MSc Management and Implementation of Development Projects

The unit is designed to increase students’ knowledge and understanding of their characteristics and skills, how to develop themselves professionally, and how best to promote themselves in work settings. The unit invites learners to reflect critically on how they engage with ongoing challenges and opportunities in order to develop their professional competence. Curiosity is stimulated and sustained through an applied task-orientated approach to inquiry and study.

The unit aims to broaden perspectives of postgraduates so they can optimise their influence and effectiveness in professional settings. Self-awareness and self-confidence are targeted as key areas of development opportunity in the unit. A wide range of interventions and skills are explored in order to develop and strengthen students’ professional practice.

The course unit is intended to maximise learner initiative and student engagement with the support of the conveners. Teaching provision offers special attention to learner involvement and student participation. Diagnostic and application exercises also help structure student motivation and engagement. 

A variety of learning activities is offered. These activities include: pre-reading before the workshop, self-report diagnostic questionnaires, case study work in small groups, large group discussions, presentations by students, reviews of practitioner behaviour underpinned by theory, film clips for identifying characteristics and skills relevant to the workplace, lecturer inputs, and handouts. Formative feedback is regularly provided to students during the workshop activities. Constructive summative feedback on the written assessment is provided to students on an individual basis.

• Show awareness of common features of contexts of international development
• Explain conceptualisations of effective reflective practice
• Demonstrate knowledge of personality variables and their relevance to understanding workplace behaviour in international development contexts
• Discuss the origins and development of personal values
• Demonstrate critical understanding of the dimensions and challenges associated with ethical workplace behaviour especially in international contexts
• Explain the design and application of competency frameworks in workplace environments
• Summarise approaches to understanding and assessing behaviour in work contexts

• Demonstrate an appreciation of practical competence from theoretical and personal perspectives
• Show appreciation of the importance of whole-person learning as the underpinning of continuous professional growth
• Locate and analyse literature relating to the formation and expression of professional characteristics and skills and from a personal perspective.

• Select and design valid behavioural interventions, fit for purpose, from both authoritative and facilitative perspectives
• Manage personal goals and opinions when they differ from someone else’s
• Strive to achieve the greater good through the ethical use of wise political actions

• Discipline: to reflect systematically on one’s own and others’ progress through everyday challenges
• Confidence: to anticipate and navigate institutional change, both planned and unexpected

3000 word written (open book) individual assessment

Feedback is fundamental within adult learning and for performance improvement. In this unit, both students and convener provide feedback to each other continuously. In Week 1, for instance, the contracting of expectations between learners and unit convener is a real feedback-process in initiating the unit of study as well as an early topic on the syllabus for study (the practitioner-client role-relationship). The implementation of this learning contract is reviewed regularly through feedback during the semester.

Brière, S., Proulx, D., Flores, O. N., & Laporte, M. (2015). Competencies of project managers in international NGOs: Perceptions of practitioners. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), 116-125.

Eden, S. (2014). Out of the comfort zone: enhancing work-based learning about employability through student reflection on work placements. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 38(2), 266-276.

Ingham-Broomfield, B. (2021). A nurses' guide to using models of reflection. The Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 38(4), 62-67.

Jones, H., Jones, N., Shaxson, L., & Walker, D. (2022). Knowledge, policy and power in international development: A practical framework for improving policy. ODI.

Scheduled activity hours Assessment written exam 3 Lectures 30 Tutorials 30

Teaching staff

Additional notes

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