Ferdinand Doepel, MA Educational Leadership (in-service)

I completed my MA Educational Leadership at UCL in 2021, having been a part-time student while working as Head of Economics and Business at an independent school in South London.

I had long considered doing an MA and had purposefully not pursued one at an earlier stage, as I wanted to ensure I had enough practical experience of leadership in an education setting before proceeding to deepen my understanding of the theory behind my daily practice.

My rationale for pursuing an MA in Educational Leadership was threefold. Firstly, I really wanted to gain a more thorough grasp of the research that underpins teaching in a secondary school. I wanted to try and bridge the McIntyre Gap, i.e. the gap between research and practice. While one can do this without pursuing a postgraduate degree, I felt that the programme would offer me the perfect opportunity to ensure I dedicate the necessary time and effort to an area that unfortunately often gets left on the backburner, even though it of course should play a far more central role in a career within the education sector.

The second reason was that I wanted to meet others on the programme, both to help me broaden my understanding of different educational settings, an area in which this programme offers unparalleled potential, and also build my network within the sector. Getting to know others on the programme was without a shadow of a doubt one of the highlights of my time studying at UCL. As so much else at the time, much of this interaction unfortunately moved online in March 2020 due to the global pandemic.

The final rationale for my pursuit of this degree was that I hoped it would help me stand out in a very competitive labour market, as the senior leadership positions within the secondary education sector are few and far between. While it certainly helped to have an MA on my CV when securing my current role as Assistant Head Academic at Wimbledon High School, what was more important than the title was the ability to approach things from leader’s perspective as a result of having taken the Leading and Managing Change and Improvement module.

I am pleased to have completed the programme at UCL. The quality of the teaching was excellent, with the lecturers being experts in their respective fields. One real positive was the ability to tailor all assignments and most discussions to a context that was relevant to you. It really made sure that the theory that we learnt was applicable to my context and could be actioned effectively.

Finally, I immensely appreciated the understanding and flexibility that was shown when it came to the assignments, as it can be tricky to complete an MA while working full time. The compassion and willingness to adapt that the faculty showed at a time of great uncertainty was very welcome.