Educational Leadership and Management MBA

Learn the importance of strategic management in education and how this applies to developing effective management systems. Discover how you can become an agent of change and develop the skills to improve your working and teaching environment in an educational context.

Benefits to you:

• Develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to be an innovative, collaborative and effective leader and manager
• Provide opportunities to develop, implement and evaluate evidence-based strategy that can effectively transform and sustain excellence in your institution
• Develop your contacts with other like-minded professionals and the international education leadership community
• Experience full support as an agent of change as you transform your working environment by engaging in research-based and holistic critical reflection in and on practice
• Enable you to push forward in a leadership or management role in your workplace for the benefit of both pupils and staff, and your career progression

Benefits to your organisation:

• You will develop a more enquiring, reflective, critical and innovative approach to leadership and management in your organisation You will have the ability to use data for critical evaluation of a situation and implementation of measurable improvement Your understanding of strategic planning will enable you to lead teams through change processes for improvement You will possess the ability to make significant contributions to your place of work through research, and to apply enhanced professional knowledge and skills Our course is designed for educational professionals who want to advance their theoretical skills and learn how to put them into practice. It's a fantastic choice for continuing professional development, for both compulsory education teachers and those teaching post-compulsory courses as well as leaders and managers within the educational system. It's also open to NQTs who want to advance their learning whilst still completing their first teaching year. This course can also be your first step towards working in research or university lecturing and it can be a pathway to your PhD or EdD.

Leading Educational Change and Improvement

Engage in theory and wider research in relation to performance evaluation, leading change, and improvement planning and change management. You will identify an area of practice in your role or setting that would benefit from improvement and produce a critically reflective commentary that will provide the underpinning rationale for an action plan, linked to models of good practice.

Strategic Management in Education

You will develop a deeper understanding of effective strategic planning in order to achieve organisational aims, making clear links between the strategic planning and the strategic vision of your institution. This will include the evaluation and review of existing processes and planning for improved management.

Professional Enquiry in Education

You will have the opportunity to develop specialist knowledge and expertise in an area of personal and professional interest, relating to education, either individually or in a small (virtual) group.

Developing Effective Management Systems

You will engage in a process of critical evaluation and analysis to focus upon systems for managing information, relationships including staff and stakeholders, communication and reporting. The effective management of knowledge facilitates efficient leadership and management in relation to staff, stakeholders, finance, facilities and measures for dealing with wider policy issues. You will focus on internal and external systems in order to engage in a meaningful review of your own organisation whilst drilling down to evaluate procedural systems and the effectiveness of information management.

Research Methodology for Learning and Teaching

You'll explore diverse approaches to educational research including research ethics, methodologies, methods and design. The module draws upon a range of research literature and theory to expose you to the idea of challenging existing theoretical stances and philosophical aspects of educational research, to prepare you for your major project proposal.

Major Project

The Major Project is central to the Masters award. You will demonstrate your ability to synthesise learning from previous modules and use this learning as the basis for planning, conducting and writing up a research or work-based project. This project provides you with the opportunity to demonstrate:

1. Your ability to raise significant and meaningful questions in relation to your subject
2. Depth of knowledge
3. Critical understanding of research methods and their relationship to knowledge
4. The ability to develop solutions to ethical dilemmas likely to arise in your research or professional practice
5. The ability to draw meaningful and justifiable conclusions from information which may be complex or contradictory
6. The capability to expand or redefine existing knowledge to develop new approaches to changing situations and contribute to the development of good practice
7. The ability to communicate these processes in a clear and sophisticated fashion
8. The capability to evaluate your work from the perspective of an autonomous reflective learner.

Assessment

You'll be assessed in a variety of ways. Individual, creative responses to the tasks are welcomed but they’ll also give you the chance to refine your academic writing skills. Assessments will mainly be written, focused on practice and drawn upon evidence from practice in line with the subject benchmarks of the MBA.

Phil Kirkman
^{Principle Lecturer}

Phil Kirkman was previously a Subject Lecturer and International Projects Consultant at the University of Cambridge, UK. Before this, Phil worked for over a decade as a department leader, pastoral manager and teacher in UK secondary schools. He regularly leads events for education professionals in the UK and internationally and has consulted on Curriculum and Pedagogy for several Education NGO's and Government Departments. Phil's current research interests include educational technologies, innovative pedagogy, dialogic education and practitioner research.

Our Educational Leadership and Management MBA is studied 100% online.

You’ll study online through Canvas, our world-class Learning Management System (LMS), which can be accessed from your phone, pc or tablet at home or on the move. Canvas provides instant access to study materials, forums, and support from tutors and classmates, as well as enabling easy submission of your assignments.

