Program Overview

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Dental Education

MSc/PGDip/PGCert

Attendance

Part-time

Location

Online learning

Start

September 2025

Duration

3 years

Start

September 2025

Delivery

Online learning

Are you a dental professional in the NHS, higher education, or the private sector? Want to advance as a dental educator and support your team's development? Our fully online MSc/PGDip/PGCert in Dental Education offers flexible, learn-as-you-work opportunities.

This programme offers you the opportunity to diversify into an educational role.

After Year 1 you can opt to graduate with a postgraduate certificate. If you decide to continue you can gain a postgraduate diploma at the end of Year 2. If you then go on to complete Year 3 you will graduate with a full Master of Science (MSc) degree.

The course is designed to meet the needs of an inter-professional care team. Dentists, dental care professionals and their extended team will all benefit from the support provided by our course team as you develop the knowledge and skills required to become effective at developing others.

You’ll find that the online environment soon develops into a thriving learning community, where you’ll benefit from engaging with students who are fellow dental professionals as well as our experienced teaching staff. As you progress through the course you’ll learn about cutting-edge approaches to teaching and learning delivered through digital and face-to-face methods. We’ve evolved the content over time to reflect the changing educational landscape and the needs of the next generation of dental professionals.

By the time you graduate you’ll have learned how to facilitate effective learning within and outside the workplace, selecting and applying best practice principles to teaching, assessing, supporting learning, and giving feedback to others.

Why study with us

• The course content is delivered through the Microsoft Teams platform, which allows for easy communication with your tutors and other students.
• You will be assessed by coursework, including assignments, presentations and professional dialogue. You’ll be supported from start to finish.
• You’ll develop an understanding of the theory, practice and research around dental education. This will help you undertake an independent research study on the management of dental education based on your own professional interests.

Important information

• The application deadline for September 2025 entry for UK students is Saturday 26 July 2025.

What you'll do

• You’ll have multiple opportunities to learn about best practices from educational professionals who are experts in their fields.
• You will have the benefit of close support and supervision at all stages of the course.
• You will be part of a community of practice, sharing ideas and engaging in online discussion groups.

Pathways

This programme offers flexible study routes, allowing you to work towards a postgraduate certificate (PGCert), postgraduate diploma (PGDip) or a full master’s degree (MSc).

PGCert – awarded after successfully completing 60 credits

PGDip – awarded after successfully completing 120 credits

MSc – awarded after successfully completing 180 credits

For each qualification, you'll need to complete a set number of compulsory modules. You may also have the opportunity to choose from a range of optional modules depending on your interests and the structure of the programme.

You can choose to complete the full master’s qualification or complete a PGCert or PGDip, depending on your goals and circumstances.

Modules

Modules studied

Compulsory modules

These modules are set and you have to study these as part of your course.

Research Project

The aim of this module is to develop your skills in gathering and appraising scientific studies to inform your own practice. You'll also gain greater confidence in your ability to conduct independent research and present the findings.

Module code: DX4006

Appraising the Educational Literature

The module will develop your skills in appraising educational literature to support your professional development. You will learn how to develop research questions, use of different research designs to answer several questions, understand the key threats to robust research, and how to appraise existing studies in their area of interest.

Module code: DX4036

Teaching Methods and Approaches

Our module will provide you with a range of teaching methods and approaches to provide you with an extensive understanding of how to teach effectively in a variety of settings and develop a variety of approaches to satisfy the needs and opportunities to support your students' learning style.

Module code: DX4037

Assessment in Dental Education

This module will enable you to undertake assessment for and of learning, utilising best-practice principles. You will also undertake evaluation of you teaching to ensure continuous quality improvement of learning and teaching interventions.

Module code: DX4038

Mentoring in Dental Practice

The module aims to equip you as a member of a dental team with the skills to fulfil the role of mentor with colleagues who require support to meet the requirements of professional practice in Dental care.

Module code: DX4901

Facilitating Learning in Healthcare Practice

Our module will enable you as a health care practitioner to critically analyse the requirements for effective facilitation of learning within and outside the workplace and appropriately apply principles of best practice to teaching, supportive learning, assessing and giving feedback to others.

Module code: MB4021

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of our published course information. However, our programmes are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may cause alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses. Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of accrediting bodies or revisions to subject benchmarks statements. We may also make changes to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

Related courses

• Facilitating Learning in Healthcare Practice, Cert
• Mentoring in Dental Practice, AdvCert
• Clinical Implantology, MSc
• Clinical Periodontology, MSc
• Conscious Sedation in Dentistry, PGCert
• Endodontology, DClinDent
• Endodontology, MSc
• Oral Surgery, DClinDent
• Oral Surgery, MSc
• Periodontology, DClinDent
• Prosthodontics, DClinDent
• Prosthodontics, MSc

Looking to start your postgraduate journey?

Our range of subjects and study modes can support your goals. Take your next step with a postgraduate degree.

View the course facilities

Dental Clinic

Academic expertise

• Dale Munday, Senior Education Lecturer
• Dr Neil Cook, Lecturer in Research Methods – Online Learning
• Dr Marta Krysmann, Senior Lecturer
• Gary Cookson, Senior Education Lecturer

Entry requirements

• Applicants must hold a relevant Dental degree such as Dental Hygiene or Dental Therapy or equivalent
• Be actively engaged in dental practice
• IELTS: 7.0 or equivalent in all components
• All suitable applicants will be interviewed
• Reference required
• If you have already completed Facilitating Learning and or Mentoring in Dental Practice or equivalent please contact Vicky Buller to discuss entry onto the programme

Fees and funding

2025/26

UK

Online part-time: £1,050 per 20 credits

International

Online part-time: £1,050 per 20 credits

Additional costs

As part of your course there may be additional costs to consider that are not included in your tuition fees. Most of these will be optional, but some courses have essential additional costs. Find out more about additional costs.

Scholarships and bursaries

We offer many scholarships, bursaries and funds to support you during your studies. Select your country or region to see if you are eligible and how to apply.

Learning and assessment

This online, part-time course takes place over five months.

This will include five online workshops, structured independent study and related tasks equating to 200 hours of guided learning.

There’s an emphasis on pre-sessional tasks, which are followed by live, online workshops where you’ll be engaging with experienced educators and other dental professionals. After these sessions, there will be follow-up activities to help you apply what you’ve learnt in practice.

You are required to engage in the independent study alongside the taught online sessions, managing your time to accommodate the additional study expected for the qualification, which is an essential consideration prior to starting the course.

Pathway opportunities

Upon completion of the course, graduates can seek assessment and recognition of their teaching practice against the standards at Membership and Fellowship level to gain the MAcadMEd or FAcadMEd postnominal.

Example breakdown of module costs

Correct at time of writing:

• Year 1 – 1 x 20 credit module and 1 x 40 credit module = 60 credits = £3000
• Year 2 – 3 x 20 credit modules = 60 credits = £3000
• Year 3 – 1 60 credit module = £3000