MA Educational Leadership

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £13,700
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £29,400

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

The unit introduces the following themes and topics:

Theme 1: What is educational research?

• Research design
• Reading qualitative and quantitative research
• Becoming critical

Theme 2: What kinds of topics can be researched in education?

• Learning about research projects in education
• Developing topics 
• Peer review

Theme 3: How can you review the literature? 

• Literature review purpose and practice
• Determining trustworthiness in qualitative research
• Determining validity, reliability, and generalisability in quantitative research

Theme 4: Why should education research be taken seriously?

• Engaging with theory 
• Impacts and uses of research in education

Each theme will be explored through lectures and seminars. Students will be expected to complete up to seven hours of private study, including directed reading, independent reading, learning activities, and preparation before each face-to-face seminar.

• Private study is likely to include:
• Pre-recorded lectures or videos
• Required and suggested readings
• Guided writing tasks 
• Participating in discussion boards

To introduce expectations and practices around: a) reading and reviewing educational research, and b) systematically processing and reporting on educational research.

Seminar 1: Introduction to research and to critical thinking

Seminar 2: Reading qualitative research

Seminar 3: Critiquing qualitative research

Seminar 4: Reading quantitative research

Seminar 5: Critiquing quantitative research

Seminar 6: Introduction to literature reviews

Seminar 7: Literature reviews: Finding and developing topics

Seminar 8: Literature reviews: Literature synthesis

Seminar 9: Literature reviews: Developing themes

Seminar 10: Literature reviews: Structure and writing

Seminar 11: Choosing your dissertation topic and method

Seminar 12: Developing as a critical thinker and critical writer

This unit provides students with the opportunity to develop academic skills including: understanding and evaluating quality in academic research; identifying academic literature; synthesising, comparing, and contrasting academic literature; understanding different research methodologies and their use in educational research.

The unit also provides students with the opportunity to develop professional skills valuable in enhancing their employability, including: information handling; critical reading and critical thinking skills; conceptual and analytical skills; critical, evidence-based writing skills; group working skills.

 Each theme will be discussed through lectures and seminars. Students will be expected to complete up to hree hours of preparatory work before each face-to-face session (including readings) and up to an hour of follow-up work. Each week students should expect to spend 3 hours of independent study time on this module. Students will be placed in study groups to gain support in completing these tasks and will be expected to work collaboratively within these groups.

Preparatory work is likely to include:

• Pre-recorded lectures or videos
• Interactive tutorials
• Readings
• Short writings based on in class work

This course is aligned with the weekly PGT Study Skills workshops. It is expected that students will use these workshops as an opportunity to apply and develop the knowledge and skills introduced in this module, as appropriate to their needs.

• Demonstrate an understanding of literature sources and issues related to data retrieval and use.
• Have an enhanced appreciation of critical reading.
• Structure the writing and presentation of a small scale literature review.

• Critique research accounts;
• Understand key concepts of validity, reliability and trustworthiness in qualitative research.
• Process and present information in an appropriate format.

• Effectively contribute to debates about educational research in a range of different contexts and from different perspectives.
• Conduct a small scale literature review in a systematic manner

• Conceptual and analytical skills.
• Information handling.
• Group working.

15 working days after submission, via TurnItIn 

Apple, M. W., Au, W., & Gandin, L. A. (Eds.). (2011). The Routledge international handbook of critical education. Taylor & Francis.

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. London, United Kingdom: SAGE.

Bryman, A. (2015). Social research methods. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Buckler, S. (2016). Your dissertation in education. London, United Kingdom: SAGE.

Coe, R., Waring, M., Hedges, L. V., & Ashley, L. D. (Eds.). (2021). Research methods and methodologies in education. Sage.

Cottrell, S. (2019). The study skills handbook. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Galvan, J. L., and Galvan, M. C. (2017). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioural sciences. Routledge.

Godfrey, J. (2018). How to use your reading in your essays. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.

Johnston, M. P. (2014). Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come. Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 3(3), 619-626.

McGinity, R., Heffernan, A., & Courtney, S. J. (2022). Mapping trends in educational-leadership research: A longitudinal examination of knowledge production, approaches and locations. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 50(2), 217-232.

Mittelmeier, J., Lomer, S., & Unkule, K. (Eds.). (2023). Research with international students: Critical conceptual and methodological considerations. Taylor & Francis.

Roberts, J.Q. (2017). Essentials of essay writing: What markers look for. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.

Shenton, A. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education for information, 22(2), 63-75.

Suter, W. N. (2011). Introduction to educational research: A critical thinking approach. SAGE publications.

Wallis, M. and Wray, A. (2006) Critical reading and writing for postgraduates. London: Sage.