MA, 1 year full time/2 years part time
Subject overview
Education at Sussex is ranked 11th in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 85 per cent of research was rated as internationally recognised or higher. Education was awarded a very high grade in the latest QAA Review of Education.
Experienced social science researchers are involved in teaching core degrees.
We offer innovative interdisciplinary teaching and research with social work. Education faculty research interests also intersect with anthropology, development studies, gender studies, international relations and sociology.
There are exciting teaching and research opportunities for mid-career and senior professionals.
Taught degrees
Masters-level degrees in education and teaching are designed to meet the needs of professionals in teaching, management, and education and development. We aim to provide degrees that:
- are grounded in research
- recognise and build upon your prior knowledgeand experience
- develop professionally relevant knowledge, skills and understanding
- enable the acquisition of further qualifications that enhance your career prospects.
Some degrees are offered on a part-time basis, combining attendance in the evenings with occasional day schools. Assessment is through coursework assignments to help you acquire greater confidence, enhanced capabilities and different ways of thinking. We consider applications from non-graduates who can demonstrate that they are sufficiently prepared for, and able to benefit from, our degrees.
Research centres
In addition to interdisciplinary research with the Department of Social Work and Social Care, we host three research centres that provide the intellectual bases for our research, consultancy and teaching activity:
- The Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER) provides a platform for the growing field of research into Higher Education with a particular focus on the themes of identity, transition and assessment. Recent research has addressed race and equality issues in UK Higher Education, widening participation in Higher Education in low-income countries, gender and Higher Education, disability and Higher Education, doctoral pedagogy, transitions from vocational and further education, and postdoctoral transitions.
- The Centre for Inquiry and Research in Cognition, Learning and Teaching (CIRCLETS) examines the nature of learning and teaching. Current research includes teacher education, mathematics and science education, formative assessment, teachers’ professional learning, raising aspirations of disadvantaged students, children’s rights and student voice.
- The Centre for International Education (CIE) has an international reputation for its work on educational development, mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Current research includes teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa, access to education in low-income countries, gender and development, education and conflict, sustainable financing of secondary education, aid and education development.
Programme outline
This is an innovative, highly flexible, research-based MA, designed to run alongside – and complement – your professional role, enabling you to work and study at the same time. This MA is distinctive because:
- you can choose your area of study within the broad discipline of education, constructing your own coherent pathway
- teaching focuses on one-to-one supervision with a tutor who has expertise in your area of interest
- there is also a range of optional evening or Saturday seminars on research methods, where you can meet other students
- you conduct library-based work and research in your own, or another, educational context.
Subjects and research groups on this MA are diverse. You work on a range of topics but there are also designated subject-specific routes reflected in the award title in:
- English
- Inclusion
- Mathematics
- Science.
We also offer the following two specific Strands on the MA in Education Studies:
- International Baccalaureate:
you need to have experience of working in an IB context, making you eligible to apply for the IB Advanced Certificate in Teaching and Learning Research on successful completion of the MA in Education Studies. For more information, visit Department of Education: MA in Education Studies: IB Strand. - Widening Participation:
some experience of working in a role or context relevant to widening participation and/or fair access is desirable. For more information, visit Department of Education: MA in Education Studies: WP Strand.
Assessment
We award an MA in Education Studies for gaining 180 credits. This is through successful completion of four 30-credit modules and one 60-credit final dissertation.
Current modules
Please note that these are the core modules and options (subject to availability) for students starting in the academic year 2012.
Minor Project Spring
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 2
This module requires you to design, conduct, evaluate and report on a very small-scale empirical study (6000 words), typically conducted in your own professional context. It enables you to develop your practical and theoretical understanding of research methods and your critical understanding of a particular topic, in preparation for tackling a more substantial and complex research project in the Dissertation. You may choose to link the Minor Project and the Dissertation, for example, conducting the reconnaissance phase of an Action Research project for your Minor Project, leading into the 'intervention' phase for your Dissertation, but the two must also stand alone, in terms of meeting the learning outcomes for each module.
The reason for this module being an 'option' only is that a significant proportion of students applying for the MAES have Advanced Standing of 30 credits from a similar Minor Project conducted at M-level in another context (e.g. on a PGCE programme) and can, therefore, move straight to the Dissertation, bypassing this module.
