Overview
Combine your passions for health and education with our Higher Education Academy (HEA) accredited MSc in Medical and Healthcare Education. Prepare yourself to become an educational leader of the future in the healthcare sector.
Please note: This course will be going through revalidation in 2023, and there will be significant changes to the course modules.
Careers
The course is designed to support those already facilitating learning as part of their employment in the healthcare professions. However, nearly 50% of graduates from the course in the academic year 2016/17 reported that the course had helped them either secure a promotion within their current field, or had taken up a new role with a substantially more educational focus.
On this course you’ll develop an educational, training or mentoring role in your sector of healthcare. It’ll help your career path in education alongside clinical practice, enhancing your role in your team and enabling you to make a real difference.
It provides evidence to gain GP Trainer status and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
Modules & assessment
Year one, core modules
-
Introducing you to some of the key principles within medical and healthcare education. Encouraging you to reflect upon your own experiences, both as a learner and as an educator. Develop and enhance your own teaching practices, exploring principles, incorporating critical analysis of relevant literature. You’ll address practical aspects of teaching, from motivating learners through to designing effective learning resources to enhance your teaching strategies and we’ll provide guidance on planning, delivering and reflecting on teaching sessions to maximise the quality of your learning experience. There will be 5 taught workshops with further complementary resources and activities available online. Distance learners will have further resources and activities online which will be complimented with 5 webinars. The workshops and webinars will cover student engagement, teaching methods, student learning, assessment and feedback and reflective practice. You will be assessed through submission of a video of a taught session, a pre-session lesson plan with rationale and a post-session reflective piece.
-
Engage with fundamental questions concerning the aims, values and outcomes of education, within your sphere of practice. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on your role within the educational process and how your personal aims and values might influence your practice. You’ll explore incidences of when policy and practice are misaligned and the practical implications of this within your field, drawing on your understanding of educational theory to propose solutions. Face-to-face delivery will be across 5 workshops with further complementary resources and activities available online. Distance learners will have further resources and activities online which will be complimented with 5 webinars. The workshops and webinars will cover values in education, curriculum design, the hidden curriculum, evaluation of education and lifelong learning. The assignment consists of two parts; submission of a poster, reflecting on how an educational thinker has influenced your practice and submission of essay, exploring an element of the ‘hidden curriculum’, the potential effects of this on your students, and suggestions for how this can, or should, be addressed. The summative assessment for the module is in two parts; a 15-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute oral defence of the research proposal and the completion of the faculty's stage 1 ethics form.
Year one, optional modules
-
Developed for those involved in, or interested in, developing and leading simulation-based learning within medical and healthcare education. Delivered using blended learning, you’ll be encouraged to critically explore the evidence base behind the use of simulation in medical education, before attending 2 workshops based in our state-of-the-art Simulation Suite here at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford Campus. During these workshops you’ll experience simulation sessions as both a learner and facilitator, allowing you to see how the theoretical concepts behind simulation are applied in practice. You’ll be supported through the design and development of a simulation-based learning activity for your specific context and, in a final follow-up workshop, you’ll lead a session with your fellow students acting as co-facilitators and learners. Assessment for this module consists of the design and development of the participant-led simulation session, including; a session plan with a rationale for the learning theories chosen to underpin the design and justification for its need within their sphere of practice; an observation of the delivery of the participants planned session, with peer and tutor feedback; a critical evaluation and reflection on the design and delivery of their simulation-based learning activity, highlighting the learning you've taken from this process and recommendations for your future development within this field.
-
Develop specialist techniques required for your role in medical and healthcare education. You’ll have the opportunity to explore 5 techniques (of ten offered) that you believe will benefit your practice. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on how you might use these techniques to address identified areas for development in your practice and benefit your students’ learning. Face-to-face delivery will be across five workshops with further complementary resources and activities available online. Distance learners will have further resources and activities online which will be complimented with five webinars. Workshops and webinars may include; mentoring and motivational interviewing, coaching, teaching in the clinical environment, high stakes assessment, OSCE design and development, faculty development in the health professions, leadership in healthcare education, technology enhanced learning, teaching and assessing professionalism and education support and resilience. The assessment takes a patchwork approach, with each workshop having its own assessment and then a final integrative reflection at the end of the module.
-
This model consists of four elements: effective decision-making, adoption of a global approach, creation of a new business paradigm and a contemporary mission. It also considers the related concept of mis-leadership, which looks at how leaders have often failed to achieve the optimum outcomes for those they lead. Leaders predominantly create context and this module will explore the skills required to successfully mould and develop the context in a chaotic environment. This module is delivered via distance learning and is therefore not available for tier 4 visa holders.
