Partner Details

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts

Awards

Target Award

Award Description:Master of Arts - MA
Alternative Exit
Alternative Exit

Programme Offerings

Full-Time

F2F-LPA-SEP

Educational Aims of the Course

Advance, renew and develop existing practice and critically evaluate its efficacy and future direction in the context of industry conditions.

Develop a professional career plan and initiate opportunities informed by knowledge at the forefront of your academic and professional discipline.

Develop strategies for investigation in the arts through the drafting and refining of questions and premises, knowledge of documenting performance making and the ability to reason on the basis of evidence.

Learning Outcomes

1.
Critically evaluate complex perspectives in current critical debates, concepts and discourses in advanced acting practice
2.
Develop and apply documentation to disseminate their practice
3.
Design and conduct research and present findings
4.
Collaborate on and communicate creative intentions in a complex, sophisticated professional performing arts working environment
5.
Engage, using sophisticated strategies, in the creative process recognizing a wide range of approaches
6.
Negotiate the challenges of working in complex and unpredictable situations e.g. making decisions independently or in dialogue with peers and/or external bodies
7.
Engage with relevant industries and develop as a collaborator, working skilfully and professionally with others and contributing to effective project management
8.
Reflect upon personal development and engage in professional career planning
9.
Evaluate a wide range of advanced discipline techniques and engage in sophisticated judgement in their use
10.
Debate comprehensively the condition of the performing arts economies and its platforms, partners and networks
11.
Critically interrogate practice as research
12.
Critically compare and evaluate relevant theoretical knowledge and its impact upon advanced acting and performance practice
13.
Critically evaluate and reflect upon their own and others’ relevant current practice
14.
Systematically gather evidence and evaluate its significance and propose conclusions
15.
Observe and analyse a range of contemporary theatre and performance and evaluate practice
16.
Practise specialist acting and other theatre skills and techniques in the process of performing or facilitating and making of performance

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

At Masters level we have the expectation that students operate in complex situations or face complex problems which require sophisticated judgement. That judgement should be clearly explained by reference to appropriate evidence. In addition, there should be clear engagement with new and emergent areas in their chosen field.

FHEQ descriptors are clear in this regard “deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences” (FHEQ B1) and “originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline” (FHEQ A3)

With this in mind students are introduced to the ideas, policy arguments and critical concepts in the performing arts and asked to reflect on the presence of these issues in their own work. They are introduced to the principles of documentation and evidence recording in the performing arts so that any insights gained from the embodiment of ideas in practice can be supported or illustrated by data.

The course culminates in student led and designed pieces of practice which require the asking of contemporary key questions, answered in the work and evidenced by records and documentation.

Key to the success of the learning is the way in which students share as they progress both their practice and their ideas. Actors will work in an ensemble company where collaboration and shared interests will be explicit and teaching will include group evaluation and discussion.

This emphasis upon on-going discussion is also reflected in the assessment strategy where the viva is used alongside approaches to evidence gathering as a way of drawing out depth in practice and identifying new directions. On-going dialogue means by definition that formative feedback is embedded in the practice.

As part of the introduction of the new curriculum, the development of a new bespoke VLE for the Institute is planned. This will mean that forums and on-going contact between students and between staff and students will be increased. The new VLE will allow for the digital sharing of work and the provision of individual learning profiles. An integrated on-line mark entry and feedback system will mean easy and efficient access to formal feedback and ways of searching feedback from across the course to identify common issues and strengths.

Summative feedback will be given on coursework in line with the LJMU policy given in the Programme Specification.

The Programme Leader has responsibility for ensuring that the programme has developed an assessment schedule before teaching commences. This will be managed at a local level by the Director of School/Head of Department.

We operate a combined Peer Review/Teaching Observation Scheme. Peer review is a constructive, developmental process with a focus on individuals’ personal and professional development and is designed to encourage peer discussion and reflective practice. The main purpose of engaging in peer review of teaching is to enhance practice. It provides a means of focusing on teaching and engaging in reflective, constructive and analytical discussion with a peer about teaching practices. It is a mechanism to encourage openness and sharing amongst staff and to raise awareness of diverse pedagogies and approaches to teaching. It provides a forum for professional development conversations between peers.

Opportunities for work related learning

Where appropriate student can take professional placements however the work of masters students in costume and acting will involve engagement with the professional standards and work industry simulations that are core to our professional training strategy.

Programme Structure

Programme Structure Description

A student must complete the following modules to achieve the exit award indicated Postgraduate Certificate Professional Development, Inquiry and Critique 1(20 credits) The Actor’s Practice: Advanced Technique I (20 credits) The Actor’s Practice: Professional Performance I (20 credits) Postgraduate Diploma Also complete: Professional Development, Inquiry and Critique 2 (20 credits) … For more content click the Read More button below. The Actor’s Practice: Professional Performance II (20 credits) MA Also complete: Practice Dissertation or Dissertation (60 credits)

Entry Requirements

Alternative qualifications considered