2024/25 entry Applications also open for 2025/26
MBA Educational Leadership
About this course
The MBA in Educational Leadership at Liverpool John Moores University guides and prepares senior and emerging leaders across all phases of the education sector.
- Part-time MBA programme studied over 30 months allowing you to study while in work
- An exciting opportunity to reflect on research informed knowledge exchange that can have a direct impact on the way in which educational leaders support the people and communities they serve
- Taught in our city centre Education Building
- MBA aims to develop well-supported and confident education leaders who will develop shared and collective insights across the sector
- You will be able to apply new leadership learning, innovative strategy and professional appreciation to your workplaces and communities
- MBA is a highly sought after qualification with international recognition
Starting in Year 1 (months 1-12), you will complete four modules focusing on ‘being’ a leader with support from expert practitioners and your Leadership Tutor. In Year 2 (months 13-24), you will continue with four modules focused on ‘enacting’ leadership and conclude the programme with an applied innovative consultancy project designed within your own setting. The final research module is an innovative consultancy project that will be started in Year 2, with students formally submitting the project and research outcomes in the final semester (months 25-30).
Our innovative pedagogy guides the learner from leadership psychology through to innovative marketing strategy, from using performance and data analytics through to appreciating the leadership of people and communities. The programme strives to provide a critically reflective engagement with the purpose of educational leadership and the many competing and arguably contested perspectives and voices in this arena and engage leaders with the conceptual understanding and the diverse skillsets to respond.
The programme is designed to work alongside the challenges of leadership roles and offers flexible and personalised provision that guides students step-by-step to success.
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Programme review
‘The School of Education has cultivated a pioneering partnership with Liverpool Business School. The programme is ‘bold and ambitious’, highlights innovative practice, and is a clear cross-faculti...
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Find out more from the Programme Leader
Fees and funding
There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students
Fees
The fees quoted at the top of this page cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as:
- library membership with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources
- access to programme-appropriate software
- library and student IT support
- free on-campus wifi via eduroam
Additional costs
Although not all of the following are compulsory/relevant, you should keep in mind the costs of:
- accommodation and living expenditure
- books (should you wish to have your own copies)
- printing, photocopying and stationery
- PC/laptop (should you prefer to purchase your own for independent study and online learning activities)
- mobile phone/tablet (to access online services)
- field trips (travel and activity costs)
- placements (travel expenses and living costs)
- student visas (international students only)
- study abroad opportunities (travel costs, accommodation, visas and immunisations)
- academic conferences (travel costs)
- professional-body membership
- graduation (gown hire etc)
Funding
There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students. From loans to International Scholarships and subject-specific funding, you’ll find all of the information you need on our specialist postgraduate funding pages.
Please be aware that the UK’s departure from the EU may affect your tuition fees. Learn more about your fee status and which tuition fees are relevant to you.
Employability
Further your career prospects
LJMU has an excellent employability record with 96% (HESA 2018) of our postgraduates in work or further study six months after graduation. Our applied learning techniques and strong industry connections ensure our students are fully prepared for the workplace on graduation and understand how to apply their knowledge in a real world context.
An MBA is a gold standard qualification for leaders.
It will provide ample opportunity for education leaders to develop and enhance their careers, including gaining promoted roles and working in wider strategic systems
The student experience
Discover life as a postgraduate student at LJMU.
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Course modules
Discover the building blocks of your programme
This course is currently undergoing its scheduled programme review, which may impact the advertised modules. Programme review is a standard part of the University’s approach to quality assurance and enhancement, enabling us to ensure that our courses remain up to date and maintain their high standard and relevancy.
Once the review is completed, this course website page will be updated to reflect any approved changes to the advertised course. These approved changes will also be communicated to those who apply for the course to ensure they wish to proceed with their application.
Your programme is made up of a number of core modules which are part of the course framework. Some programmes also have optional modules that can be selected to enhance your learning in certain areas and many feature a dissertation, extended report or research project to demonstrate your advanced learning.
Core modules
Psychology of Leadership: Practice and Learning
20 credits
Through an active blended learning approach, this module introduces you to a breadth of leadership theories that apply to your own educational context and specialty. This innovative module reflectively connects workforce psychology and educational leadership to develop leader reflexivity, agency and key insights that contribute to improving both individual and organisational performance through a socially just mind-set.
Educational Leadership: Policy and Practice
10 credits
This module will delve into the complex interplay between leadership in education, policy-making, and education practice. It will provide an in-depth analysis of the theoretical foundations of educational policy, placing it in the wider societal, historical, and cultural contexts. The module will examine how power influences educational systems and outcomes by using case studies for a hands-on understanding.