Minor Project Autumn
30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 2
This module requires you to design, conduct, evaluate and report on a very small-scale empirical study (6000 words), typically conducted in your own professional context. It enables you to develop your practical and theoretical understanding of research methods and your critical understanding of a particular topic, in preparation for tackling a more substantial and complex research project in the dissertation. You may choose to link the minor project and the dissertation, for example, conducting the reconnaissance phase of an action research project for your minor project, leading into the 'intervention' phase for your dissertation, but the two must also stand alone, in terms of meeting the learning outcomes for each module.
The reason for this module being an 'option' only is that a significant proportion of those applying for the MAES have advanced standing of 30 credits from a similar minor project conducted at M-level in another context (eg on a PGCE programme) and can, therefore, move straight to the dissertation, which assesses a similar, but more demanding, set of learning outcomes.
Minor Project Summer
30 credits
Summer teaching, year 2
This module requires you to design, conduct, evaluate and report on a very small-scale empirical study (6000 words), typically conducted in you own professional context. It enables you to develop your practical and theoretical understanding of research methods and their critical understanding of a particular topic, in preparation for tackling a more substantial and complex research project in the Dissertation. You may choose to link the Minor Project and the Dissertation, for example, conducting the reconnaissance phase of an Action Research project for their Minor Project, leading into the 'intervention' phase for their Dissertation, but the two must also stand alone, in terms of meeting the learning outcomes for each course.
The reason for this module being an 'option' only is that a significant proportion of students applying for the MAES have Advanced Standing of 30 credits from a similar Minor Project conducted at M-level in another context (e.g. on a PGCE programme) and can, therefore, move straight to the Dissertation, bypassing this course.
Research Methods - MA Education Studies (autumn start)
30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 2
This course is an introduction to research methods and involves testing a research instrument empirically and evaluating the entire process, critically engaging with, and applying methodological literature throughout. You will, thereby, develop a practical and intellectual understanding of key research paradigms, enquiry methods and processes, including the importance of ethical considerations, reflexivity and researcher positioning and other key research concepts.
Research Methods - MA in Education Studies (spring start)
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 2
This module is an introduction to Research Methods and involves testing a research instrument empirically and evaluating the entire process, critically engaging with, and applying methodological literature throughout. You will, thereby, develop a practical and intellectual understanding of key research paradigms, enquiry methods and processes, including the importance of ethical considerations, reflexivity and researcher positioning and other key research concepts.
Research Methods - MA in Education Studies (summer start)
30 credits
Summer teaching, year 2
This module is an introduction to Research Methods and involves testing a research instrument empirically and evaluating the entire process, critically engaging with, and applying methodological literature throughout. You will, thereby, develop a practical and intellectual understanding of key research paradigms, enquiry methods and processes, including the importance of ethical considerations, reflexivity and researcher positioning and other key research concepts.
Entry requirements
UK entrance requirements
A first- or second-class undergraduate honours degree and normally at least three years' experience of work in education or a related area.
For the International Baccalaureate (IB) route only, you need to have at least one year's experience working in an IB context.
Overseas entrance requirements
Please refer to column B on the Overseas qualifications.
If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas
qualifications table, contact the University.
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
Visas and immigration
Find out more about Visas and immigration.
English language requirements
IELTS 7.0, with not less than 6.5 in each section. Internet TOEFL with 95 overall, with at least 22 in Listening, 23 in Reading, 23 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
Additional admissions information
We also offer an entry route via Accreditation of Prior Learning. Applicants submit a portfolio of continuing-professional-development activities conducted at work, which contributes to their first 30-credit module. This entry route is particularly useful for teachers who have recently completed an NQT, threshold or other professional-development portfolio.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex
For pre-application enquiries:
Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
For post-application enquiries:
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk
Related programmes
Fees and funding
Fees
Home UK/EU students: £5,5001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £5,5002
Overseas students: £13,0003
1
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2013)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.
PGCE First-Generation Scholars Award (2013)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught)
Payment to PGCE students with a household income below £42,611
Sussex Graduate Scholarship (2013)
Region: UK, Europe (Non UK), International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 16 August 2013
Open to final year Sussex students who graduate with a 1st or 2:1 degree and who are offered a F/T place on an eligible Masters course in 2013.
Faculty interests
The research interests and areas of supervisory expertise of our faculty are listed below. For more information about the research conducted in the Department of Education, including information about the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER), Centre for Inquiry and Research in Cognition, Learning and Teaching (CIRCLETS) and Centre for International Education (CIE), visit the Department of Education.
- Childhood and youth studies
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Professor Robin Banerjee Social and emotional development of pupils, self-conscious cognition and emotion, self-presentational behaviour.
Dr Janet Boddy Parents and families, parent and child health and well-being, parenting and family support, children in or at the edges of care, social pedagogy, cross-national research.
