Manchester Metropolitan University
MA in Educational Leadership
Manchester, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 21,000 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* EU and non-EU international students full-time fee
Key Summary
Empower your leadership journey in education with a course that supports your growth, challenges your thinking, and enhances your impact. At Manchester Met, our MA in Educational Leadership offers a rich blend of theory and practice, helping you develop the confidence and clarity to lead effectively in diverse educational settings.
You’ll explore leadership through the lens of personal and professional values, learning how to navigate the demands of policy and accountability while fostering an ethics of care. The course encourages critical reflection, inclusive practice, and value-driven decision-making—equipping you to lead with integrity, empathy, and resilience in the face of top-down pressures.
Our full-time pathway is ideal for those taking a pause from their careers to reflect on their practice or prepare for future leadership roles. Our part-time pathway is tailored for professionals continuing to work while studying, offering flexibility and relevance to your current context. Both routes connect you with a community of aspirational and experienced leaders in a supportive academic environment where your contributions are respected, and your leadership potential is nurtured.
Features and benefits
- World-class research informed teaching
Courses planned and delivered by our experienced team and world-leading researchers. - National Professional Qualification
If you have a National Professional Qualification, you can apply for the learning to be recognised as a contribution towards your master's and reduce the number of taught modules you need to complete. - Expert dissertation support
You can work closely with expert researchers as part of your dissertation module to help you shape and carry out your own research project in an area of personal and professional interest related to your choice of field. - Join a diverse postgraduate community
Become a part of a thriving community of postgraduate learners from a variety of professional backgrounds in the UK and across the world. This network helps to enhance your learning experience and further support you through your studies. - Routes designed to fit around you
We understand that you will have different commitments at different stages in your personal and professional lives. You can apply to study either part-time (weekends and twilight sessions) or full-time (during typical university hours). - Study in a thriving education city
With a diverse and energetic scene, Manchester is one of the UK’s largest and most popular student cities. Our university shares the city’s strong national and international education links, which can support and enhance your learning.
Course information
Whether you take our part-time or full-time course, you will start your MA Educational Leadership with two core modules. The course will be made up of 180 credits consisting of four modules and a dissertation.
Information about each module can be found below. Together they are designed to help you engage with literature; explore research approaches; analyse policy and consider how it informs practice and analyse the day to day through educational and social theories.
Our taught modules are assessed by coursework. This allows you to focus your assignments on areas that suit your professional and personal interests, which will give you the knowledge and confidence to write your dissertation, where you will receive individual support from your supervisor.
We encourage you to join students from other education-based masters at times so that you become part of our postgraduate taught community. This integrated approach helps you to support each other within differing communities of practice and make connections, not only with each other, but also from different perspectives and academic fields.
As a student at Manchester Met, you’ll be able to access Masterclass, a wide range of optional reading groups, writing workshops and events designed specifically for and with masters students. You’ll also benefit from our support network of services, as well as our programme-specific study skills package which helps you to work at masters level. There is also pastoral support provided by your programme team. You will have a personal tutor to accompany you throughout your studies, providing tailored support and advice from start to finish.
Year 1
Throughout your course you’ll study four core modules including a dissertation. If you are coming to the course with advanced standing of 60 credits from your PGCE, you’ll complete two modules before progressing to your dissertation.
Core modules
- Key Debates and Discourses in Educational Leadership
- Conceptualise, Critique, Create: Thinking with Theory in Educational Leadership
- Principles and Practice of Educational Research
- Policy, Politics and Practice in Education
- Dissertation
Our broad and reflective course aims to progress your career in education and enhance your academic skills for further research ventures. Whilst our masters programmes do not qualify you to teach, our suite of masters courses are designed to help you enhance current practice, raise professional and academic confidence and secure positions in the field of education, leadership, consultancy or research scholarships.
Some of our graduates take on roles in nurseries, schools, and colleges, others engage with the wider educational sector. Many of our alumni have attained promotions, such as leadership roles and attribute this success and their confidence in their new roles to their master’s study. Other graduates have gone on to secure posts in higher education as university lecturers, teacher educators and academic support staff. Some of our students on the full-time route progress to train as teachers. International students from our full-time route have gone on to work in their local or national departments of education and use their learning to contribute to the developmental of education systems in their own country.
Our graduates have also used our courses to help further careers, either in their current sector, or to make an informed move into a different role or field of education. Many students who complete our courses intend to study at PhD level. If you’re considering pursuing a research degree (such as an MPhil, PhD or EdD) in education, this masters course is a good foundation towards that ambition. Each year, several of our current and former students win scholarships for further study or have articles published. Whatever your aspirations are, as a student at Manchester Met, you have access to our Careers Advice Service.
Study
- Full-time 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study
- Part-time 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study
Assessment
- Full-time 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination
- Part-time 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination