Choose five 20-credit option units and the core unit ‘Leading for Change’:
Core unit:
Leading for Change: The unit aims to address the needs of new managers/leaders in health and social care who are working in a culture of constant change and service development. The unit aims to provide an opportunity to critically consider their role in leading themselves and others in a change environment. The focus is on how they can contribute to the development and maintenance of an effective learning culture within their organisation.
Option units:
Professional Supervision in Health and Social Care: Good supervision is at the heart of effective professional practice, and the rapidly changing context of health and social care means it is a complex and demanding activity. Through exploration of theory and research evidence the student will develop a critical knowledge base of the nature and context of supervision in their current environment. The unit will also encourage the student to reflect and evaluate their own practice and role in relation to their professional values and standards.
Improving Personal and Organisational Performance (IPOP): The unit aims to address the needs of new managers/leaders in health and social care who are working in a culture of constant change and service development. It will allow you to critically reflect on your existing competence in basic leadership skills developed as a result of experience or those typically found in organisation-based training programmes. You will be encouraged to identify your own skills and plan to improve these by setting personal and organisational objectives. Leading and managing in complex, ever changing, and financially challenged organisations requires flexible and adaptive professional leaders. This unit will encourage the student to explore their leadership capability starting with self, critically reflecting upon their impact and experience, developing a matched action plan focused on two objectives a personal professional, and organisational focused improvement outcomes.
Leading Integrated Services: The unit aims to explore leadership in the context of integrated care and service provision. It will focus on developing and sustaining new approaches to collaborative working; developing new roles and seamless person-centred provision through effective whole system leadership. There is an exploration of integrated care and leadership theory supporting the student to reflect upon their own capability and develop a plan for leading integrated service provision.
Evidencing Professional Learning (EPL) 1,2 & 3 (up to 3 times, 20 credit each): Learn to evaluate yourself as a lifelong learner and to apply learning outcomes in the complex and unpredictable professional context. You can take this unit up to three times on the course. All parts can be taken as work-based CPD units and combine what you’ve previously learnt before taking our Master’s level programme.
(Up to 40 credits from a social work undergraduate specialist programme may be used in a Recognition of Experiential Learning (RPEL) process against the EPL 1, 2 and 3 units.)
Self-leadership: This unit will enable you to increase your self-leadership capability and capacity to better manage self and others under the multiple pressures of the work environment. The development focus is upon the quality of the leaders thinking, creativity, and deeper self-awareness in the moment and ultimately developing advanced level professional leadership impact. Personal resilience and better relating within complex and critical situations is a fundamental goal of this leadership unit.
Strategic Leadership: The unit aims to address the needs of managers/leaders in health and social care who are working in a culture of constant change and service development. The unit aims to provide an opportunity for them to develop an understanding of the way in which health and social care is organised, lead and managed. Strategy is considered in respect of how it might be formulated and implemented locally but also to evaluate both national and local strategy. Being strategic within the organisation and in collaboration/integration with others is a key principle here.
Practice Observation (Self-managed): A feature of all professional development is not only to be able to identify and meet learning needs, but then to apply the acquired learning outcomes in practice. This unit aims to demonstrate that the student has met the required standards for practice at an appropriate level as identified by their appropriate professional bodies/standards. Content will consolidate knowledge and learning acquired and focus on evidencing critical integration of that knowledge with advanced practice, through direct observation of practice and reflective analysis.
Professional Reasoning and Judgement in Health and Social Care: This unit is aimed at health and social care professionals undertaking advanced practice roles with a desire to articulate and develop professional thinking, reasoning and judgment. The unit helps you develop expertise in critical thinking and informs your judgement and decision making processes. It helps develop a more holistic understanding of the complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty that characterises complex professional practice. The teaching and reflective activities explore what critical thinking should achieve in advanced practice, patterns of thinking, practical reasoning and judgement making, the influences on thinking, raising awareness and developing understanding and skills. The focus throughout the unit and in the assessed work is on developing sound thinking strategies and processes to help ourselves and others in the environment we work in.
Leading and Managing Teams: This unit is designed to enhance knowledge and skills on team leadership and management of those in leadership and management roles. You will be able to gain a systematic understanding of relevant literature including a critical awareness of current issues and recent research related to leading a team. This unit aims to address the needs of new managers and leaders in health and social care who have responsibilities for supervising or leading teams and will support you to develop the practical skills to manage a team.
