Special Educational Needs and Disability MA

• Send and Disability in ContextThis module establishes the entitlement context for children and young adults with SEN & disability aged 0- 25 years against the backdrop of legislative change and evolving models and global perspectives on ‘need’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘personalisation’. It explores rights, duties, procedures and principles for practice expected from those working to improve quality of life and aspirations, and implications of mandates for collaborative working and person-centred planning. Using case studies of children with complex needs will enable you to gain understanding of some of the growing number of new, rare and lesser known conditions. You will then unravel and explore implications for collaborative assessment of unfamiliar needs from a range of professional perspectives
• Intervention for SEN and DisabilitiesThis module explores main areas of special educational need and disability, and personalised intervention that is inclusive of stakeholders and supported by the principle of equality of opportunity. You will consider the tension between identification of need and the philosophy of inclusion, and implications of Quality First Teaching within new frameworks and for sustaining children/young adults in the 0-25 years age range in their communities. Areas of need explored will include communication and interaction, cognition and learning, emotional, social and mental health, and sensory and physical needs. You will consider implications for children/young adults with some specific conditions, for example autism, dyslexia and ADHD, with critical consideration of implications for the child and family, and approaches to intervention.You will also appraise working practices with the child and family, and engage with stakeholders to construct a positive approach that builds on partnership strengths.
• Exploring Boundaries and Practices for SEN and DisabilitiesThis module aims to enhance the repertoire of intervention options for professionals working with children/young adults with a range of SEN and disabilities, aged 0-25 years and beyond. The module will give you verbal and non-verbal communication strategies so that you can develop participatory cultures with colleagues and maximise choices for children and young people with SEN & disability and their families. You will gain insights from direct experiences within the safe context of taught sessions and workshops, and implement and reflect on approaches in professional practice. Ethical considerations will be a prominent theme, as will issues for addressing inter-professional boundaries of expertise and possible barriers between stakeholders
• Investigating Education through ResearchThis module provides students with the opportunity to consider the aims and intentions of educational research, critique published journal articles, and examine the role of evidence from research as a basis for improving early childhood education and care. Students will gain grounding in educational research issues, methods and strategies together with knowledge of how to match intended outcomes with specific educational questions and methods of investigation.
• Postgraduate Major Project (double module)The Major Project is central to the Masters award and enables you to demonstrate your ability to synthesise learning from previous modules. You will use this learning as the basis for planning, conducting and writing up a research or work-based project. This is the opportunity for you to demonstrate the ability to raise significant and meaningful questions in relation to your chosen topic and a critical understanding of research methods and their relationship to knowledge. You will also be in a position to develop solutions to ethical dilemmas likely to arise in your research or professional practice and to expand existing knowledge to contribute to the development of best practice.

Our course uses an imaginative range of approaches for you to demonstrate not only your developing knowledge and understanding of theoretical module content, but also your expanding skills from across disciplines for engaging and empowering professionals, families and children and young people with SEN themselves.

You’ll engage in collaborative assessments such as group presentations, alongside other methods like individual critical reflections and an extended evaluation of issues applied to your own unique context.

Our assignments have been designed to progress your learning, assessing your ability to communicate with clariyy both verbally and in written reports for a range of audiences. You’ll be expected to demonstrate an appropriate ability to meet academic conventions for Masters level study, with fluent and accurate Standard English and referencing.