How my Education Masters benefitted me and my school

“I learnt a lot about myself as a teacher and middle manager and feel I really grew during my time completing the Masters degree.”

Emma Le Prevost is Head of Dance at a secondary school and sixth form in Epsom. Emma completed her PGCE at the University of Brighton in 2017 and recently returned to the university to study the Education MA.

We chatted with Emma to learn more about her career as a teacher, her decision to study again and the impact the Education MA has had on her and her school.  

Starting my career as a teacher

After graduating in the Summer of 2017 from my PGCE I decided to take up employment as a cover supervisor with two different agencies in Sussex and spent a term and a half going into fifteen or so different secondary schools to cover lessons due to staff absence. Sometimes these lessons were in my subject specialism of dance and PE, although more often than not it was subjects I had little knowledge of.

My first full-time job in teaching was at a secondary school and sixth form in Guildford and I was employed as a PE teacher for the first term and a half, then dance/performing arts and PE for the next full academic year. This position came with its ups and downs, especially trying to teach five subjects in my first year, but I absolutely loved working there and learnt so much from so many incredible teachers.

My current role

I am currently employed as Head of Dance, and teach some PE, in a secondary school and sixth form in Epsom, having had this role for five years.

When writing down my career goals during my teacher training, becoming Head of Dance and running my own department was at the top. To say that I’ve achieved that goal is amazing and I’m so grateful for the support I receive in being able to create opportunities for dance within the school.

Since being employed at the school I have successfully; increased numbers at GCSE level, introduced BTEC Performing Arts/Dance into the Sixth Form with good numbers, introduced KS3 Dance to the curriculum as a stand-alone subject, built and manage a bespoke Dance Academy with high level coaches who run sessions in a range of dance styles, created a safe space for boys to engage with and participate in dance, produced three elite competition teams who compete at both regional and national level dance competitions and created an annual dance show which is held at a local theatre. Dance is thriving at our school, both in and out of the curriculum; it’s truly wonderful to see so many students share my passion for dance and engage with it on a daily basis.

Why I chose to do a masters

I initially decided to complete a Masters in Education because I enjoyed the Masters level writing during my PGCE year. I believe the best teachers remain students and I’ve always loved learning, researching and academic reading therefore, completing a Masters degree made sense at this point in my career.

Why I chose Brighton

Having completed my PGCE at the University of Brighton, I already held Masters credits with the university and as such, it made logical sense to continue my learning there. It also meant I could come into the part time MA in year 2 and not have to complete year 1.

I did consider other universities closer to where I live, however returning to a university I already knew gave me comfort.

Working and studying was challenging

Trying to juggle full time work and part time study for two years amidst a global pandemic was extremely challenging. Quite honestly, it was really tough but so rewarding.

I look back on those two years and think ‘how did I manage it?’. However, I think when you’re passionate about something and find it really interesting, you’ll always find the time.

The Masters degree fed into my daily work which really helped me to not see it as something surplus to my career, but something which was supporting my development as a teacher. It also helped me understand the importance of research in schools. Sometimes it did become very all consuming, so remembering to take breaks from studying was important for me too.

The Brighton learning experience

The learning environment was positive, supportive, thought provoking and encouraged you to think hard. Collaboration was a key part of each lecture and this stimulated discussion between teachers and students from different settings. Resources were always organised and available for us before, during and after each lecture. Lecture information was communicated to us in good time and we had a variety of different lecturers which made the learning much more interesting.

The course team were absolutely brilliant; they have a wealth of knowledge they are keen to impart and encourage you to work at your absolute best. They are friendly, approachable and understand the difficulties you may face during your studies. I felt hugely supported during my time completing the Masters in Education at the University of Brighton, my dissertation supervisor in particular knew the correct balance of pushing me and supporting me to ensure I kept developing as both a researcher and teacher.

My MA research project

The title of my research project and dissertation was ‘Boys dance… don’t they? An action research project exploring how to increase boys’ participation and engagement in extracurricular dance provision in secondary education’.

I chose this title because I’d noticed there were zero boys choosing to engage in our extensive extracurricular dance offer. I believe that dance is for everyone, regardless of gender, ability or experience and as such wanted to explore how to increase the participation and engagement in dance from boys in my school. There are so many skills students can learn through dance so I wanted to understand the reasoning behind boys not engaging with dance, learn what the potential barriers might be and implement strategies to overcome this.

How my research changed dance at my school

At the time of completing my Masters degree, we had eight weekly dance extracurricular sessions in a range of styles and there were zero boys who attended. We delivered dance in a three-week block on the rotation of sports in PE during Years 7 & 8, but this wasn’t always delivered and as such students’ experiences of dance varied greatly.

The research project allowed me to understand the barriers boys may face when engaging with and participating in dance in secondary schools through wider research and asking my participants. This provided me with a very real view of what school is like for these students, especially in relation to societal norms. I discussed with the participants which strategies might encourage more boys into participating and then implemented these strategies to analyse levels of engagement.

Without completing the research in my school, I would not have known how to engage boys in dance in my setting and therefore not gained the participation levels I have now. At present we have 10 boys in Year 7 and 8 who attend dance extracurricular clubs and have a male dance specialist who teaches them weekly. I’m also hopeful that these numbers will continue to grow over the next few years.

My research project helped to create a culture of acceptance within my school and as a community, seeing boys dance is not only celebrated, but encouraged.

Completing the Masters in Education also gave my curriculum proposal for dance becoming a stand-alone offering in our KS3 curriculum weighting. Senior leaders and governors could see the academic research underpinning my reasoning for introducing dance at this level.

Whilst I do think KS3 Dance would have still happened without me completing a Masters degree, it might have taken much longer to do so. So far this academic year, all students, including boys, have engaged brilliantly with Dance as part of their KS3 curriculum and I’m really proud of its success in the first half term.

My advice to future Education MA students

• Be realistic about whether you can commit to the Education MA at this point in your career and life. It’s such a rewarding course but does place high demands on you in terms of time and concentration.

• If you can, speak to someone who has completed a Masters and ask them lots of questions. Their real experience will be invaluable to hear about.

• Think about what you’d like to focus your research on before you apply. What is the ‘stone in your shoe’? Ask yourself why this is the case and then ask yourself how the Masters course could assist in removing said ‘stone’.

• Speak to your employer about completing a Masters degree. My school were highly supportive of me wanting to continue my studies and I’d hope other establishments would be too.

• Consistency is key! When it comes to workload, doing 30 minutes every couple of days is better than leaving 3 hours of work for the weekend – trust me.

Learn more about the Education MA at Brighton.