On successful completion of your studies you’ll be invited to attend a graduation ceremony on campus. If attending the ceremony in person is not possible then we’ll arrange to have your certificate sent to you.

To help you land your dream job, our Employability Service will work with you throughout your time at ARU and after you graduate.

We offer:

• careers advice, including one-to-one online and telephone appointments with our experienced advisers
• help with your CV, job searches, applications and interview preparation
• an online portal packed with useful careers resources
• our Employability Programme, which helps you hone the skills employers say they want in graduates.

Fees

The full tuition fee for this course is £10,050.

The tuition fees you pay each year for the full Educational Leadership and Management MBA will be £5,025. The course is studied over 2 years.

Accredited prior learning may reduce the tuition fees. This will be confirmed once your application has been submitted.

Funding

Your course can be fully funded by the Postgraduate Student Loans now available (subject to eligibility).

We offer payment by instalments, so you can spread the cost of studying with us.

For military students: You can use your ELCs towards this course. Anglia Ruskin University is a recognised ELCAS provider (number 1007). Please contact your Learning Centre for details of ELC, eligibility and how to apply.

For more information on how you fund your studies please see our funding page.

Education is an essential part of our society, one which has the power to shape young minds, empower adult learners and craft bright futures.

And educational leaders and managers are vital to the field. With their knowledge and experience, managing personnel at all levels of education are crucial in mobilising educators against the challenges of a demanding – yet rewarding – role.

If you have experience in education and want to discover new ways to make a difference in your field, or are starting your career as a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) and want to expand your prospects, this course will give you the skills to make a positive impact through leadership.

As part of this degree, you’ll develop the research and analytical skills to assess problems head-on and find answers to the pressing challenges of education, as well as honing your decision-making and organisational skills, and learning to build strategies that lead students and teachers to success.

With an MBA in educational management, you’ll master the requisite leadership skills to handle organisational supervision at a crucial time for education.

This course will teach you the skills to make the most of teams and individuals, maximise efficiency and boost results across the board through insightful and emotionally intelligent leadership.

You’ll develop your research skills to evaluate everyday problems in education and devise evidence-based solutions. You’ll improve your understanding of education systems and have the opportunity to examine issues relevant to your interest, developing your own unique approach and learning to innovate.

You’ll also learn about the role of management systems in education and come to understand how to navigate real issues such as staffing and finance. This course will give you the necessary understanding to harness these tools in order to creative effective, productive and successful educational environments.

With our distance learning format, you’ll also master a number of soft skills, including organisation, time management and digital literacy. All of these skills are highly valuable to employers and will prepare you for the challenges of your future career.

This course will give you the tools for leadership, management, problem-solving and empowerment in a vital field, expanding your theoretical knowledge and giving you the confidence to put it into practice. If you want to become an educational leader with the ability to inspire, this is the course for you.

Our courses welcome students from a range of backgrounds, with varying levels of experience. But our Educational Leadership & Management MBA students are united by their passion for teaching and a desire to drive success at all levels of education.

Many students who undertake this course already have some experience in educational leadership and may be looking to take their career to the next level and build on their existing knowledge. Others have educational experience but are new to leadership positions and want to reach their full potential, and understand what it takes to drive results.

This course also welcomes teachers as early as NQT level, meaning that whether you’re an experienced leader or aspiring educational manager in the early stages of your career, this course gives you the chance to build a strong foundation for your future leadership role.

Whatever your background, this course will give you the skills to achieve excellence in academia by inspiring change from the top and finding solutions where they’re needed.

This course is a distance learning degree that fits around your career whilst giving you the skills to improve in the workplace from day one. 

With a work-focused programme of study, you’ll be able to put your learning into practice to enact change from the beginning of your course whilst gaining the skills for long-term planning. You’ll learn from a range of modules that will teach you to handle the challenges of organisational management and help you create and achieve your vision through strategy. And with your Major Project module, you’ll have the chance to combine and utilise your learning in an area of interest relevant to your career goals. 

When you study an Educational Leadership & Management MBA online with ARU, you’ll also have the freedom to set a study schedule that works for you, whilst enjoying full support from your tutors whenever you need it. And thanks to our Employability Service, you’ll also have career support after graduation. 

This course is designed for full flexibility so you can grow in your role and maximise your potential as a leader in education.

Your next step is right here. 

Find out more about our Educational Leadership & Management MBA and distance learning on our blog: 

• 5 Essential Skills for the Educational Leadership of Tomorrow
• Can Distance Learning Build Your Resilience?
• Can Distance Learning Replace Traditional Classes?