Summer 2026

This module has been designed to critically explore the global cultural, political, and economic influence of the Walt Disney Company in shaping the idea of childhood throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Bringing together perspectives from media, culture, and education, it examines how Disney’s films, theme parks, and branded products have defined what childhood looks and feels like, both locally and globally.

Founded in 1923, Disney has grown into one of the most powerful entertainment corporations in the world. Through its stories, images, and global marketing, Disney has influenced how gender, race, colonialism, and sexuality are represented in popular culture and how these representations impact children’s identities and worldviews.
The module takes a global approach, analysing Disney’s role in the commercialisation and Westernisation of childhood. Students will engage with film analysis, theoretical readings, and field experiences that encourage critical thinking about the links between childhood, media, and global capitalism.

London provides an ideal setting for this exploration, with visits to cultural and media institutions including the Young V&A (Museum of Childhood), the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, and the BFI Southbank, where students will experience how global childhoods are mediated and imagined through storytelling, play, and consumer culture.

London Sports Hub: Integrating Coaching, Science, Psychology and Management

What does it mean to lead? What does it mean to manage? What are the conundrums of leadership and management? What are the emerging issues in education, organisations and society that challenge leaders and managers today? How do I lead in times of change? How do I thrive as a leader? The sessions in the module are not designed to provide answers for there is no one answer to any of these questions. Instead, the sessions are designed around a topical area within education, education leadership or leadership broadly to promote discussion, debate, finding common ground from which to craft potential solutions and working together to suggest possible solutions. Using a problem-based learning approach to build community, collegiality, autonomy and efficacy, students will begin to view leadership and not as a solo endeavour but as a process where solutions can be constructed through dialogue and action. Students, therefore, should demonstrate that they can use a research informed approach to develop an understanding of complex issues that leaders face and have the skills in which to lead solutions. In recognising that this is an entry point for students on the course, the module will also focus on developing the discreet skills that students will need to be successful postgraduate students. Two sessions will delve into time management, literature searches, reading academic literature and building academic writing skills. These sessions will work alongside of the identified topics utilising literatures from journals, policy briefs and media to develop critical reading, analysis and writing skills.

The module explores the relationship between staff development, teams and team leadership in education and organisations and the current context of human resource management and workforce development. Global and local contexts and themes are considered. The emphasis throughout the module remains on the complexities of people as members of teams and wider groups such as the staff of an organization and professional groups and associations, and the consideration of values in relation to how people involved in education interact and collaborate through teamwork. Dominant existing theories and assumptions about 'oughts' and maintenance of hierarchies are critically examined with implications for social justice, well-being and human flourishing, including those which appear to offer liberation whilst reducing humans to resources and the social sphere to that of individual contracts. This module supports students who are involved in staff development and leading teams and/or seeking to develop their understanding of the topic for future research. The module develops their knowledge, understanding and skills of staff development, teams and leading teams within the context of the education workforce and employees in education contexts.

The social and emotional dimensions of education in practice and curriculum policy have become marginalized in recent decades within an increasingly performative education system. Public and institutional concern is growing about the wellbeing and mental health of children, young people and young adults in society. UK government research (NHS, 2017) has indicated a decline in the mental health of children, young people and young adults in the UK (5-19) from 1999 - 2017 suggesting that 'one in eight (12.8%) 5 to 19 year olds had at least one mental disorder when assessed in 2017'. A new policy framework and school strategies for mental health have been developed but are not yet widely understood in schools. This module aims to provide students with the opportunity to learn about key issues, perspectives and debates in theory, policy and practice, drawing on literature, their own experiences and other resources, to explore the social-emotional dimensions of both learners themselves and of the educational contexts within which they are learning, developing and participating (institutional and policy). Broad theoretical perspectives are introduced as a basis for understanding social-emotional dimensions of education and wellbeing, the difficulties encountered and experienced by some learners and the possible institutional responses. Students are introduced to different frameworks/perspectives through which social-emotional dimensions are problematized, e.g. the mental illness framework - diagnosis & treatment of disorders; the SEND framework - identification of SEMH difficulties, additional support needs and educational interventions; the development for all framework - enhancing social-emotional literacy learning and development through teaching, learning, curriculum and institutional change.

