About this course
Students taking this short course will have opportunities to develop their personal and collegiate communication skills in a constructive team setting, and to reflect upon resource management in theory and in practice.
Equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as accessibility - fundamental tenets of the educational landscape - will be considered, and attention paid to sustainable management of schools.
This short course aims -
- To provide participants with opportunities to consider theoretical approaches such as those of Honey & Mumford, and of Kolb.
- To enable participants to understand apply the concepts of team roles, team growth and team effectiveness through a study of the work of Belbin and others.
- To introduce participants to the concept, philosophy and methods of Public Management and to provide an opportunity to examine related issues such as deregulation, privatisation, entrepreneurship and reengineering of schools, which emanate from the wider socio-political environment.
- To equip participants with a body of knowledge that will enable them to reflect on concepts, theories and models which influence resource management both country wide and in their own institution.
Building Teams:
Many organisations require staff to collaborate or cooperate within teams to complete tasks. Some schools are moving from rigid hierarchical structures towards more flexible units and, increasingly, teams are being used to accomplish organisational objectives such as those set out in the School Development Plan. For example, a group of teachers may be tasked with investigating one aspect of the School Development Plan, collating data, and preparing and presenting a report. Although for some, acquisition of new skills will be necessary, resultant advantages may include shared workload, capacity building, and a growing sense of team ownership ensuring that agreed objectives are vigorously pursued.
Managing Resources:
Public Management reforms have brought private sector management practices and private companies into the public sector. As a result, educational institutions receive and manage finance and resources. School management systems, school improvement strategies, market-oriented efforts, accountability, and the emergence of Public Private Partnerships emphasise the importance of the management of financial, human and material resources. Education managers have a specific responsibility to ensure that resource management, through the budgetary process, links directly to improvements in teaching and learning. Thus, budgetary decisions are not seen as separate from curricular and pedagogic issues; rather, among other things,there is emphasis on the efficient and effective use of resources, value for money, equity for pupils, and linkage between educational outcomes and resource allocation. To fulfil this task education managers need to analyse, evaluate and review resource management practices in line with the changing environment in which educational institutions operate.
Linked programmes
MEd Education with Specialisms,
PgDip School Leadership,
PG Cert Professional Development.
Assessment
Assignment 1 (Coursework) [50%]
Part A
Written Assignment.
Part B
Individual 7 minute presentation.
Assignment 2 (Coursework) [50%]
Written Assignment
Part B
Video Presentation
Attendance
This course is delivered fully online over 12 weeks in Semester 1, starting September 2026, with no on-campus attendance requirements.
* Please note, dates and timetabling are to be confirmed and may be subject to change.
Entry requirements
Applicants must normally:
(a) have gained
(i) a degree from a university of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, from the Council for National Academic Awards, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, or from an institution of another country which is recognised as being of an equivalent standard; or
(ii) an equivalent standard (normally 50%) in a Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate, Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma or an approved alternative qualification, e.g. a professional qualification; and
(b) be currently working in a teaching or training environment
(please note: this Short Coursedoes not qualify you as a teacher).
English Language Requirements
Applicants whose first language is not English must meet the minimum English entrance requirements of the University and will need to provide recent evidence of this (certified within the last two years).
Most of our courses require a minimum English level of IELTS 6.0 or equivalent, with no band score under 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement.
Additional information on English language requirements for admission at Ulster University, is available at - www.ulster.ac.uk/global/apply/english-language-requirements
Start dates
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
The content for each course is summarised on the relevant course page, along with an overview of the modules that make up the course.
Each course is approved by the University and meets the expectations of:
Attendance and Independent Study
As part of your course induction, you will be provided with details of the organisation and management of the course, including attendance and assessment requirements - usually in the form of a timetable. For full-time courses, the precise timetable for each semester is not confirmed until close to the start date and may be subject to some change in the early weeks as all courses settle into their planned patterns. For part-time courses which require attendance on particular days and times, an expectation of the days and periods of attendance will be included in the letter of offer. A course handbook is also made available.
Courses comprise modules for which the notional effort involved is indicated by its credit rating. Each credit point represents 10 hours of student effort. Undergraduate courses typically contain 10, 20, or 40 credit modules (more usually 20) and postgraduate courses typically 15 or 30 credit modules.
The normal study load expectation for an undergraduate full-time course of study in the standard academic year is 120 credit points. This amounts to around 36-42 hours of expected teaching and learning per week, inclusive of attendance requirements for lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical work, fieldwork or other scheduled classes, private study, and assessment. Teaching and learning activities will be in-person and/or online depending on the nature of the course. Part-time study load is the same as full-time pro-rata, with each credit point representing 10 hours of student effort.
Postgraduate Master’s courses typically comprise 180 credits, taken in three semesters when studied full-time. A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) comprises 60 credits and can usually be completed on a part-time basis in one year. A 120-credit Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) can usually be completed on a part-time basis in two years.
Class contact times vary by course and type of module. Typically, for a module predominantly delivered through lectures you can expect at least 3 contact hours per week (lectures/seminars/tutorials). Laboratory classes often require a greater intensity of attendance in blocks. Some modules may combine lecture and laboratory. The precise model will depend on the course you apply for and may be subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. Prospective students will be consulted about any significant changes.
Assessment
Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes. You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.
Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module. Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.
Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task. The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.
Calculation of the Final Award
The class of Honours awarded in Bachelor’s degrees is usually determined by calculation of an aggregate mark based on performance across the modules at Levels 5 and 6, (which correspond to the second and third year of full-time attendance).
Level 6 modules contribute 70% of the aggregate mark and Level 5 contributes 30% to the calculation of the class of the award. Classification of integrated Master’s degrees with Honours include a Level 7 component. The calculation in this case is: 50% Level 7, 30% Level 6, 20% Level 5. At least half the Level 5 modules must be studied at the University for Level 5 to be included in the calculation of the class.
All other qualifications have an overall grade determined by results in modules from the final level of study.
In Masters degrees of more than 200 credit points the final 120 points usually determine the overall grading.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
Academic profile
The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 60% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.
Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (19%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (22%) or Lecturers (57%).
We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic and learning support staff (85%) are recognised as fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advance HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.
The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise. The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff. This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.
Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
