This course engages with the frontiers of educational change by exploring collaborative processes for improving educational systems. The course begins by exploring theoretical and historical perspectives on educational change to demonstrate the emergence of collaboration as a prominent force now underpinning much of the improvement work undertaken at a systems level within the field of education. This course will then focus on the many actors and the diverse collaborative arrangements for sustaining educational improvement. The course concludes by exposing students to innovative methodological approaches for exploring educational systems to understand both directive and collaborative approaches to improvement. In this final phase of the course, students will engage with empirical examples of collaborative improvement within the United Kingdom and several other international contexts.

Weekly

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Three summative written assessments. Two of the summative assessments will be 1,500-word essays and the third summative assessment will be a 1,000-word critical reflection of an existing piece of published research. 100% of the final grade will be based on the average of these three scores (weighted 35%, 35%, 30%).

■ To explore international trends and national movements in educational change to recognize the emergence of collaboration as an important lever for sustainable educational improvement.

■ To understand the principles of collaborative change and improvement.

■ To expose students to the diverse collective of actors participating in educational change for collaborative improvement.

■ To recognize and critique new forms of collaborative governance arrangements in education.

■ To examine different methodological approaches for engaging with educational systems.

■ Critically analyse directive, collaborative, and mixed approaches to educational change for collaborative improvement.

■ Demonstrate an understanding for the complexity of educational systems attempting to generate change for collaborative improvement in local and international contexts.

■ Compare and contrast different methodological approaches for exploring and understanding the directive and collaborative processes of educational systems.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.