Moray House School of Education and Sport
Moray House School of Education and Sport
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Inclusive Education structure and pathways

In this MSc, you will develop your knowledge, understanding, and ability to critique research, policy, and practice relevant to social and educational inclusion.

2 boys in playground with teacher

Inclusive education is a complex endeavour. The term once referred to including students with disabilities in mainstream schools, but the concept has broadened over time. We now look at the issue the other way round and assume that all children will be fully included in mainstream classrooms and schools. 

This programme addresses the need for professionals who can respond to the increasing cultural, linguistic and developmental diversity of school communities. They must also be able to manage the pressure to achieve high academic standards for all while also  including those at risk of being marginalised or excluded. 

Three key points, distinctive to this MSc, define the programme’s approach and provide the context for deeper study within specific courses: 

  • Everybody’s different: We present a new way of thinking about diversity, beginning with the idea that difference is an ordinary aspect of human development, and every person is unique, with multiple overlapping identities. 

  • The transformability of people’s capacity to learn: We recommend rejecting notions of fixed ability. Learning is a social activity where teachers can and do act to enhance participation and achievement.  

  • New ways of working: We explore the roles of professionals and stakeholders in the widest sense of the context of meeting children’s and young people’s needs. This includes sharing specialist knowledge to enhance education for all and ensure no learners are marginalised or stigmatised. 

The programme covers topics from education, sociology, psychology, disability and childhood studies to help improve understanding of inclusion issues. 

Programme Structure

Masters degrees at the University of Edinburgh comprise 180 credits. For the first 120 credits, you will take compulsory and option courses. If you achieve an average mark of 50% or more, you can exit at this point with a Postgraduate Diploma. You may also choose to progress on to the master's degree by completing the dissertation component (60 credits). If you successfully complete all 180 credits, you will receive the MSc.  

You can study full-time for the master's degree. You can also study full-time or part-time for a Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits).  

Compulsory courses

Option courses

In addition to the compulsory courses, you will take 80 credits of option courses. Option courses change every year but have previously included: 

You may also choose any of these which you have not already selected as your compulsory course as an option course: 

Courses and course descriptions are subject to change each year. Those provided hereare indicative only. 

N.B. If taking the programme on a part-time intermittent basis, courses from outside the School may have different fees.  

Course Descriptions (2024-25)

We teach through a combination of workshops, lectures, seminars, problem-based learning activities, debates and peer group learning. Some courses have online as well as face-to-face teaching. We create the timetable to accommodate part-time students wherever possible. This means we may teach some courses in the evenings or at the weekend. 

This course gave me an opportunity to think critically and engage with concepts that were valuable to other courses. [The course organiser's] detailed responses to final course assessment was very helpful; I will be able to employ the recommendations to improve performance in future assessments.

Sources of Knowledge: Understanding and analysing research literature - nominated for Outstanding Course in the EUSA Teaching Awards 2021

Assessment

The programme assessment methods give you the chance to develop your academic and professional skills and graduate attributes. These methods include:  

  • essays 

  • presentations 

  • placement observations and portfolios  

  • a dissertation if you choose to progress to the MSc 

Assessment includes both formative feedback and summative assessment or examination. All courses offer feedback on an early piece of work. This often focuses on supporting academic writing. 

Dissertation

Once you successfully complete your taught courses, you may choose to progress to the MSc. This involves producing an independently researched dissertation. 

You will have one-to-one supervision while working on your dissertation. 

Specialist pathways for teachers

Our part-time specialist pathways offer practising teachers a Postgraduate Diploma in teaching deaf or visually impaired learners. Taught by qualified practitioners, graduates of these pathways will meet the Scottish and English governments' mandatory qualifications for teaching deaf and visually impaired children. 

You can choose to take the Postgraduate Diploma route on its own, or progress on to a Master's in Inclusive Education by completing a dissertation. 

Postgraduate Diploma routes are only available by part-time study. Therefore, they are only available to UK/EU students due to visa restrictions. 

Deaf Learners
This specialist pathway is designed for teachers who wish to gain the competencies for qualified teachers of deaf children. 

Visually Impaired Learners
This specialist pathway is designed for teachers who wish to gain the competencies for qualified teachers of visually impaired children.

Student support 

We allocate a Student Adviser to all students. The Adviser can offer guidance and pastoral support as needed.   

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