This Doctorate in Education/Professional Studies is significantly different from the traditional doctorate and more attuned to the professional seeking to develop their career through enhanced research capacity. Promotes understanding of the nature, development and evaluation of professional knowledge, develops critical awareness and high level research skills.
KEY BENEFITS
- Comprehensive research training.
- Specialist supervision of thesis.
- A leading education and professional studies research department in the UK.
KEY FACTS
Student destinations
This degree enhances the promotion prospects of students through developing research management, commissioning, evaluation capacities, as well as enabling the student to become a skilled researcher.
Programme leader/s
Dr Jill Hohenstein
Awarding Institution
King's College London
Credit value (UK/ECTS equivalent)
UK 180/ECTS 90
Duration
Maximum seven years PT.
Location
Waterloo Campus.
Year of entry 2013
Offered by
School of Social Science and Public Policy
Department of Education and Professional Studies
Closing date
31 August 2012.
Intake
20
Fees
PT Home: £2320 (2012)
PT Overseas: £7925 (2012)
CONTACTS
Contact information
Programme Director: Dr Jill Hohenstein, tel 020 7848 3100,
Programme Administrator, tel 020 7848 3133.
Email
Website
PURPOSE
Designed to allow experienced professionals (particularly those in full-time practice) to pursue a Doctoral level programme relevant to their professional interests. The programme consists of two integrated parts: a substantial taught element provides a coherent structure and prepares students for engagement with manageable independent research concerning issues arising from professional practice. Suitable for professionals working in a wide variety of contexts: school teachers, lecturers in higher or further education, and educators in a variety of professional settings.
DESCRIPTION
This programme has been created to share the department's internationally recognised and wide-ranging expertise with senior professionals working in education. While providing opportunities for you to pursue personal interests, it has a common core of theory, research training and research designed specifically for professionals at work. It is therefore significantly different from the traditional doctorate and more attuned to the needs of the career professional seeking to develop their career through enhanced research capacity.
The programme aims to promote understanding of the nature, development and evaluation of professional knowledge, to develop critical awareness of implications of policies for practice and to develop high level research skills. Four components are studied sequentially as each leads on to and informs the subsequent part.
In the taught component you will explore issues of professional knowledge common to all participants, acquire relevant research skills and link theoretical issues to your specialist interests. These should also reflect the academic expertise in the department. The institution-focused study looks at professionalism in practice: you will examine problems and issues relating to being a professional in an institutional setting, normally your own. You will be supervised by a member of the department with input, where appropriate, from a staff member in your institution. The research-based thesis usually involves an empirically based study in your specialist area. It may, where appropriate, follow on from the institution-focused study. You will be supervised by a specialist from King's academic staff.
STRUCTURE OVERVIEW
Core programme content
Core modules are studied in the following order. More details on each can be found in the modules section below.
- Theory & Research in Educational & Professional Settings
- Methods of Inquiry
- Foundations of Professionalism
- Advanced Research Methods.
FORMAT AND ASSESSMENT
A variety of teaching methods are employed to suit the participants' needs. The programme consists of a taught component (with two modules per year in the first two years), followed by an Institution/Profession Focussed Study, and then a Research Based Thesis. The taught modules are assessed by assignments of 7,500 words each. The Institution/Profession Focused Study is assessed by means of a 15,000 words report and a viva voce examination on the work. The Research Based Thesis should be between 25,000 and 55,000 words long.
Taught formal sessions take place in two Friday/Saturday blocks per module, with approximately 6 hours of teaching for each day of the block. The teaching dates for 2013/14 will be:
- Autumn Term (TREPS & FOP)
18th & 19th Oct 2013
29th & 30th Nov 2013
24th & 25th Jan 2014
14th & 15th Mar 2014
- Summer Term
For all students there will be a series of seminars in the Summer Term.
The taught modules are assessed by assignments of 7,500 words each. The Institution/Profession Focused Study is assessed by means of a 15,000 words report and a viva voce examination on the work. The Research Based Thesis should be between 25,000 and 55,000 words long.
MODULES
More information on typical programme modules.
NB it cannot be guaranteed that all modules are offered in any particular academic year.