You will scrutinise leadership roles, their interplay with policies, and how these factors mould educational practice. The module will then apply relevant theoretical concepts to real-world educational contexts, demonstrating students' comprehension of how policy and leadership affect educational practice. Various learning methods, such as discussions, case study evaluations, and practical problem-solving, will be utilised throughout the module.
This approach aims to help you gain a well-rounded understanding of how policy and leadership influence educational practice. This knowledge and skills acquired can be applied to a broad range of educational environments.
Leading Strategy and Change in Educational Settings
20 credits
This module uses innovative pedagogical approaches, that include active learning and reflective practice, to introduce you to theories of strategy formulation, implementation and change. The module will equip students to practically apply external and internal analysis, use business methods, tools and models to identify needs for change, and initiate it within educational settings to maintain advantage and generate impact.
Educational Research Methods
20 credits
This module will provide an opportunity for you to critically engage with a range of research approaches. You will engage with a range of formative and summative assessment tasks to develop your understanding of education research, including online quizzes, discussions, and collaborative tasks.
Leading Performance and Analysis
20 credits
In this module, you will develop your knowledge and skills to:
- Analyse financial performance in the education sector
- Measure and evaluate the impact within the digital and technology spheres
- Assess the business in terms of business, organisational and IT strategies
- Use big data analytics to bring transparency to decision making, therefore improving and transforming their organisations
The module will be delivered through an immersive face-to-face teaching and learning experience, that will take place over four consecutive days at the university. You will have the opportunity for experiential learning both in and outside of the classroom environment. Delivery will draw on visiting expert practitioners to enrich the learning experience and to ensure breadth and balance to the immersive model.
Leading People and Communities
10 credits
Working with creative techniques and using reflective practice, this module introduces you to theories of socially just leadership from your local setting to the wider geographical region. The module will develop students' practical leadership skills and consider ethical leadership approaches that are specific to your context, consider methods and models to identify specific needs within educational settings and prioritise working ethically with people and communities to generate sustainable impact.
Marketing and Communication
10 credits
Working with scholarly practitioners, this module will critically analyse and evaluate strategic marketing and communication approaches to develop practical skills. In addition, reviewing the nature of contemporary integrated marketing communications; understanding the settings partners and stakeholders; identifying strategies for managing image and reputation; considering ethical practice in sustaining responsible stakeholder relationships connects the learner to their own context.
Organisational Behaviour
10 credits
Through contextual learning approaches, you will explore how organisations behave, critically evaluate theoretical perspectives and consider how to enhance performance within your own settings. You will look at real life case studies in addition to considering theories and models. You will critically reflect on your own organisation and consider how you can blend theory and practice in order to benefit your setting.
Education Research Innovation Project
60 credits
The individual final project provides an opportunity for you to create value within your organisation that connects to your leadership role, measurable as a culmination of your learning experience. There will be a focus on the evaluation and impact of the project within both the organisation and for the people and communities served. Learning will be applied to a real workplace issue, to develop a well considered and connected strategy that demonstrates impact within the organisation and beyond. Line managers will sponsor the final projects, in recognition of the potential to add value to the organisation.
The module will utilise an active blended learning strategy, with students participating in two live online synchronous learning days, undertaking timetabled tutorials with a Leadership Tutor, and engaging with a range of asynchronous learning materials over the duration of a semester. You will receive the ongoing support of the Leadership Tutor on a one-to-one basis as you design and deliver the project.
Teaching
An insight into teaching on your course
Through the shared learning of the MBA in Educational Leadership our learners will have contributed to and curated their own learning journey, connected with new and returned to classic approaches through building new communities of educators who share their ambition to add value across society. With a distinct connection to equality, diversity, and inclusion our learners seek to impact within their workplace and community through their own ethically considered independent research.
One module in each year will be delivered via a four-day immersive face-to-face learning experience, requiring students to be on campus in Liverpool. These modules are set to take place from Tuesday to Friday following the Easter Monday of Spring Break. All other modules will be taught online, through ‘live online’ sessions and online materials. Where students are engaging with live online sessions or participating in tutorials, these take place on alternate Wednesdays during term time.
International students should particularly note the expectation of one week’s attendance on campus per year (Spring Break) and that live online sessions will run on alternate Wednesdays between 9am and 4pm GMT/BST.
Teaching and learning approaches across the programme include
- Blended and Agile Learning delivery
- Technology Enhanced Learning experiences
- Individual Leadership Academic Tutoring
- Expert Practitioner Support
- Action Learning Methodologies
- Applied Learning Approaches
- Contextual Assessments that are functional and appropriate
Assessment
How learning is monitored on your programme
To cater for the wide-ranging content of our courses and the varied learning preferences of our students, we offer a range of assessment methods on each programme.
Formative and summative assessments are integrated into the MBA programme in Educational Leadership to support the evaluation of learners' progress and provide valuable feedback.
