Course overview
The PhD is designed as a programme combining advanced research methods training and individual, supervised research, leading to an 80,000 word thesis. The thesis is expected to be a substantial original contribution to knowledge and, in principle, to have the potential to be developed into peer-reviewed publication.
Teaching and learning
The PhD programme has an Advanced Research Methods training element that is compulsory, and all students complete an Upgrade examination (a written portfolio and oral examination) in order to progress from MPhil to PhD. The research methods training takes place via online mode on Saturday mornings spread out over the first year. Students work with their supervisors on their independent projects throughout the course. We have research student work rooms within the department with desktop computers available.
Specific departmental guidance is available on preparing applications to the Department of Education Studies and on Preparing a Research Proposal.
What does it mean to study and research Education?
Education provides us with an essential foundation for a fulfilling life in a thriving and equitable society – it underpins how we act and see the world and is the engine of social and cultural change and reproduction.
Education gives the basis for innovation in thought, culture and technology; it nurtures a sense of citizenship and social participation; it underpins our political and economic robustness; and is the foundation of the knowledge and skills that society shares.
Education is fundamentally about human development, knowledge and social justice. Education is something that everyone experiences: it is life-long and society wide; it is local as well as global; it takes place in the home, in prisons, in refugee centres, in places of worship, in the workplace, on the sports field, in the theatre, in the pub as well as in the classroom.
Education, like Politics, is inherently interdisciplinary – it is an applied field of study which draws on a range of disciplines including: sociology, psychology, history and philosophy. It is necessarily pluralist and eclectic, drawing upon a range of theoretical, conceptual and methodological perspectives.
Therefore, in studying and researching Education we work to understand the fundamental questions about why we educate, how we educate, who we educate and what purpose education serves.
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