Master of Contemporary Education

If an unforeseen circumstance impairs the ability of a student from doing well on an assessment (including submitting an assessment on time and/or giving a presentation), students are able to apply for a Special Assessment Circumstance (SAC) with relevant evidence within 5 working day of the assessment item due date. You can do this through Ako Mai, or contact your programme team to request a SAC form.

For Postgraduate Certificate students: dcl@themindlab.com
For Master of Contemporary Education's students: mce@themindlab.com
For Leading Beyond Sustainability students: lbs@themindlab.com
For Digital & Collaborative Teaching & Learning students: dctl@themindlab.com
For Leading Change for Good students: leadingchange@themindlab.com

We tend to include your Student ID number in most emails to you about your enrolment or your programme. Check back through your emails and see if you can find it. It's a 7 digit number.

If you still can't find it, please email or Slack your programme team directly or email enrol@themindlab.com with the full name that you enrolled on the programme with and they'll be able to let you know your student ID number.

There are full fees scholarships available for learners at The Mind Lab.

These include:

• Tangata Whenua Scholarship: for learners who identify as Māori
• Pacific Ako Scholarship: for those who identify as Pacific learners
• Taipakeke Scholarship: for learners who are aged 60 years and over

For all the up to date information, visit our Scholarships, Grants and Funds page.

To be admitted to the Master of Contemporary Education, all applicants must have:

A recognised bachelor degree in the same or similar discipline, with merit achievement, deemed to be an average grade of B- or higher in all Level 7 courses;

Or

A professional qualification in a relevant discipline, recognised as being equivalent to merit achievement in a bachelor degree or equivalent;

And

Applicants must give their consent to undergo a process of Safety Checking* as set out in the Vulnerable Children (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”). This checking process will include:

1. Providing 2 forms of identification, and evidence of any name changes (if any);
2. Consent to The Mind Lab undertaking a Police Vet check, or a Criminal Record Check (as required), and advise The Mind Lab of any current charges or pending court matters;

iii. Providing a chronological summary of his or her work history, if any, for the preceding 5 years and the name of any professional organisations and/or licensing authorities and/or registration authorities that the student is a member of or been licensed by and that is relevant to the proposed placement (if required);

1. Providing the names of 2 referees who may be contacted by The Mind Lab or your placement provider (if required);
2. Attending a face to face interview (if required) for the purposes of a risk assessment as required by section 8 of the Act.

Applicants are also required to consent to the above information gathered as part of the Safety Check to be shared with a host institution for the purposes of any practicum placement.

*This clause is waived if the candidate has already fulfilled the requirements of the Safety Check as part of their current employment.

Applicants must have an identified education-based practice that would would normally be through current employment.

1.2 Whakaurunga Motuhake | Special Admission

Applicants must have:

1. attained the age of 20 years on or before the first day of the semester in which study for the programme is to commence; and
2. a qualification (at level 7 of at least 120 credits) in a relevant discipline area, with a B grade average or better, and a minimum of two years’ appropriate work experience; and
3. provided sufficient evidence of aptitude or appropriate work or other life experience that would indicate a successful outcome in the qualification.

1.3 Whakaurunga Kōwhiringa | Discretionary Admission

In exceptional cases an applicant who does not meet the general admission requirements and who has not reached the age of 20 on or before the first day of the semester in which study for the Certificate is to commence may apply for discretionary admission.

In assessing whether to grant discretionary admission in exceptional cases, the primary focus will be on the applicant’s level of preparedness for study at the required level.

1.4 Whakaurunga Reo Pākehā | English Language Admission Requirements

Applicants must have achieved a minimum standard of English as demonstrated by a minimum of 8 credits at NCEA Level 2 in English (4 in Reading, 4 in Writing).

We are not accepting applications from International students at this time. Please contact us for more information.

2. Paearu Kōwhiri Tukanga| Selection Criteria & Process

2.1 Paearu Kōwhiri | Selection Criteria

When the number of eligible applicants for admission exceeds the number of places available, the following selection criteria will be applied:

• Willingness to commit to the programme;
• Demonstrate competency in achievement, leadership, humility, respect and empathy, self-reflection and commitment to the vision of the MCE programme.

Applicants who meet the maximum number of listed criteria will be the preferred candidates

2.2 Tukanga Kōwhiri | Selection Process

Selection will be made by a subcommittee set up for the purpose with the delegated authority to offer places to applicants. The subcommittee will select students on the basis of written information supplied on the enrolment form. At the discretion of the subcommittee, an interview (face-to-face or electronic) may be required.

This is a practice-based Master’s highly relevant to your education context e.g classroom

• It will add value to your school (or other education context), so your manager or leadership team will be supportive of your study. Importantly, this Master’s is about your practice - the challenges, problems and opportunities that you face in your classroom (or other education context).
• This Master’s adds value to the Digital and Collaborative Learning Postgraduate Certificate which is Part 1 of the 3 part MCE. The PG-DCL and MCE become a suite of options for teachers and other educators to choose from and move between.
• The MCE focuses on the challenges of contemporary education including digital fluency through leadership and collaboration. The MCE recognises all teachers as leaders.
• The MCE Agile Inquiry Process is a framework that allows you to tackle complex change in learning environments where requirements are not fully understood or are ever changing.
• The learning is divided into sprints (chunks) that facilitate successful collaboration and shared learning. There is an individual and collective responsibility and a shared accountability with personalised learning through the selection and development of particular sprints that are focused to your context. With continuous improvement, regular reflection and iteration, the solution to the challenge emerges through the process.  
• The MCE has part-time and full-time options.

Previous candidates have received pay increases after the completion of the Masters.

Our understanding is and has been if you complete the Masters which is an NZQA approved Level 9 postgraduate qualification you are entitled to a change in salary with the improvement of your qualification – unless you are already on the highest allowable step.

It looks like there may have been a rule change if you are already on 3Q+ since the last pay negotiation from an NZEI point of view but we have no knowledge of this. Qualifications completed overseas are subject to approval from NZQA before they are recognised.

Novopay’s answer to our query on your behalf has been that all employees need to be assessed by Salary Assessment, Education Payroll Limited.

Students need to check the Teachers’ Collective Agreement, Remuneration Clause or contact MOE Resourcing Division resourcing@education.govt.nz for any clarification regarding the clause.

Usually, workshops will be held during the school holidays or on a weekend. There may be some flexibility around workshops/days of the week, but there is an expectation that you will attend these workshops. Attending online is possible, please speak with the programme team.

Part 2, full time will be 27 hours per week, covering 4 courses in 26 weeks.

Part time commitment is 52 weeks, at around 13 hours per week.

Part 3 (single course): full-time will be around 26 weeks working on your practice-based change project or 52 weeks part-time.

Part 1 is 35 weeks part-time and is the PG-DCL (Postgraduate Certificate in Digital & Collaborative Learning).

Parts 2+3 will take 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time.