The University of Manchester has announced the launch of a new part-time, blended learning master’s programme for the education sector through its Middle East Centre in Dubai. 

 

The MA Educational Leadership in Practice is a new, two-year programme suitable for qualified and experienced working educators, from class teachers to nursery/school/college managers, leaders and principals. 

 

The programme is delivered through a blended learning format, combining the convenience of online self-study and regular face to face course conferences with international peers and faculty, in Dubai. The new course, which will start in September 2020 and is now open for applications, leads to the award of the MA degree from The University of Manchester.

 

The learning environment is undergoing rapid changes reflecting the broader transformations across the world – social, economic, cultural, and technological. According to the Word Economic Forum, education models must adapt to equip children with the skills to create a more inclusive, cohesive and productive world. All educators – and especially frontline teachers – have a powerful influence in guiding the learning and development of children and young adults in the community.

 

The role of educational leaders is to build capacity and positive teams of educators while sharing leadership and nurturing the development of these teams and individuals. 

 

The programme is designed to empower educational leaders to face the challenges of globalising education and the increasing realities of financial pressures, resource constraints, and the rising expectations of stakeholders – from regulators to owners and parents – while balancing these with the core fundamental values of education, with competency and compassion.           

 

Dr Alexander Gardner-McTaggart, Course Director and Lecturer in Educational Leadership (and a former senior lecturer in leadership at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK), commented: “This new blended master’s degree is unique, as it is the global blended programme that is taught from a critical approach. It balances understanding educational leadership theory with practical application and is run by leadership specialists who mentor and foster leadership behaviours and skills, as well as a rich critical understanding of the field. This ensures that the course is truly empowering for leaders and educators who wish to lead at higher levels based on mutual respect and dignity, within complex, evolving organisations.”  

 

The University has chosen to launch the blended MA Educational Leadership in Practice in Dubai because of the unique nature of the regional education sector, which is very diverse, international and growing rapidly. 

 

In Dubai alone, according to the KHDA there are over 200 private schools, around 21,000 teachers, teaching across several curricula to a community of around 295,000 students of 170 nationalities.

Dr Gardner-McTaggart added: “It’s a natural choice to launch the new MA programme here in Dubai, where the growing education sector is an important part of the success story, and a key factor in attracting and retaining talented people and their families. Dubai has become a regional and international hub for transnational education, setting very high standards for schools, teachers and principals, and serving a very diverse and multicultural community effectively. The part-time blended format means that students can apply their new learning directly to their educational  workplace.”

 

The MA Educational Leadership in Practice programme takes a practice based learning approach challenging students to think critically. It is led by a team of experienced educational leaders and covers areas such as leadership from international schools to educational models, policy to research, change to social development, and educational leadership as a social practice. All participants have the opportunity to attend two three-day course conferences each year, along with international peers, experts and academics, to undertake practical activities in small multinational groups.

 

The new master’s programme is the latest in a growing portfolio of blended Masters degrees for working professionals offered in the region through The University of Manchester’s Middle East Centre in Dubai, which includes the Global Part-time MBA, and a new blended learning MSc Real Estate. -- Tradearabia News Service