-
Advance your decision making skills through critical reflection, with the help of a 'critical friend'. This is a specialist designated module for the Management and Leadership in Health and Social Care course. Current health and social care policy and the modernisation of the NHS, and other international models demands new ways of working across traditional boundaries, and the implementation of national targets at local level. This requires the development of roles for confident autonomous practitioners, who possess the knowledge and skills to implement complex decisions in a rapidly changing environment and to play key roles in service development. You’ll need to be able to utilise practical decision making skills within an area of professional knowledge and to develop strategies to facilitate the implementation of the outcomes of the decision making process into practice, either as an individual or within a team/organisation. Management of change and service development are seen as core elements of the module, together with the enhancement of professional judgment and leadership.
Year two, core modules
-
Designed to give you the tools you need in order to identify and plan research to address a real world problem within your practice, or address a gap in the existing knowledge within your field. It’s designed for participants from across the Faculty which is reflected in the diverse content including: evaluating literature, designing research questions, systematic review procedures, qualitative and quantitative research methods and data analysis, issues of rigour and ethical considerations in research. We’ll provide a framework for you to propose and justify a research question and design appropriate to your professional practice.
-
As a central component of the Masters award, the major project provides you with the opportunity to address a suitable research problem or gap in the knowledge within your practice. Through synthesis of your learning from pervious modules, you’ll be able to plan a research project, including the selection of appropriate methods of data collection and analysis, execute the design, and communicate your findings in a suitable manner. You’ll be supported through this process by a supervisor with appropriate expertise.
Assessment
Your assessment will be constructively aligned with your teaching practice. You’ll be both formatively and summatively assessed in each module through; lesson plans, teaching observations, reflective essays and poster presentations, as well as, academic papers, oral presentations, blogs and vlogs.
Where you'll study
Your faculty
The Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care is the largest in ARU, with over 7,000 students. Our Faculty is teeming with expertise and primed to meet the demand for creating health professionals, teachers, doctors, scientists and educators for the three districts we serve: Chelmsford, Cambridge and Peterborough.
We have been training undergraduates for professional roles for over 25 years, with a reputation for quality, dedication and ambition balanced with student satisfaction.
We know that to give our students the very best experiential learning, prior to getting into the workplace, simulation is second to none, for safe, realistic, learning environments. We have invested heavily in purpose built simulated wards, science labs and skills space, to support our students through their learning.
Where can I study?
Fees & funding
Course fees
Distance learning students starting 2022/23 (part-time, per year)
£3,650
Distance learning students starting 2023/24 (part-time, per year)
£3,850
Important fee notes
The part-time course fee assumes that you're studying at half the rate of a full-time student (50% intensity). Course fees will be different if you study over a longer period. All fees are for guidance purposes only.
How do I pay my fees?
UK students
You can pay your fees upfront, in full or in instalments – though you won't need to pay until you've accepted an offer to study with us. Find out more about paying your fees.
International students
You can pay your fees upfront, in full or in two instalments. We will also ask you for a deposit of £4,000 or a sponsorship letter. Details will be in your offer letter.
Funding for postgraduate students
It’s important to decide how to fund your course before applying. Use our finance guide for postgraduate students to learn more about postgraduate loans and other funding options.
International students
As well as a number of scholarships, we offer an early payment discount. Explore your options:
Entry requirements
Main
Candidates will have up to two years post-professional registration/experience and a minimum of a 2:2 degree honours.
Students must be registered practitioners in the field of health or social care. It is anticipated therefore that students undertaking the course will currently be employed in professional practice and will be engaged in facilitating teaching and learning as part of their professional role. Non-graduates with extensive relevant practical and continuing professional development experience will be offered the opportunity to complete the Non-Graduate Entry Profile in accordance with the University regulations with guidance from the Pathway leader/Programme leader.
If English is not your first language you will be expected to demonstrate a certificated level of proficiency of at least IELTS 6.5 (Academic level- with no individual score being lower than 5.5) or equivalent English Language qualification, as recognised by Anglia Ruskin University.
Important additional notes
Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.
Other equivalent qualifications may be accepted for entry to this course; please email answers@aru.ac.uk for further information or check our information about undergraduate entry qualifications.
You'll need a computer and reliable internet access to successfully engage with your course. Before starting a course, we recommend that you check our technical requirements for online learning.
Teaching at ARU
We offer face-to-face campus teaching (with the exception of Distance Learning courses), supported by our established online learning systems, which provide additional support for individual study and engagement. The number of contact hours varies course by course, and you can contact us for further information.
In the event that there are restrictions that are put into place due to the pandemic by the government - we will endeavour to retain face to face teaching as much as possible but will respond accordingly to the restrictions placed on the University.
International students
We welcome applications from international students for the part-time distance learning programme.
English language requirements
If English is not your first language, you'll need to make sure you meet our English language requirements for postgraduate courses.
Check the section 'Standard entry requirements' for IELTS requirements for this course.
