher, and teacher professional standards, and performance indicators relating to career progression. The programme provides opportunities to specialise in specific areas of literacy and education

The dissertation provides an opportunity to undertake a research project relevant to educational development in the context of the participant’s role and/or practice.

The integration of theory and practice provides opportunities for participants to personalise their learning and address areas of interest and challenge in the context of their work. The pedagogy of the programme includes a focus upon collaborative learning which supports participants to address current issues and problems through the strength of collective knowledge, experience and expertise. Additional dissertation preparation sessions are provided to ensure a rigorous and informed choice of research approach that is relevant to your practice.

The programme will provide participants with the capacity to meet local and national targets for literacy and to meet specific and general needs of learners. The programme supports the development of the curriculum leader role and provides opportunities to specialise in literacy and the teaching of English.

Academic support is provided by module tutors whilst the participants are undertaking each module. The Programme Leader can also offer academic guidance about the programme and progression.