Subject overview

Masters-level 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 knowledge and 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. 

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.

Specialist facilities

You will have access to extensive library support through the main University Library and, with prior permission, certain specialist research libraries on campus. 

For full-time research students, we provide access to computing facilities (including PCs), which supplement those available through University IT Services. There are also research student workrooms, equipped with some PCs. 

Academic activities

We encourage and, if possible, financially support research students in attending conferences, especially where they are presenting material based on their research. Students are encouraged to publish material from their higher degree work. 

Programme outline

This is an innovative, flexible MA with a significant research component, enabling professionals working in any educational context and students interested in this field to develop their understanding of a broad range of educational issues and theoretical perspectives on practice and policy in both UK and global contexts. 

The MA in Education Studies is distinctive because: 

• you can choose between a taught or more research-based route, depending on your context and experience 
• you can select your area of study within the broad discipline of education, constructing your own pathway via a series of modules 
• you can choose to conduct empirical research in an area of interest, for example in your professional context, for your dissertation or pursue a literature-based, theoretical enquiry 
• both part-time and full-time routes have a strong focus on research methods. Full-time and international students also participate in weekly Academic Skills seminars that focus on the development of academic and research skills 
• home students can take advantage of Accreditation of Prior Learning in order to gain credit towards the first 30-credit module by submitting a portfolio of completed CPD activities. 

Assessment

We award an MA in Education Studies for gaining 180 credits. This is through successful completion of four 30-credit modules – Critical Reflection • Literature Review • Poster Presentation of Research Methods • minor research project (for part-time students on a research-based route) or an option (for full-time students) – and a 60-credit dissertation on a topic of your choice. Modules are shared with other courses in the Department of Education and other units across the University, such as the Sussex Centre for Language Studies. 

Entry requirements

UK entrance requirements

A first- or second-class undergraduate honours degree or equivalent qualification. Plus either a minimum of one year's experience of work in teaching, education or a related context, or a degree in this area.

For the International Baccalaureate (IB) route you must have at least one year's experience working in an IB school.

Overseas entrance requirements

Overseas qualifications

If your country is not listed below, please contact the University at E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

Country	Overseas qualification
Australia	Bachelor (Honours) degree with second-class lower division
Brazil	Bacharel, Licenciado or professional title with a final mark of at least 7
Canada	Bachelor degree with CGPA 3.0/4.0 (grade B)
China	Bachelor degree from a leading university with overall mark of 65%-85% depending on your university
Cyprus	Bachelor degree or Ptychion with a final mark of at least 6.5
France	Licence with mention assez bien or Maîtrise with final mark of at least 12
Germany	Bachelor degree or Magister Artium with a final mark of 2.7 or better
Ghana	Bachelor degree from a public university with second-class lower division
Greece	Ptychion from an AEI with a final mark of at least 6.5
Hong Kong	Bachelor (Honours) degree with second-class lower division
India	Bachelor degree from a leading institution with overall mark of at least 60% or equivalent
Iran	Bachelor degree (Licence or Karshenasi) with a final mark of at least 14
Italy	Diploma di Laurea with an overall mark of at least 100
Japan	Bachelor degree from a leading university with a minumum of B or equivalent
Malaysia	Bachelor degree with class 2 division 2
Mexico	Licenciado with a final mark of at least 7
Nigeria	Bachelor degree with second-class lower division or CGPA of at least 2.8/4.0
Pakistan	Four-year bachelor degree, normally with a GPA of at least 3.3
Russia	Magistr or Specialist Diploma with a minimum average mark of at least 4
South Africa	Bachelor (Honours) degree or Bachelor degree in Technology with an overall mark of at least 60%
Saudi Arabia	Bachelor degree with an overall mark of at least 65% or CGPA 3.0/5.0 or equivalent
South Korea	Bachelor degree from a leading university with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or equivalent
Spain	Licenciado with a final mark of at least 2/4
Taiwan	Bachelor degree with overall mark of 70%-85% depending on your university
Thailand	Bachelor degree with CGPA of at least 2.8/4.0 or equivalent
Turkey	Lisans Diplomasi with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or equivalent depending on your university
United Arab Emirates	Bachelor degree with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or equivalent
USA	Bachelor degree with CGPA 3.3-3.5/4.0 depending on your university
Vietnam	Masters degree with CGPA 3.0/4.0 or equivalent

If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas qualifications, contact the University at E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

Additional admissions information

Applicants include teachers, senior leaders and educationists from a wide range of contexts from primary schools to Higher-Education institutions, including those working in Widening Participation contexts.

Related programmes

• Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation MA
• Childhood and Youth Studies MA
• English Language Teaching MA
• Environment, Development and Policy MA
• Gender and Development MA
• Human Rights MA
• Media Practice for Development and Social Change MA
• Migration Studies MA
• Social Development MA

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.

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.

Faculty interests

The research interests and areas of supervisory expertise of our faculty are listed below. For more information about the research conducted in 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 the Centre for International Education (CIE), visit the Department of Education.  

Dr Kwame Akyeampong Global, regional and national analysis of teacher education and impact on learning, curriculum and assessment reforms. 

Dr Sarah Aynsley 14-19 education and training, transition from further to Higher Education, qualitative approaches and practitioner research. 

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, crossnational research. 

Professor Penny Jane 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 Andrew Chandler-Grevatt Science education: teaching and learning, progression of key concepts in science. 

Dr Barbara Crossouard Doctoral education, Higher Education; assessment, formative assessment; educational ethnography; gender, identity. 

Professor 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. 

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 Brian Hudson Mathematics education; ICT and learning; didactics, learning and teaching; teacher education policy. 

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 Linda Morrice Adult, Higher-Education and lifelong learning. Refugee education and migration studies, learning and identity. Life-history, biographical and longitudinal methodologies. 

Professor Mario Novelli Education and conflict, global governance of education, education and globalisation, foreign aid and education. 

Dr John Parry Education for sustainable development, role of ICT within citizenship, experiential learning, special educational needs. 

Dr John Pryor Educational ethnography, international and intercultural education, identity and equity, pedagogy and formative assessment. 

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 Julia Sutherland The use of collaborative talk to develop secondary pupils’ higher cognitive thinking. 

Dr Simon Thompson Teachers’ professional knowledge, Initial Teacher Education in the UK, history of education. 

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. 

Careers and profiles

You can use this MA to progress to a wide range of careers in education and related fields including 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 authorities, advisory services, therapeutic occupations, creative arts, social sciences and training providers in the commercial sector. 

School and contacts