Education, Doctorate

Course overview

The Doctorate in Education offers you the opportunity to combine advanced academic study with professional experience in a manner decided largely by you, with the support of a Director of Studies and the programme team.

The course provides you with the chance to consider the role of research in educational practice and what that means for you as an educator-researcher before embarking on your thesis. Initial modules focus on the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings of practice and research. You are encouraged to develop your reflexivity, positioning yourself as a critically informed practitioner within a field understood as inevitably problematic but open to exploration and possible change through research.

Whilst some educational doctorate provision provides a programme of modules covering aspects of sociology, psychology, education, research methods and health studies, this programme focuses on a core of reflection on the combination of research and educational praxis, remaining flexible in its assessment strategy so as to enable you to focus on your own area of interest. It will position you as a creative agent able to use academic study and practice to inform each other and synthesize the two to develop responses to challenges and opportunities in practice.

Career opportunities

The course is designed to enable you to consolidate and build upon previous learning and experience in your working role. It is a key to new opportunities in education, whichever setting or sector you currently operate within.

It is intended to create close links between the programme activities and content and on-going professional practice. You are likely to have already undergone considerable training and professional development but it is expected that this qualification will enhance your development even further.