The module offers opportunities to consider how principles and practices of social justice might be enacted through the work of leaders in their local educational contexts. Students will develop an understanding of how tools and concepts from challenging thinkers such as Paolo Freire, bell hooks and Michel Foucault might support critical reflection on a range of educational contexts. We will consider the possibilities of change within the constraints and potentials of those contexts through an examination of organisation strategies for improvement. Students will focus on theories and models of learning and school improvement that have the potential to bring about positive change through working dialogically with the diversity of people in school communities. The module has a broad concern with language and literacy practices in educational settings and the role of such practices in building communities of learning in education contexts. Students will also explore tools and concepts drawn from theoretical and research literature that problematise schools and schooling in ways that support students in critically appraising the institutions in which they work. Fricker argues that there are gains in "concentrating on the normality of injustice" and goes on to argue that "…one of the gains [of recognising the normality of injustice]…might be that we achieve a better grasp of what is required in practice to operate in a way that works against it." (Fricker 2007: 7). As the module progresses students will consider the limitations and possibilities of the role of school leaders in creating positive environments for learning and teaching. Students will apply their developing knowledge to a critical appraisal of their local contexts and consider how they might plan to facilitate positive change. In the course of the module students will identify one area of change they would like to see in their current setting and consider how they might work towards that change within its constraints. Seminars will be as participatory as possible and will depend on students engaging in reflective reading beforehand.

This module is intended to provide a flexible opportunity for students in one of three circumstances: 1.to study, theoretically a specific area of interest within the field of the programme where no appropriate taught module is available (this may be called an 'alternative study'); or 2. to extend their study on a taught module taken, by undertaking an additional assessment (this may be called an 'extension study'); 3. to critically describe and reflect on practice learning undertaken in the course of a practical work placement within a work setting relevant to the programme (this may be called a 'work placement study'). The Programme Convener will decide if the Independent Study is appropriate for the student's profile in meeting the requirements of the intended MA programme and that it is relevant to their needs and interests. For an alternative study, the Programme Convenor will identify an appropriate tutor to guide the student and mark the assignment. For an extension study, the student will be guided by the Module Convenor, who will also mark the assignment. For a work placement study the Programme Convenor will agree on an appropriate work placement for the study and will identify an appropriate tutor. Generic learning outcomes, and assessment criteria will apply. It is noted that no more than 60 credits should be gained through APEL and the Independent Study module, combined.

Students will apply historical, philosophical, theoretical and research perspectives to current early childhood contexts and develop their understanding of pedagogy in care-giving and educational contexts for young children (birth to age 8). Key pedagogic issues related to the importance of relationships, children's learning, collaborative cognition, the role of the environment, resources and curriculum, planning and assessment and working in teams will be examined. Students will interrogate and consider the relationship of historical perspectives and approaches to early learning (particularly those inspired by Froebel's legacy) to current practice. Emphasis will be placed on the students' development of a strong early childhood professional identity and ability to articulate pedagogy through the techniques of pedagogic documentation. This module directly relates to programme aims of critical consciousness, via the assessment which is a collaborative production of pedagogic documents intended to raise, question and address issues of pedagogy in relation to democratic practice. Students and tutors will work together on planning the sessions and the readings for this module, and will work together to plan a forum/conference event for the final session.

This module aims to further increase the knowledge, skills and understanding of Sounds of Intent and related fields thinking and materials through the understanding of its wider impact on curriculum and policy development in schools and centres in the UK and beyond.

This module forms a compulsory requirement for the full Master's award. The Dissertation module is intended to allow students to undertake an extended in-depth research-based project, that is small-scale in nature, as a means of critically enquiring into and developing knowledge about an identified social or educational problem, issue or question relevant to their own programme. Projects may vary substantially in terms of their purposes, methods and approach, for example being based on or incorporating case study, survey, practitioner research, ethnography, life story or other common approaches/strategies, according to the programme and in consultation with the programme convener and supervisor. Students will be required to demonstrate the necessary knowledge, skills, ethical awareness and practice to carry out social or educational enquiry at Master's level (Level 7). These will be demonstrated in, for example, the development and use of appropriate methods for collecting or producing data; ethical means of engaging with others and of directly involving others (where appropriate); methods of interpreting and analysing data; and theorising the identified issue through drawing on published literature, theory and data. It will be necessary for students to critically reflect upon their own assumptions about the educational or social issue as part of their enquiry, as well as upon their own involvement and influence in their project. It is important to note that students cannot embark upon this module without the approval of their programme convener and that ethical approval must be obtained before any data is collected. Students are required to complete, and have signed off, ethical approval forms as part of the supervision process. The full-time Dissertation lasts for two terms.