Inclusive Education MSc, PgDip (ICL), PgCert (ICL), PgDip

You will be taught through a combination of workshops, lectures, seminars, problem-based learning activities, debates and peer group learning. The Master's degree culminates in an independently researched dissertation for another 60 credits.

Compulsory courses:

• Sources of Knowledge
• Conceptualising research

And one of:

• Collaborative Working in Children’s Services
• Education for All
• Inclusive Pedagogy
• Teachers as Agents of Change

Option courses:

You will choose around four option courses (80 credits) from this range:

• Assessing pupils with visual impairment
• Audiology and audiometry
• Bilingual Learners and Additional Support Needs
• Bilingual Learners and Specific Learning Difficulties
• Collaborative working in children's services
• Comparative approaches to inclusive and special education
• Education for all
• Foundations of international child protection
• Inclusive Pedagogy
• Issues and strategies for teaching and learning (VI)
• Language and communication (deaf children)
• Teachers as agents of change
• Specific learning difficulties: Dyslexia
• An option course worth up to 40 credits from within the School of Education or from elsewhere in the University (at SCQF level 11), subject to approval by the Programme Director

Specialist Pathways for Teachers

Our part-time specialist pathways offer practising teachers a Postgraduate Diploma in teaching deaf, visually impaired or bilingual learners. You will meet the Scottish and English governments' mandatory qualification for teaching deaf and visually impaired children and gain greater insight into working with bilingual learners.

Courses particularly aligned to these pathways include:

• Cerebral Visual Impairment
• Inclusion of children with visual impairment: policy and practice
• Promoting achievement and curriculum access to deaf / bilingual learners
• Deaf Studies
• The developing bilingual learner
• Professional Placement

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

On successful completion of this programme you will be able to:

• Develop and appropriately apply knowledge, skills and attitudes relevant to inclusive education and the contexts in which it takes place.
• Reflect critically on the relationships between theory and practice and explore issues in the implementation of educational and social principles and ideals.
• Engage with and where appropriate influence policy issues and the practice of professionals in relation to the delivery of inclusive education.
• Develop extended skills in research and enquiry, including the use of literature, reviewing evidence, gathering, organising and evaluating data, responding to evidence and providing critical comment.

Suiting newly qualified teachers and experienced practitioners alike, this programme provides a qualification that can open doors to a new career in inclusive and special education or an advanced role in the field.

Many graduates continue or go on to become teachers in schools and further/higher education, taking on leadership positions in education, or specialist or peripatetic teaching posts in relation to visually impaired, deaf or bilingual learners. Some work with NGOs and third sector organisations, in policy positions in education, or go on to doctoral-level research.

It can also provide the foundations for a career in policy formation and development, as well as a broad range of highly transferable skills, such as communication and project management, which can be applied to roles in any field.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in a relevant discipline.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

You must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies, regardless of your nationality or country of residence.

English language tests

For 2020 entry we accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:

• IELTS: total 7.0 (at least 6.0 in each module and 6.5 in writing)

• TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 100 (at least 20 in each section and 23 in writing). We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements

• PTE Academic: total 67 (at least 56 in each of the "Communicative Skills" sections and 61 in writing)

• CAE and CPE: total 185 (at least 169 in each module and 176 in writing)

• Trinity ISE: ISE III with a pass in all four components

For 2021 entry we will accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified*:

• IELTS: total 7.0 (at least 6.0 in each module and 6.5 in writing)

• TOEFL-iBT (including Special Home Edition): total 100 (at least 20 in each section and 23 in writing). We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements

• CAE and CPE: total 185 (at least 169 in each module and 176 in writing)

• Trinity ISE: ISE III with a pass in all four components

*(Revised 21 February 2020 to remove PTE Academic from 2021 entry requirements. Revised 21 April 2020 to include TOEFL-iBT Special Home Edition in 2020 and 2021 entry requirements.)

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic or Trinity ISE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries.

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than three and a half years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK's governments. The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on your programme, the duration of your studies, and your residency status. (Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.)

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding