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Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title Professionalism & Leadership in Education and Training
Module Code EDU1168 (ITS: ED9026)
Faculty Policy & Professional Practice School DCU Institute of Education
NFQ level 9 Credit Rating 15
Description

Students will have opportunities to engage with theories of practice, and classical and emerging perspectives on professionalism, and professional identity. They will be supported in the application of these to their own ‘practice’, as heuristic and hermeneutic frameworks, and as a means to identify the practice of leadership. Students are, in addition, facilitated in developing a critical understanding of selected aspects of the theory and practice of leaders and leadership in educational and other settings.Students are presented with background theory and evidence in order to analyse their lives and careers in leadership, their managerial practice, their work organisation and that of others.

Learning Outcomes

1. Critically engage with theories of practice, and use them to analyse personal and contextual professional practice
2. Interrogate conceptualisations of professional in public and academic discourse
3. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of key areas in contemporary theory and practice of leadership
4. Critically engage with a range theories and concepts of leadership as they apply to a variety of learning organisations and their own professional lives
5. Analyse the role and responsibility of leaders in education and articulate a clear personal statement of their leadership role
6. Differentiate between different models of educational leadership and critically evaluate the appropriate application of a model of leadership in their own educational context
7. Demonstrate an awareness of the challenges confronting leaders in different professional settings


WorkloadFull time hours per semester
TypeHoursDescription
Lecture16Formal input by the module coordinator to student group in lecture/seminar format.
Group work10Group activity focused on analysing key texts in through the lens of professional practice contexts.
Directed learning24Lecturer focused engagement with key research and practice knowledge
Online activity40Participant engagement in synchronous and/or asynchronous online discussion fora hosted on the DCU LOOP system .
Independent Study185Independent pursuit of relevant issues and ideas raised during the module. Participants will be expected to engage in reading and critical review of literature relevant to the module
Assignment Completion100Completion of research enhanced assignment focusing on either leadership or professional practice
Total Workload: 375
Section Breakdown
CRN11337Part of TermSemester 1 & 2
Coursework0%Examination Weight0%
Grade ScalePASS/FAILPass Both ElementsY
Resit CategoryRC1Best MarkN
Module Co-ordinatorJoe O'HaraModule TeacherAlan Gorman, Anne Looney, Nicola Broderick
Assessment Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
AssignmentA c. 5000 word assignment drawn from three options designed to demonstrate engagement with the module content and outcomes and their application to the particular professional settings of the participants. The titles will reflect the following:100%n/a
AssignmentLeadership, Leaders and Leading. An in-depth review of the literature on Leadership, Leading and Leaders, a summary explanation of case study methodology and finally a case study involving observation, and a key informant interview with a leader on what and how they led their organisation/department to a much higher level of performance. The case study must involve the triangulation of research data gathered on the leader’s performance and impact made.0%n/a
AssignmentOr Challenges to Professionalism An in-depth review of current literature on professionalism, drawing on the 20th century material as background; analysis of contestation within the participants’ context of professional practice using a model identified from the literature; consideration of emerging and potential directions for development within the profession under examination.0%n/a
Assignmentor Leading in the Professions A review of the literature on the professional identity of leaders, An interrogation of the challenges facing leaders in a particular professional context, and the impact of these on the identity and practice of leadership in that setting.0%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
RC1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module.
RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element.

* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite None
Co-requisite None
Compatibles None
Incompatibles None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Educational Theory
Problematising practice - an overview of modern and post-modern theories of practice The emergence of the Reflective Practitioner; models of reflective practice Conceptualising professional practice;classical and semi-professions; the role of professional knowledge and emergence of competence; professionals in the public and private contexts. Forming and maintaining professional identity ; autonomy and accountability; professional identity in education; the identities of emerging leaders. Introduction to leadership and leadership theories Role and expectation of leader in the education system Performance of leaders in education system Leadership qualities, principles and concepts Contextual examination of key leadership theories : Leadership for learning Distributed leadership Ethical and leadership International experiences and trends in educational leadership Challenge of diversity for leadership in educational settings Responsibility and accountability in education Education evaluation systems and leadership responsibility Emerging issues in education that shape and challenge the leader across a range of professional settings

Indicative Reading List

Books:
  • Bush, T.: 2010, Theories of Educational Leadership and Management., 4th edn, Sage Publications Ltd, London,
  • Bush, T., Bell, L., and Middlewood, D.: 2010, The Principles of Educational Leadership & Management, 2, Sage Publications Ltd, London,
  • Briggs,A., Coleman, M, and Morrison, M.: 2012, Research Methods in Educational Leadership and Management, Sage Publications Ltd., London,
  • Brundett, M. and Rhodes, C.: 2013, Researching Educational Leadership and Management, Sage Publications Ltd, London,
  • Davies, B.: 2015, The Essentials of School Leadership, Sage Publications Ltd., London,
  • Hargeaves, A. and Fink, D.: 2006, Sustainable Leadership, Jossey Bass., San Francisco,
  • Lambert, L.: 2005, Constructivist Leadership In Davies, B. The Essentials of School Leadership, Sage Publications Ltd, London, 112-13,
  • McDonald, E. & Shirley, D.: 2009, The Mindful Teacher, Teachers’ College Press, New York,
  • McNamara, G and O’Hara, J.: 2009, Ethical Leadership in the Age of Evaluation in Norman, J and DeSouza, M (eds) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing, Springer, Dordrecht, 943-96,
  • MacBeath, J and Dempster, N.: 2008, Connecting Leadership and Learning: Principles for Practice, Routledge, London,
  • Schon,D.: 1983, The Reflective Practitioner; How Professionals Think in in Action, Basic Publication, New York,
  • Wyatt-Smith, C. M., & Looney, A.: 2016, Professional standards and the assessment work of teachers, in Wyse,D., Hayward,L. and Pandaya,J. (eds.), The Sage handbook of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment., Sage Publications, London, 805–82,


Articles:
  • Bates, R: 2006, Culture and Leadership in Educational Administration: A historical study of what was and what might have been’, Journal of Educational Education and History, 38(2), 155-, 519948
  • 2017: ‘Evaluating the impact of distributed culturally responsive leadership in a disadvantaged rural primary school in Ireland, Educational Management and Administration, 1741143217739360, 519949, 1
  • Ethical School Leadership: Problems of an Elusive Role: Journal of School Leadership, 7( May), 287-3, 519950, 1, Evans, Linda,
  • British Journal of Education Studies,: 56(1), 20-28, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8527.2007.00392.x, 519951, 1, Sachs, J, 2016
  • 22(4): 413-4, https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1082732, 519952, 1, Shulman, L., 1998, Theory, Practice, and the Education of Professionals.
  • 511-5: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1002328, 519953, 1, Whitty, G., 2000, Teacher Professionalism in New Times’, Journal of In-Service Education
  • https://doi.org/10.1080/13674580000200121: 519954, 1, Wilkinson, J., & Kemmis, S., 2015, Practice Theory; Viewing leadership as leading, Educational Theory and Philosophy, 47(4), 342-3
Other Resources

None

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