Professor Suzy Braye Social work practice and the law, policy implementation and professional practice, community care provision.
Professor PennyJane Burke Widening access to and participation in Higher Education; critical and feminist pedagogies; gender and identity formations; challenging inequalities in higher education; participatory methodologies.
Dr Rachel Burr Social work, child rights, international aid, international social work, ethnographic-based research methods, Vietnam.
Dr Anne-Meike Fechter Indonesia, South East Asia; corporate expatriates, transnationalism, development practitioners.
Cath Holmström Admissions and selection for social work education, experiences of younger students on qualifying social work courses.
Barry Luckock Social policy and social work with children, social work practice and education, adoption, fostering and permanency planning.
Dr Tish Marrable Children with ‘additional needs’, interprofessional working and professional supervision in integrated teams.
Professor Rachel Thomson Childhood and youth studies, young people’s transitions to adulthood, sexuality and sex education.
Dr Jo Westbrook Learning to read, comprehension, wider reading, teacher education in the UK and developing countries, action research.
Dr Benjamin Zeitlyn Access to education, dropout, development, migration, transnationalism, childhoods, ethnic minorities, Islam.
- Initial teacher education
-
Dr Andrew Chandler-Grevatt Science education: teaching and learning, progression of key concepts in science.
Duncan Mackrill Music education, ePortfolios, technology in music education, transition, spirituality in music education.
Dr John Parry Education for sustainable development, role of ICT within citizenship, experiential learning, special educational needs.
Robert Rosenthal Development of professional learning communities, school improvement, the role of trainees in developing in-school research culture, Geography in the school curriculum.
Simon Thompson Teachers’ professional knowledge, Initial Teacher Education in the UK, history of education.
Dr Jo Westbrook Learning to read, comprehension, wider reading, teacher education in the UK and developing countries, action research.
- International education and development
-
Dr Kwame Akyeampong Global, regional and national analysis of teacher education and impact on learning, curriculum and assessment reforms, impact evaluation of education interventions and programmes in low-income countries.
Professor PennyJane Burke Widening access to and participation in Higher Education; critical and feminist pedagogies; gender and identity formations; challenging inequalities in higher education; participatory methodologies.
Dr Mairead Dunne Sociological education studies of quality, equity and identity in the UK and low-income countries, curriculum practices.
Dr Naureen Durrani Teacher education, curriculum and textbooks, mathematics education, schooling and identity construction and South Asia.
Professor Valerie Hey Feminist theory, postmodern methodologies, ethnography, identity, affects, social difference, gender.
Professor Keith Lewin Educational planning, economics and finance of education, access and equity in education and development, teacher education, science and technology education policy in developing countries, educational aid and project evaluation.
Professor Colleen McLaughlin Head of the Department of Education. Action and practitioner research; educational reform; vulnerable children, counselling and care; sexuality education, including HIV/AIDS; school-university partnerships for reform and research.
Professor Louise Morley Sociology of Higher Education, national and international Higher Education policy, widening participation, identity.
Dr Mario Novelli Education and conflict, global governance of education, education and globalisation, foreign aid and education.
Dr Ricardo Sabates Education and social outcomes, links between education and health, education and crime, adult education.
Dr Yusuf Sayed Education assessment and rights, quality, education governance and leadership, education financing, international aid.
Dr Jo Westbrook Learning to read, comprehension, wider reading, teacher education in the UK and developing countries, action research.
Dr Benjamin Zeitlyn Access to education, dropout, development, migration, transnationalism, childhoods, ethnic minorities, Islam.
- Teaching and learning in UK schools and related education contexts
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Dr Sarah Aynsley 14-19 education and training, transition from further to Higher Education, qualitative approaches and practitioner research.
Dr Louise Gazeley Social and educational (dis)advantage, education policy, exclusion from school, teacher education.
Professor Valerie Hey Feminist theory, postmodern methodologies, ethnography, identity, affects, social difference, gender.
Professor Colleen McLaughlin Head of the Department of Education. Action and practitioner research; educational reform; vulnerable children, counselling and care; sexuality education, including HIV/AIDS; school-university partnerships for reform and research.
Professor Louise Morley Sociology of Higher Education, national and international Higher Education policy, widening participation, identity.
Dr John Pryor Educational ethnography, international and intercultural education, identity and equity, pedagogy and formative assessment.
Dr Julia Sutherland The use of collaborative talk to develop secondary pupils’ higher cognitive thinking.
Dr Jo Westbrook Learning to read, comprehension, wider reading, teacher education in the UK and developing countries, action research.
