Do you want to investigate educational, social, professional or organisational issues?

Would you like to acquire skills as an independent researcher, to design and to conduct your own research?

Would you like to understand better, issues related to your everyday work experience and context?

Is there a problem or puzzle to research for your organisation? 

The Doctorate in Education (EdD) at the University of East Anglia is a part-time course designed to encourage professionals to construct their own programme of research building towards a significant piece of work in 4 years.

The School introduced its EdD programme in January 1997. This programme recruits every two years and we will recruit to our ninth cohort  in October 2012.

The degree builds on our traditions and expertise in exciting new ways, integrating our own research and that of other leading researchers with our teaching.

Entrants to the doctoral programme will normally be expected to register initially for the degree of MEd and then present an academic case for progression to EdD.

Aims of the Degree

The EdD is designed to provide an education in applied research. It has been designed to meet the needs of professionals working in areas related to education, training and development who can draw on their everyday practice and work contexts to work towards a doctorate.

  • It allows you to research educational, social, professional or organisational issues of relevance to you as a professional and to your organisation.
  • It allows you to acquire competency as an independent researcher; to design and conduct research and to disseminate the outcomes to others in your field.
  • Its structure of taught and independent elements allows you to draw on the range of experiences of fellow-students and the staff team in a mutually supportive environment.

The programme is designed to provide course members with skills and experience to:

  • identify research needs
  • use and apply others' research to local circumstances
  • support colleagues in research roles
  • conduct and disseminate high quality research relevant to their organisation
  • undertake policy and programme evaluation
  • consider ethical issues in enquiry and professional practice
  • prepare research papers for publication.

Fields supervised to date include:

  • methodology
  • education and training for the professions
  • curriculum development
  • schooling
  • language literacies and discourses
  • higher and further education
  • mathematics education
  • gender studies
  • ethics in research
  • post-colonial studies
  • creative arts education
  • policy studies and evaluation
  • education for health and social welfare
  • interprofessional practice and knowledge development
  • development of learning environments supported by IT.

The Course Team

The course is delivered by a team of highly qualified and experienced academic staff with substantial track records and continuing involvement in educational research, and with excellent ratings in teaching quality assessments: Dr Barbara Ridley, Dr Esther Priyadharshini, Dr Elena Nardi, Dr Yann Labeau, Dr Terry Haydn, Dr Anna Robinson-Pant, and Professor Nigel Norris.

Entry Requirements

Candidates will normally be expected to have a relevant Masters degree and preferably some experience of research. It is also likely that applicants will have some years experience in a relevant professional area.

Those without such qualifications are nonetheless encouraged to discuss the possibility of registering for the course.

This is a part-time course, not a distance learning course. Attendance at study blocks is required.

Due to UKBA visa regulations this course is only available to Home and EU nationals. 

Fees and Expenses

The course fee is equivalent to other part time research degrees at UEA which, for 2012/13 is £1,914 per annum for home and EU students.

Participants who opt to stay on campus or locally, will also have to pay for accommodation and meals during the residential aspects of the course. Details of University and local B&B accommodation will be supplied to participants.

Length of Course and Teaching Arrangements

Study is part-time over four years. You will have access to a supervisor (and a supervisory team) to support you throughout the four year period of study.

You will also be supplied with recommended reading as well as research resources available on the School's website.

Year one comprises of two residential weekend study blocks.

Year two has a further weekend study block in the autumn. The second half of the year introduces the beginning of the period of independent study. This includes a formative assignment contributing to the final thesis.

Years three and four continue with independent study and incorporates two further formative assignments leading towards production of a thesis up to 60,000 words.

In addition to contact time through study blocks and with your supervisor, the course requires personal independent study time for successful completion of the course (at least 30 hours per month).

Study blocks normally consist of two days over a week-end.

It is a requirement of the course that you engage in study blocks and that these days are spent at UEA following a structured programme.

It is recommended that wherever possible you arrange to spend some part of the Friday preceding the weekend study block in the library and/or using appropriate resource materials to pursue the research agenda you have negotiated with your tutor.

This may also provide opportunities for tutorial meetings.

Provisional Teaching Schedule 2012-13

Study block 1:
Sat / Sun, 13/14th October 2012

Study block 2:
Sat / Sun, 23/24th March 2013

Study block 3:
Sat / Sun, 12/13th October 2013

Assessment

Year One
Critical analysis of two articles (3,500 words).
Comparison of two methodologies (6,500 words).

Year Two
Research Proposal (5,000 words).
Thesis formative assignment 1: Literature Review (6,000 words).

Year Three 
Thesis formative assignment 2: Methodology (6,000 words).
Thesis formative assignment 3: Issues emerging from the research data (6,000 words).

Year Four
Research thesis of up to 60,000 words (incorporating the three thesis formative assignments).
Oral examination of thesis.

Contact between tutors and participants will be greatly facilitated if you have access to email. You will also need to provide any equipment required for your own research. This will almost certainly include audio recording equipment but you may also want to use video, photographic equipment, or other digital media.

UEA Facilities

Each student at UEA is issued with a 'Survival Guide' to the University's computing services. Classes are regularly held for the standard software packages, the internet and email. There are help desks available to all students. For research students there is a range of specially designed short courses covering basic IT needs. The Computing Centre has about 100 personal computers available for student use.

The UEA library provides a centralised service to all Schools at the University. It contains approximately 700,000 volumes with approximately 2,500 current journal subscriptions. It also houses an extensive collection of reference sources and bibliographies. Research students can borrow books from other universities through the inter-library loan service. Special study rooms are available to Doctoral students. The library provides training in the use of its electronic sources of information.

The School of Education has its own Research Resources which include a growing number of research methodology texts and journals.

Computing facilities provide access to the internet, bibliographical archiving software and qualitative data analysis software packages.

Application and Referee Forms

Applications can be made on line viawww.uea.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply Please ensure that your application is accompanied by:

  • Official transcripts and certificates (in English) of your higher education qualifications.
  • A Personal Statement
  • A CV detailing your work experience to date. 
  • Two academic references.
  • An official copy of your English language results (if relevant)
  • A Research Proposal of around 2,000 words 

Applicants are not expected to present a full-fledged final research proposal at this stage. However, you are expected to have a range of ideas about the questions/problems to be investigated. Please indicate any previous research or experience of relevance to the investigation, and any reading in the field which has been undertaken.

Applications for October 2012 entry will be accepted from February 1st 2012. The closing date for applications is 17th August 2012.

Queries

If you have any queries in relation to any aspect of the EdD or would like to discuss your application please contact:

Dr Barbara Ridley via Email: b.ridley@uea.ac.uk
Or Telephone Dawn Corby: +44 (0)1603 592869

For admissions enquiries please contact:

Faculty of Social Sciences
Postgraduate Research Office (PPE)
Elizabeth Fry Building, 2.30
University of East Anglia, 
Norwich Research Park
NR4 7TJ

Telephone: +44 (0)1603 591709
Email: pgr.enquiries.admiss@uea.ac.uk