Master of Educational Leadership
Postgraduate | ACU-ELD-MAS | 2019
Course information for 2019 intake View information for 2024 course intake
Become a leader in educational management.
Enhance your leadership capacity within a professional context. Explore theories of educational leadership, management and administration. Specialise in areas including Catholic educational leadership, Indigenous leadership and executive leadership.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Total subjects
- 12
- Price from
- $25,200
- Available loans
- Australian Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)
Master of Educational Leadership
About this degree
Specialist areas leading to a named specialisation:
- Catholic Educational Leadership
- Leading Learning
- Indigenous Leadership
- Executive Leadership
The Master of Educational Leadership course at the Australian Catholic University is a values underpinned, research driven, practically orientated program designed to support the capabilities of current and aspiring educational leaders wishing to enhance their leadership capacity within the context of their professional settings and the Australian national standards. Participants explore theories of educational leadership, management and administration, and learn to apply them appropriately to their own contexts including Catholic and faith-based educational organisations defined as those organisations affiliated with a religious group or established Church (Buckingham, 2010).
Taught by active researchers and experienced practitioners, this course explicitly integrates theory and practice to enable graduates to apply the latest research, and the knowledge and skills to improve their organisations with effective leadership informed by defensible ethical and moral principles.
The course has been designed to enable participants with varying leadership and career circumstances to select appropriate units to meet their needs. Alumni have been successful in gaining promotion and/or admission to doctoral study. The program is flexibly delivered in response to participants’ needs, organisational dynamics and unique contexts. Participants design and implement a leadership project as part of a culminating capstone.
Award requirements
Students admitted under Admission Requirement A:
Pathway 1 (120 cp)
To qualify for the Master of Educational Leadership, a student must complete 120 cp from the schedule of subject offerings, consisting of:
- 20 cp from Specified Educational Leadership subjects;
- 70 cp from the Schedule of Unit Offerings with a maximum of 40 credit points of elective subjects;
- 30 cp from capstone subjects.
*Students may take electives drawn from the schedule of subject offerings and/or other units drawn from relevant ACU postgraduate programs; or by cross-institutional study with prior approval of the course coordinator. A maximum of 40 cp of elective units can be at 500-level.
Pathway 2 (120 cp)
To qualify for the Master of Educational Leadership degree with a named specialisation in:
- Catholic Educational Leadership
- Leading Learning
- Indigenous Leadership
- Executive Leadership
A student must complete 120 cp from the schedule of subject offerings, consisting of:
- 20 cp from Specified Educational Leadership subjects;
- 40 cp from one Specialisation group;
- 30 cp from electives*;
- 30 cp from capstone units (the capstone must relate to specialisation)
* Students may take electives drawn from the schedule of subject offerings (listed) and/or other units drawn from relevant ACU postgraduate programs; or by cross-institutional study with prior approval of the course coordinator. A maximum of 30 cp of elective units can be at 500-level.
Students admitted under Admission Requirement B:
Pathway 3 (160 cp)
- 20 cp from Specified Educational Leadership subjects;
- 70 cp from one Specialisation group;
- 40 cp from electives*;
- 30 cp from capstone subjects
* Students may take electives drawn from the schedule of subject offerings (listed) and/or other units drawn from relevant ACU postgraduate programs; or by cross-institutional study with prior approval of the course coordinator. A maximum of 40 cp of elective units can be at 500-level.
Established in 1991 after amalgamating four eastern Australian Catholic tertiary institutes, Australian Catholic University now has seven campuses, from Brisbane to Melbourne and welcomes students of all beliefs. Specialising in arts, business, education, health sciences, law, theology and philosophy, ACU encourages its students to think critically and ethically and bring change to their communities and offer this online through Open Universities Australia.
Learn more about ACU.
Explore ACU courses.
- QS Ranking 2024:
- 34
- Times Higher Education Ranking 2024:
- 29
How to apply
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Complete your details and we'll make sure your enquiry is sent to Australian Catholic University who will contact you to discuss this degree.
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Entry requirements
To be eligible for admission to the course, an applicant must have completed the following prerequisites:
- Admission Requirement A: Bachelor degree in education or bachelor degree and a recognised teaching qualification; OR
- Admission Requirement B: Bachelor degree in an area other than education.
IELTS overall score of 7.0. Individual score of 6.0 in all tests.
Career opportunities
The Master of Educational Leadership is for teachers and administrators who want to enhance their professional practice and become leaders in their school community or organisation. The Master of Educational Leadership is the next step towards becoming an educational leader.
Career outlook
- Education Advisers and Reviewers:
- $93K to $120K
- School Principals:
- Unknown average