Careers and profiles
You can use this MA to progress to a wide range of careers in education and related fields such as teaching, student support and leadership in primary and secondary schools, tertiary colleges and universities. It is also useful for those in education-related fields such as local education authorities and advisory services, therapeutic occupations, the creative arts, social services and training providers in the commercial sector.
Marisa's career perspective
‘Before starting the MA in Education Studies I’d just started doing some freelance work for the council, consulting children with additional needs/disabilities and their families, and I worried about the quality of my reports and research methods. Now, with an action research-based MA from Sussex behind me, I feel able to call myself a researcher and approach people for new work with confidence.
‘Reading more critically and discussing my research with fellow MA students opened my eyes to the complexities of questioning research participants, while trying to avoid bias and influencing responses.
‘To have improved from a C-minus student in my first assignment, to an A-minus student in my dissertaion, while juggling three different jobs and a family of five, has been one of the most challenging but best achievements of my life.’
Marisa Tighe
Special Needs coordinator and freelance educational consultant
Louise's career perspective
‘I wanted to complete an MA in Education Studies at Sussex not only because I’d heard that it would help progress my teaching career, but also because I wanted to learn more about the social worlds of the teenagers with whom I interact on a daily basis.
‘The study of different educational theorists helped to awaken my dormant intellectual curiosity and gave me some fascinating explanations as to why young people behave as they do in the school setting. This understanding allows me to have greater tolerance and empathy when dealing with my students, certainly improving me as a professional and an individual.
‘My supervisor encouraged and supported me all the way and, without her, I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did.’
Louise Taylor
English Teacher, Head of Drama and Deputy Housemistress
Worth School
Andy's career perspective
‘I was a full-time teacher of secondary science when I started the Doctor of Education (EdD) at Sussex. I was becoming increasingly interested in how children learn and how we assess them, and I felt I needed to dig deeper to uncover more evidence about the practice of science teaching and assessment.
‘The doctorate changed everything for me. It widened my horizons from beyond my own classroom practice to teaching, learning and assessment on a national and international level. I started to interrogate theory, policy and practice in a way I never had before. It was challenging, exciting and daunting at times, but, as a group, my coursemates and I inspired and encouraged each other.
‘The EdD opened doors for me. As a teacher, it helped improve my practice and I was invited to teach on the teacher-training programme and I’m now a teaching fellow at the University. I’m recognised as an expert in school-based science assessment, which has opened up national and international consultancy roles (including working as an advisor to the Ministry of Education in Kazakhstan!), and I’m working for a major publisher, developing education resources for schools.’
Dr Andy Chandler-Grevatt
Tutorial Fellow and EdD student, University of Sussex
Lin's career perspective
‘I was an experienced headteacher newly arrived at a struggling inner-London primary school when I was accepted onto the Doctor of Education (EdD) course at Sussex.
‘It was clear that fundamental change was needed at my new school and I realised that, to bring this about, I needed information beyond all the usual strategies and documents that bombard a headteacher. I chose Sussex because of the reputation of its research degrees – a doctorate from Sussex carries weight and people recognise it.
‘With the help of the EdD, I was able to think innovatively and get the sort of deeper understanding that can’t be gained on the job. The course has given me a powerful knowledge base, the courage to stand out, and to go against the grain when necessary.
‘My school is now in the top 5 for value-added in mainstream education and was recently judged by Her Majesty's Inspector to have made "outstanding progress in mathematics". That is down to the EdD.
‘On a personal level, my doctorate has also had a huge impact. It’s enabled me to build my reputation as a leader in maths education and has brought me further opportunities above and beyond my headship. I can see how my doctorate has opened many doors for my future, both financially and professionally.’
Dr Lin Phillips
Tutorial Fellow and EdD student, University of Sussex
For more information, visit Careers and alumni.
School and contacts
School of Education and Social Work
The School of Education and Social Work combines two very strong departments with excellent reputations, and serves the needs of its students as well as those of the wider community.
School of Education and Social Work,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9QQ, UK
T +44 (0)1273 873238
F +44 (0)1273 678411
E eswadmissions@sussex.ac.uk
Department of Education
Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions
You’re welcome to attend one of our Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions. These are held in the spring and summer terms and enable you to find out more about postgraduate study and the opportunities Sussex has to offer.
Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.
Other ways to visit Sussex
We run weekly guided campus tours every Wednesday afternoon, year round. Book a place online at Visit us and Open Days.
You are also welcome to visit the University independently without any pre-arrangement.