MSc Leadership and Management Practice (full award) | Part-time

An insight into teaching on your course

Study hours

There will be an induction at the start of the programme, and then you will study 30 credits per semester which comprises of 3 taught days for a 10-credit module and 6 taught days for a 20-credit module. This roughly equates to three taught days per month.  There will also be masterclasses and additional apprenticeship touch points throughout the 2 years.

Learners will be expected to undertake work on their own and, given the applied approach to assessment, this will demand a degree of self-management and resilience to manage a full-time senior leader work role with part-time study.

In addition to the taught elements, students will spend time preparing for the session. The private study element comprises of independent research, further reading, preparation for taught sessions, follow-up activities and assignment preparation and write-up.

An example is shown below from a 20-credit module:

Total learning hours: 200

Taught element: 48 hours

Private study: 152 hours

What support is offered?

We nurture a supportive and collaborative environment for working with peers and colleagues. There is a highly qualified and experience academic programme team to support your academic development. All learners will have a personal academic tutor.

Teaching methods

Our flexible delivery approach involves face-to-face teaching and facilitation, blending online support & live online sessions for individual and group tutorials. Classroom sessions are devised as an interactive, learner-centred experience with group activities playing a large part in the learning experience. In addition, the teaching approach will utilise a ‘flipped learning environment’ as well as technology, when appropriate, to maximise learning opportunities.

As this is a Level 7 course, we encourage criticality and provide students with key texts for further discussion in sessions. We critically examine case studies, look at examples of successes and challenges within the real world and engage in simulation activities.  We use a variety of tools to encourage self-reflection. 

The Virtual Learning Environment (Canvas) gives you access to teaching and materials wherever you study and allows information and resources to be shared in advance of taught sessions and it also serves as a repository for module-based materials including assessment guidance & submission, reading lists, contact information and signposting to further resources. Some modules use the discussion board feature to incorporate tutor led support and peer to peer communication.

Applied Learning

At the centre of our philosophy is the notion that we learn best from experience and applying our learning, so action learning and coaching are a key part of our programmes. This approach also encourages strong peer learning groups where you can learn from your peers, in recognition of the fact that management and leadership development is a social and collaborative process.

A strong emphasis is placed on the workplace as a place to learn; consequently, everybody brings their experience from their area of expertise with them, and you will be encouraged to share how your learning has been applied and improved practice in your workplace. The programme is personalised to individuals so that you can apply your learning to your own workplace projects and tasks and participants integrate key concepts and theories, assessing the impact of these on their own working environment. This approach also provides a forum for learners to bring ideas, thoughts, issues, and actionable remedies to the forefront. The ability to analyse organisational issues and apply recommendations supported by a theoretical framework is a fundamental element of the programme and will provide learners the confidence to diagnose and resolve problems from the workplace.

Techniques include:

Recognising the workplace as an important place to learn: Learners will apply ideas in the workplace, improving their skills through a range of workplace activities and then reflecting and reviewing this practice with peers on the programme.

Self-development planning: Organisational processes can be applied to ensure that individuals plan to develop their own strengths in line with business competencies and values, and to recognise their own personal needs.

Using 'flipped learning': This reverses the conventional process of teaching by providing the content prior to the teaching and learning session using a virtual learning environment, so that the focus of the workshop becomes about active learning and application of theory to practice. The flipped learning environment allows for the teaching experiences to probe learning and development through facilitation suited to the executive education experience.

Coaching and peer-to-peer coaching: Coaching not only enables the individual learner to tailor the programme to meet their needs, but it also provides the opportunity for the organisation to propose business critical skills and values which can become a part of the development activities.

Action learning: This will be adopted as a supportive and collaborative approach to learning to manage. Action learning will be used to support personal development, where issues and challenges from the workplace can be discussed.

Projects: For each theme there is the possibility of designing an in-company project or series of projects to ensure that business needs are met.

Masterclasses: Keynote speakers will address current issues, emerging practice and thought leadership.