Doctorate
in Education
(minimum of 4 years part-time)
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 EdD at UEA 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 programme leading to the degree of Doctor in Education (EdD) in January 1997. This programme recruits every two years and we will be recruiting to our seventh cohort to begin in October 2008.
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.
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 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 Walker, Dr Barbara Ridley, Dr Esther Priyadharshini, Dr Elena Nardi, Dr Lyndon Martin, Dr Yann Labeau, Dr Sandra Leaton Gray, Dr Terry Haydn, Dr Anna Robinson-Pant, Professor Rob Walker, Professor Nigel Norris, and Barabara Zamorski.
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.
Overseas applicants are welcome. However, this is not a distance learning course. Attendance at study blocks is required.
The course fee is equivalent to other part-time research degrees at UEA, currently at £1,650 per annum and £4,650 per annum for overseas 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.
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 three residential weekend study blocks. Years two, three and four comprise a period of independent study leading to the production of a thesis of up to 80,000 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.
Study
block 1:
Sat, Sun 11th- 12th October
Study
block 2:
Sat, Sun, 7th - 8th February
Study
block 3:
Sat, Sun 6th - 7th June
Year
One
Two assignments - one 7,000 word assignment on methodology to be submitted
April/May (dates TBC); one 5,000 word assignment mapping the literature in
the field of interest.
Year
Two
A Research Proposal of 5,000 words.
Years
Three and Four
Research thesis of up to 80,000 words.
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.
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.
Guidance about how to make your application and an electronic version of our application form are available to download. Applications must be submitted with a research proposal (2,000 words).
If you are unable to download the application form please contact:
Faculty
of Social Sciences Admissions
School of Education and Lifelong Learning
University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ UK
tel: 01603 592807
email: ssf.admissions@uea.ac.uk
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.
Please note that our next intake will be for October 2008.
If you have any queries in relation to any aspect of the EdD or would like to discuss your application please contact:
Dr Esther Priyadharshini
Tel: +44 (0)1603 592858
Email: e.priya@uea.ac.uk