Rationale

The course is designed to support and extend the professional development of existing and aspiring educators.  It draws on current thinking in the field of curriculum management (learning, teaching and assessment). The content of this course is closely related to contemporary leadership and management issues, focusing on key strategies that are likely to bring about effective learning, teaching and assessment in institutions. The course will explore and evaluate theories of learning and individual learning needs.  It will also draw on current thinking in the field of assessment and explore the notions of assessment for and of students’ learning. It will consider the manageability of assessment and attempt to draw conclusions on what is sufficient in order to take students’ learning forward.  The wider aspects of assessment will also be discussed, such as accountability to stakeholders and external agencies.  As an integral part of the course content, examples of good practice will be used to illustrate aspects of effective leadership and management. 
The aim of this course is to make students understand what effective education at the classroom level means and how the classroom can be managed effectively and efficiently.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:
(i)    Assess the respective roles and strategies employed by senior management teams and others in securing effective learning, teaching and assessment.
(ii)   Explain main management conceptions, strategies and approaches such as structure, human resources, culture, leadership, decision-making, motivating and communication.
(iii)  Evaluate the context of academic organisations that affects management processes and practices.
(iv)  Develop new teaching and learning methodologies in order to enhance educators’ and students’ interaction as well as increase students’ engagement and commitment.
(v)   Analyse the functions of monitoring, evaluation and review in the process of whole institution self-evaluation.