Education Management and Leadership (MSc)

Award
Master of Science
Typical Offer
2:1 degree View full entry requirements
Duration
1 year
Course Type
Full-time
Campus
Highfield
Next course starts
September 2025

About this course

Become a clear, confident and comprehensive educational leader with our Masters in Education Management and Leadership pathway. Learn about professional development with strategies to overcome challenges faced by leaders in education all over the world.

This educational leadership course is for teachers and those working in administrative positions in education who are looking for the leadership and research skills to make a positive change. Learn about professional development with strategies to overcome challenges faced by leaders in education all over the world. You’ll learn how to identify opportunities for improvement within an educational institution, making decisions based on research and with a focus on outcomes.  

Leaders in education are expected to introduce continuous change within their organisation, you’ll understand how this impacts an academic institution or school and the people within it. To give you versatility in the profession, we look at a variety of learning environments within the public and private sector, as well as how educational leadership theories can be used by both teachers and leaders in schools, and educational practitioners outside of schools.   During this MSc educational leadership course, you’ll learn how to: 

  • examine different teaching and learning methods 
  • conduct reliable education research and reflect upon emerging research 
  • apply your learning of leadership theories to your practice  
  • assess contemporary issues in the area of educational leadership 
  • examine core management practices to educational institutions 

You’ll learn about policies and research on a national and international level. During the course, you'll collate and evaluate the research you’ve found in order to communicate outcomes in a clear and convincing way.

We offer 3 pathways on our MSc Education degree. 

Your other MSc Education pathway options are:

  • Education - you'll learn teaching & learning methods, and how to conduct & analyse educational research.
  • Education (Practice and Innovation) - study different teaching and learning methods and learn how to conduct and analyse educational research in the fields of innovation and inclusive practice.

We regularly review our courses to ensure and improve quality. This course may be revised as a result of this. Any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Find out why, when, and how we might make changes.

Our courses are regulated in England by the Office for Students (OfS).

Course lead

Dr Cristina Azaola is a Lecturer at the Centre for Research in Inclusion at Southampton Education School. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and interested in educational inequalities, social inclusion and exclusion through schooling. 

She convened the conference Lessons of resilience and social inclusion from the Covid-19 pandemic, funded by The British Academy and the Wellcome Trust. She is the principal investigator of the following projects:

  • Teachers’ jury to improve school belonging in technical high schools, funded by the Higher Education Innovation Funding
  • Enhancing reflective learning and school collaboration in rural Mexico, funded by The British Council
  • Investigating staff and student belonging in a Further Education College with Dr Ran Peleg, funded by Research England Participatory Research Fund

She has published over eighteen papers in different high-quality peer-reviewed international journals.

“The MSc in education provides many diverse pathways which are perfect for any individual looking to gain or enhance their understanding about educational issues that really matter to them.”
Nicholas Marco-Wadey, 2018 graduate

Course location

This course is based at Highfield.

Awarding body

This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.

Download the Course Description Document

The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.