Program Overview

MA Education

Rethink education. Reimagine impact.

Overview

Our MA Education is a flexible course for anyone interested in critically exploring contemporary education. We offer a full-time and part-time route, as well as an offsite provision so you can study at a pace that suits you.

From early years practitioners, teachers and leaders in education, to local authority, health services and aspiring researchers, our course appeals to a variety of backgrounds and professions. You will be joining a diverse and thriving community of postgraduate students from the UK and across the world.

Course Information

• Entry Year: September 2025
• Typical Annual Fees:
  • Home: £10,250
  • Overseas: £20,000
• Course Length:
  • Full-time on campus: one year
  • Part-time blended learning: two years

Course Overview

You’ll examine key concepts, global issues and debates in education, from performance measurement to ethnicity, class and gender. Explore national and international policy, and consider the impact of social inequalities, and the role of politics in education.

We aim to empower you to approach your own research with confidence. You’ll extend your understanding of research techniques, including empirical and desk-based projects, to prepare you for completing your own dissertation. Throughout the project, you will have access to support from active researchers in our internationally renowned Educational and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Features and Benefits

• World-class research informed teaching: Experience courses planned and delivered by our award-winning TEF Gold standard team and world-leading Educational and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
• National Professional Qualification: If you have a National Professional Qualification, you can apply for the learning to be recognised as a contribution towards your masters and reduce the number of taught modules you need to complete.
• Expert dissertation support: You can work closely with expert researchers as part of your dissertation module to help you shape and carry out your own research project. Expertise spans areas such as early childhood, literacy, STEM, and global educational trends.
• Join a diverse postgraduate community: You’ll become a part of a thriving community of postgraduate learners from a variety of professional backgrounds in the UK and across the world. This network helps to enhance your learning experience and further support you through your studies.
• Flexible structure: Study either part-time or full-time so that you can fit your masters around your varying commitments.
• Opportunity to specialise: You will specialise by choosing coursework topics to reflect your personal and professional interest. This will also be carried into your dissertation where you will conduct a small scale study in an area that is pertinent to your interests in the field.

Year 1

Throughout your course you’ll study four core modules including a dissertation. If you are coming to the course with advanced standing of 60 credits from your PGCE, you’ll complete two modules before progressing to your dissertation.

Core Modules

• Key discourses, debates, and understandings in education: In this module you will critically examine key concepts, issues and debates in education, enabling you to consider and conceptualise the aims, purposes and functions of education.
• Conceptualise, Critique, Create: Thinking with Theory in education: This module provides you with the opportunity to assess, evaluate and learn to think with a range of theoretical frameworks and perspectives in education.
• Principles and Practice of Educational Research: This module enables you to approach your own research confidently, and is a crucial step towards completing your dissertation. You will gain an overview of a variety of approaches (or paradigms) in educational research.
• Policy, Politics and Practice in Education: The aim of this module is to unsettle and problematise taken for granted perspectives on educational practice and to promote a deeper understanding of the drivers underlying such practices.
• Dissertation: This module supports you through the process of selecting, planning, conducting and evaluating a significant individual research project. You can research any area of personal, professional or academic interest relating to your masters award.

Study and Assessment

• Study:
  • Full-time: 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study
  • Part-time: 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study
• Assessment:
  • Full-time: 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination
  • Part-time: 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination

Entry Requirements

You must have a relevant first degree, postgraduate diploma or professional qualification recognised as equivalent to an undergraduate UK honours degree of at least a 2:2. Other relevant qualifications or experience may be considered.

• Advanced standing: If you’ve completed a PGCE within the last five years, you can apply to join the course with advanced standing. This means you would put 60 credits from your PGCE towards your masters and complete less units to achieve your MA.
• English language: Applicants whose first language is not English must have IELTS with an overall score of 6.5 with no less than 5.5 in any category, or an equivalent accepted English qualification.

Fees and Funding

• UK and Channel Island students:
  • Full-time fee: £10,250 per year
  • Part-time fee: £1709 per 30 credits
• EU and non-EU international students:
  • Full-time fee: £20,000 per year
  • Part-time fee: £3334 per 30 credits

Careers Support and Prospects

Our broad and reflective course aims to progress your career in education and enhance your academic skills for further research ventures. Our suite of masters courses are designed to help you secure positions in senior leadership, consultancy or research scholarships.

Some of our graduates take leadership roles in nurseries, schools, and colleges, from assistant head teachers and head teachers to nursery managers. Other graduates have gone on to secure posts in higher education as university lecturers, teacher educators and academic support staff. Some of our students on the full-time route progress to train as teachers. International students from our full-time route have gone on to work in their local or national departments of education and use their learning to contribute to the development of education systems in their own country.

By choosing your own topics and option modules, you can focus on your areas of interest – your priorities, targets and aspirations. Our graduates have also used our courses to help further careers, either in their current sector, or to make an informed move into a different role or field of education. Many students who complete our courses intend to study at PhD level. If you’re considering pursuing a research degree (such as an MPhil, PhD or EdD) in education, this masters course is a good foundation towards that ambition. Each year, several of our current and former students win scholarships for further study or have articles published.