MSc Professional Practice in Sport
Course options
Key Details
- Attendance
- Full Time
- Award
- Degree of Master of Science
- Course Length
- 1 year
- Course Start Date
- September 2025
Course Overview
Unlock your potential with our cutting-edge programme, designed to shape the sport leaders of tomorrow.
Sport has long served as a platform for developing physical and mental wellbeing, fostering social and community growth, driving economic progress, and advocating for under-represented groups. Study with us, and you’ll explore the importance of social justice and ethical principles in contemporary professional sports practice.
Our dynamic Master’s programme in Professional Practice in Sport emphasises the value of collaboration, making it an ideal choice for current leader-educators, aspiring future leaders, and recent graduates alike. You'll cultivate essential skills for success in leadership and development roles within the sport and physical activity sector. Our programme is informed by current professional and personal practices in both the UK and global contexts. You’ll study the development and implementation of public policy, strategies of leadership and management, the role of wellbeing in supporting performance, as well as ethics, integrity, and representation in sport.
Our interdisciplinary course aims to nurture your curiosity while building your confidence, understanding, and insights around various approaches. You’ll gain a deeper awareness of your professional practices and how these are influenced by your personal connections with the populations you serve. Whether you're looking to advance your professional development, improve your work environment, or create innovative strategies for under-represented groups, you’ll have the flexibility to shape your studies to your interests through a diverse range of modules.
Our course is structured to foster your professional and personal reflective practice, embedding it within a broader academic and policy context. You’ll strengthen your skills in independent learning, enhance your critical thinking, and elevate your communication abilities to an advanced level—all essential qualities for becoming an effective leader in the sport and physical activity sector. Designed to enhance your career prospects across both public and private sectors, our course will equip you with the qualities, competencies, and skills necessary for success in this exciting and rewarding field.
Study and Modules
Structure
The course is structured to provide a one-year full-time format that accommodates your current work, family, and life commitments. The course provides you with numerous opportunities to reflect on both professional and personal practice, whilst also developing the skills you’ll need to engage in and critically evaluate policy and academic literature.
The course will also enable you to think critically about the structures that you currently work in or may work in the future, and to consider areas to explore through further research. You’ll explore the role of social justice and wellbeing at the heart of our work around sporting organisations and how this can support performance at all levels.
In addition to the compulsory modules, there are optional modules to allow you to tailor the course to your personal interests.
Throughout the course, you'll develop advanced reading, analytical and research skills that will enable you to critically evaluate diverse approaches to conducting research in the fields of sport and physical activity as well as other educational contexts. You'll then have an opportunity to apply and further refine these skills while writing your Master’s dissertation.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 20)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
You’ll be taught by leading specialists in the field of sport and physical activity. These include sport, physical activity sociologists and psychologists, health and physical activity researchers, physical education experts, sport coaching and development experts, and those who have rich first-hand experience of leadership in a variety of sport and physical activity, as well as educational contexts.
Our course combines lectures, seminars and embedded wellbeing workshops, and we place an emphasis on interactive as well as reflective activities and critical thinking to support the development of effective communication skills.
You can find further information about our teaching staff by visiting staff profiles available on School of Education and Lifelong Learning website pages.
Enrichment activities
Guest lectures from individuals working in the sport and physical activity sector will form an integral part of the course. This will provide vital opportunities for you to exchange knowledge and to consider real-life applications of some of the work we’ll be focusing on. It'll also permit you time to network with practising leaders and managers.
Academic support
As a Master’s student in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, you’ll have access to enhanced English language tutoring to support the development of your academic writing. In addition, the ‘Critical Reading’ module will offer you focused activities and workshops designed to support your critical reading and advanced academic writing. You’ll also be encouraged to engage with your academic advisers, and module leaders on a regular basis, and you’ll have access to English language support.
Independent learning
To master your independent learning, you'll spend time carrying out independent study and research. You’ll benefit from access to our excellent library service, as well as specialist study spaces designated for postgraduate students at UEA.
Assessment
This course is assessed by coursework that you’ll submit at the end of each module, including a dissertation.
In addition to summative coursework, you'll have an opportunity to produce formative work, designed to provide you with an early opportunity to focus your coursework on specific learning outcomes. By utilising these early opportunities to plan your assignments and articulate your emerging ideas, you’ll be able to hone your arguments and present them in a coherent way in your summative assessments.
You’ll also receive regular feedback in the taught sessions, both face-to-face and via our online learning platform, which will enhance your learning and overall academic development.
Entry Requirements
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
- Typical UK Entry Requirements
Degree classification
Bachelors degree - 2:2
Degree Subject
No specific degree subject is required, however it is advantageous to have studied in the sports science subject area, health sciences, and broader social sciences.
- Interviews
- Note that applicants who have had an extended period of time away from formal education may require an interview.
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
- Typical International Entry Requirements
Degree classification
UK Bachelors degree - 2:2 or equivalent
Degree Subject
No specific degree subject is required, however it is advantageous to have studied in the sports science subject area, health sciences, and broader social sciences.
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
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IELTS: 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in all components)
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
If you do not meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the required English skills.
-
- Interviews
- Note that applicants who have had an extended period of time away from formal education may require an interview.
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.
Fees and Funding
Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2025/26 are:
-
UK Students: £10,675
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International Students: £22,700
If you choose to study part-time, the fee per annum will be half the annual fee for that year, or a pro-rata fee for the module credit you are taking (only available for Home students).
We estimate living expenses at £1,136 per month.
Further Information on tuition fees can be found here.
Scholarships and Bursaries
The University of East Anglia offers a range of Scholarships; please click the link for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.
How to Apply
How to apply
Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University.
To apply please use our online application form.
Further information
If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances prior to applying, please do contact us:
Postgraduate Admissions Office
Tel: +44 (0)1603 591515
Email: admissions@uea.ac.uk
International candidates are also encouraged to access the International Students section of our website.
Employability
After the Course
Upon successful completion of the course, you'll be able to demonstrate advanced skills essential for working in leadership and/or management roles in the sport and physical activity sector. Depending on your previous professional experience and career aspirations, you'll also gain knowledge, understanding and advanced critical reflective skills to succeed in a range of sport, physical activity or education-related roles. Our course is designed to open career paths in sport and physical activity sectors, not-for-profit organisations, as well as leadership and management research and consultancy.
Our high-quality, interdisciplinary curriculum will also offer you a solid foundation for progressing to doctoral research.
Careers
Examples of careers that you could enter include:
- Local government, development, advocacy roles in sport and physical activity sector
- Leadership and senior management roles in sport and physical activity sectors, including schools and colleges
- NGBs, NGOs, not-for-profit and private sport, physical activity, and educational development organisations
- Sport and physical activity policy-making in the public and private sectors, think tanks, research organisations and charities
Discover more on our Careers webpages.