Formative assessments will include:
- Class participation
- Individual and group assignments
- Reflection papers and journals
- Contextual learning
Summative assessments will be used to measure learners' overall achievement at the end of a module and then programme. Examples include:
- Capstone project: A significant project that integrates knowledge and skills acquired throughout the programme. This innovation research project could involve developing a business plan, conducting a research study, or creating an educational leadership initiative.
- Portfolios: learners create portfolios showcasing their accomplishments, reflections, and evidence of their learning journey throughout the module. The portfolios will be assessed holistically, considering the breadth and depth of the work.
- Role play: providing practical scenario-based options to demonstrate knowledge and acquired skills through active learning and processing.
- Posters: research-informed and designed to provide a succinct and engaging representation of knowledge and skills that apply to the workplace.
- Case studies: reporting on learning in context, applying theory to practice
Course tutors
Our staff are committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning
Martin Kerridge
Programme Leader
Martin has held leadership posts in secondary, further, and higher education, including two secondary headships and the leadership of Initial Teacher Training programmes. He has been a Governor in primary, FE and Pupil Referral Unit settings, including as Chair, and is a Chartered Manager and an Affiliate Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, committed to continuing professional development which delivers measurable impact, with a focus on developing people and capabilities through coaching to improve performance. Martin is also a Microsoft Certified Educator, engaged with technology enhanced learning and curriculum development for the twenty-first century. With a specific research interest in referent leadership, ethics, organisational performance, and the impact that leaders have across organisations and communities, Martin is committed to education and leadership as transformative influences, which inspire individuals and communities to fulfil dreams and achieve ambitions.
I am privileged to be leading an MBA in Educational Leadership that has been praised for being a pioneering, bold, and ambitious programme.
School facilities
What you can expect from your School
The School of Education is based in the Education Building, situated on Maryland Street in the heart of Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter. It features new facilities that enable our students to connect, engage and prepare for the future of work.
We are minutes from the Student Life Building and metres away from libraries and 24-hour study space. We have excellent transport links and easy access to Liverpool’s vibrant cultural life.
Entry requirements
You will need:
Qualification requirements
Undergraduate degree
A lower second class (2:2) or higher honours degree.
International requirements
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IELTS
IELTS English Language requirement: 6.0 (Minimum 5.5 in each component)
Further information
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Extra Requirements
LJMU welcomes applications from international candidates. Most of the studying and learning will be undertaken via distance learning in your home country and there are only a small number of residential days in Liverpool required.
As a practice-based programme in leadership there is a strong emphasis on the application of ideas developed in the context of the applicant's own school or setting. Relevant work experience must evidence that the applicant is in or has recent experience of an educational leadership post and can access a setting to undertake the innovative research project.
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RPL
RPL is accepted on this programme and applicants who hold either the NPQH or NPQEL qualification (achieved within five years prior to application) are noted with advanced standing and eligible for 30 credits of Credit Transfer in Year 1. Applicants will be required to provide details of their NPQH or NPQEL qualifications. Successful applicants will be awarded advanced standing (30 credits level 7) on the basis of these qualifications. The NPQH / NPQEL awards are mapped against modules 7002ELMBA and 7003ELMBA and cover the following Programme Learning Outcomes: PLO 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Application and selection
Securing your place at LJMU
To apply for this programme, you are required to complete an LJMU online application form. You will need to provide details of previous qualifications and a personal statement outlining why you wish to study this programme.
Candidates will require a lower second class (2:2) or higher honours degree.
Recognition of prior learning is accepted on this programme and applicants who hold either the NPQH or NPQEL qualification (achieved within five years prior to application) are noted with advanced standing and eligible for 30 credits of Credit Transfer in Year 1. Applicants will be required to provide details of their NPQH or NPQEL qualifications. Successful applicants will be awarded advanced standing (30 credits level 7) on the basis of these qualifications. The NPQH / NPQEL awards are mapped against modules 7002ELMBA and 7003ELMBA.
As a practice-based programme in leadership there is a strong emphasis on the application of ideas developed in the context of the applicant's own school or setting. Relevant work experience must evidence that the applicant is in or has recent experience of an educational leadership post and can access a setting to undertake the innovative research project.
LJMU welcomes applications from international candidates. Most of the studying and learning will be undertaken via online learning in your home country but there are eight residential days (four days in Year 1 and four days in Year 2 both of which take place at Spring Break) in Liverpool required over the two years. There is also an IELTS English Language requirement: 6.0 (Minimum 5.5 in each component)
The University reserves the right to withdraw or make alterations to a course and facilities if necessary; this may be because such changes are deemed to be beneficial to students, are minor in nature and unlikely to impact negatively upon students or become necessary due to circumstances beyond the control of the University. Where this does happen, the University operates a policy of consultation, advice and support to all enrolled students affected by the proposed change to their course or module.