About This Course
Who is this course for?
This micro-credential course is for educators in school leadership positions and individuals leading on eco matters within their schools.
When will I start?
We will be offering two different start dates for this micro-credential course - September and January.
What is the length of the course?
50 hours (7.5 hours scheduled teaching; 42.5 hours guided independent study)
Why study this course?
This course provides an opportunity for participants to not only influence fellow staff, but to educate the next generation of young people into a better, more sustainable way of living. It will be assessed by the submission of work that you will also be able to use practically as part of your change journey.
Tutor
Jeremy Griffths
Jeremy has 38 years’ experience working in secondary, primary and special school settings. He has been a headteacher in three different primary age schools and is currently a senior lecturer at ÌìÌì³Ô¹Ï.
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
The notion of sustainable leadership in education has been written about for several decades (Hargreaves & Fink, 2005). However, never has there been such urgency to bring about environmental change for the future well-being and survivability of future generations of humanity. This includes leaders at all levels and in every facet of lives. Arguably, schools and their students will play a vital role in finding solutions to a potential global environment catastrophe. Therefore, leaders must…
- be enabled to develop best practice and role model sustainability to their students and stakeholders
- develop teaching and learning for sustainability as part of every aspect of the curriculum and not just as a bolt-on; and
- listen to the voice of young people and local communities with the drive and capability to safeguard the future.
In this module, you will have the opportunity to learn about sustainable leadership and why it is important, as well as how to influence others to adopt sustainable practices. You will consider the impact of leadership decisions on the environment, society and the organisation's desired outcomes. You will learn how to manage change effectively, and use these skills to positively influence your colleagues to adopt sustainable practices in the workplace.
Learning Aims
- Assess and investigate sustainable leadership practices that are economically, socially and environmentally just and ethical.
- Critically evaluate theories of change management to best implement sustainable practices.
How will this course be delivered?
- This microcredit course will be delivered through a variety of online materials and recordings, hosted on the ÌìÌì³Ô¹Ï Virtual Learning Environment, Blackboard.
- Students will have opportunities to collaborate with each other through the Blackboard online forums and discussion groups.
- Each week new material will be made available to students in the form of videos, reading material, self-study tasks and practical activities.
- Guidance will be given to support students towards successfully completing their work-related assessment task towards the end of the module.
Course Cost
- The fee for the 2025/26 academic year will be £264.00 (including VAT).
- Please see our Postgraduate Fees and Finance page for further information.
Entry Requirements
Prospective applicants should hold an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject (of 2(ii) or above).
If you do not meet the academic requirements detailed above but have at least 3 years of relevant work experience and have evidence of recent study or professional development (to demonstrate an ability to study at level 7) we may consider your application.
Application
How to Apply
Please make sure you read and follow the step-by-step application guide as this will specify which sections of the application form are compulsory for the type of course you want to apply for and save you time.
Please prepare the following information (in a Word document):
- Current employment details;
- Years of experience, and employment history (where relevant)
- Name of staff member and organisation that have approved your funding for this module.
This will speed up the process of completing the application form.
To apply for this course, you need to create an account in our
You will need access to the email address you specify while creating your account to confirm it.
After creating an account, you will see a homepage with several tabs:
- Personal
- Programme
- Info
- Contact
- Education
- Employment
- Language
- Finance
You need to complete all sections before submitting your application.
When a section is complete, a ‘tick’ symbol will appear below it.
- Click on ‘Non-graduating applications / Stand alone Modules’, then select ‘Non-graduating Postgraduate Taught’.
- In the next section, select Non-Graduating Taught Modules in Education(NGGT/EDU) Click Save and Continue.
- On the next page, the default for the first question is Full Time. You need to change this to ‘Part time’:
- You now need to input the module code. For Micro-credential: Sustainable Leadership in Education 1 – Making the Change, the code for September is XME-4105 and the code for January is XME-4491. This section must be completed for your application to be processed.
- You also need to state the start date. This course runs twice per year (September and January). Please select one of these options, then click ‘Save and Continue’.
- IMPORTANT: You do not need to write a personal statement to apply for this course. Instead, please upload the document including employment, experience and education information that you have created prior to starting the application that contains the name of your current employer, the number of years of experience you have, and your highest qualification to date. Click Save and continue.
You only need to enter the details of your highest qualification to date, e.g. if you have a postgraduate qualification, please only only include this.
You will be asked for evidence of the qualification. Please either upload a copy of your qualification if it's easily accessible, or upload the Word document again (that you prepared earlier).
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘I have no employment history’ (as you have already provided this in your Word document).
If you are self-funding, please provide all details as appropriate.