Module code: SEX003
Credit level: 7
This course builds on the foundations laid in the course on Methods of Inquiry where the aim had been to critically evaluate published research. In this course the focus is on developing the practical and analytic skills needed to carry out quantitative and qualitative research in professional settings. The course will provide participants with the opportunity to design a study, practice the skills of qualitative interviewing and quantitative and qualitative data analysis and write up the work in an appropriate manner.
Module code: SEX001
Credit level: 7
Based on insights and approaches drawn from the sociology/history of the professions, epistemology of professional knowledge and applied ethics, the course aims to provide participants with an understanding of the complex nature of the professions, professionalization and professionalism and their interconnections both in theory and in relation to present-day practice. It is particularly concerned with the adequate conceptualisation of the relationship between research-based theory and professional practice and, as such, builds on and develops some of the themes begun in TREPS and MOI. It aims to stimulate and inform critical reflection on these issues and on their implications for policy and practice vis-à-vis participants’ own professional practices and institutional contexts.
Module code: SEX002
Credit level: 7
This course provides participants with an understanding of the nature of educational inquiry, its philosophical and empirical foundations, its different approaches, the framing of research questions and the methods used within these approaches. The course is designed to enable the participant to interrogate and critically evaluate the claims made in the research literature and to understand the assumptions upon which research is based. Three distinct outcomes are expected from the course: an ability to understand why critical decisions were made in the design of an empirical research project; an ability to understand the relationship and limitation of empirical outcomes to methods chosen for a study; and an appreciation of the role and structure of a research methods chapter for future IFS and RBT work.
Module code: SEM118
Credit level: 7
This course is designed to provide students with a good knowledge of the theoretical background to educational research, centred on the disciplines of Sociology, Philosophy and Psychology. It considers current theoretical debates and the relationship between theory and practice in entering the field of research. This is designed to introduce you to the critical vocabulary, tensions and discourses embedded in current debates and to apply these to your particular specialism.
ACADEMIC ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
General entry advice
Master's degree from UK/overseas equivalent and evidence of the study of education or a related social science at graduate level; at least four years' professional experience.
APPLYING TO KING'S
To apply for graduate study at King's you will need to complete our graduate online application form. Applying online makes applying easier and quicker for you, and means we can receive your application faster and more securely.
King's does not normally accept paper copies of the graduate application form as applications must be made online. However, if you are unable to access the online graduate application form, please contact the relevant admissions/School Office at King's for advice.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The majority of applicants will be interviewed, and as places are limited on both the domestic and international programmes you are advised to submit your applications as early as possible. Interviews will take place in blocks throughout 2013, with each block having its own deadline (for fully completed applications) as below:
First deadline: 1 May 2013 (interviews in week commencing 20 May 2013). Second deadline: 16 July 2013 (interviews in week commencing 5 August 2013).
International students may be interviewed by telephone. Applications received after the 16 July 2013 may be accepted should places still be available.
PERSONAL STATEMENT & SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Research interests: We do not expect applicants to have a full research proposal/research title in mind at this stage, however when completing the application form we do ask that you include a statement detailing your research interests. This should be equivalent of approximately one side of A4, and can be uploaded as an attachment.
Writing sample: Please provide a recent sample of writing preferably on a topic or within a discipline related to education. This writing should be for work at Masters level or above. It could come from coursework, dissertation or even published research (single-authored). If you do not have such a sample of work, please contact us to receive a topic on which to write a sample for the application. Writing samples should be uploaded as an attachment in the Research Proposal section of the application form.
References: You should provide two academic references. If this is not possible we can accept one academic and one work reference. The academic reference should ideally be from your Master's supervisor.
Supporting Documentation: You should also provide a transcript of your grades from your Master's qualification (a Certificate is not sufficient).
FUNDING
Employer or self-funded.
Staff profiles
Doctorate in Education/Professional Studies EdD, DrPS
I am one of the directors of the taught doctorate in Education (EdD) and Professional Studies (DPS). This professional doctorate was one of the first of its kind in the UK, providing internationally recognized expertise through interdisciplinary approaches to subject areas related to Education and Professionalism, including psychology, sociolinguistics, mathematics and science education, museum learning as well as health care.