King's College London

This Education, Policy and Society MA combines a rigorous focus on policy analysis with a commitment to social justice and equality, within a vibrant and community-oriented learning environment.

Through flexible assignments and a choice of optional modules, you can pursue your own passions and interests. You’ll also gain advanced training in research methods and the chance to pursue independent research: planning, researching and writing a dissertation in an area of your choice.

You’ll graduate from this Master’s with the necessary skills and knowledge to initiate and support real change in education, policy and practice. This includes learning how to critically analyse policy and interpret and evaluate evidence from a variety of sources, as well as understanding key issues in education policy and social justice and advanced writing and presentation skills.

This Education, Policy and Society MA will teach you how to analyse policies and equip you with an understanding of social justice and equality challenges, empowering you not only to understand the issues but also to propose ways to address them.

You’ll be taught by experts from a variety of professional and academic backgrounds, from school leaders to higher education professionals, teachers, policy advocates and community educators. The academic teaching team are active in their own research areas and bring their latest insights to you as part of their teaching.
This Master’s in Education, Policy and Society is delivered in a vibrant and collaborative learning environment. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to collaborate with peers from a wide range of countries and contexts, who bring experiences from different educational backgrounds.

Your programme is based on two required modules. The first will guide you through critical understandings of policy and its application in various educational contexts. You’ll learn how policies are made, discover how to analyse policy texts and see how to apply a critical perspective by drawing on various theoretical resources, and considering concepts such as globalisation, neoliberalism, social justice, and more.

The second required module will give you advanced training in research methods and support you to research and write your dissertation. You’ll be taught how to devise and justify a research question, how to conduct postgraduate-level research and how to analyse and evaluate your findings. You’ll put these skills to use with your own independent research, which will form the basis of your dissertation. This empowers you to investigate an issue that you are passionate about, and demonstrate your advanced research and writing skills.

The rest of your Education, Policy and Society MA will be decided by you and your interests. You’ll get to choose three optional modules and really tailor your areas of study. For example, you could combine modules in the Social Context of Education, Social Justice and Education policy, and the Political Economy of Education or explore issues including Race and Racisms in education, Language and Power, Environmental Education, and Child Protection. Alternatively, you could choose to focus on topics such as International and Comparative Education, Education and International Development, and Global Childhoods to take an even more global view of education, policy and society. Please note that while we aim to offer a wide variety of optional modules, availability can vary from year to year depending on staffing and student numbers.

You’ll graduate from your Master’s in Education, Policy and Society with a variety of transferable skills and knowledge that will support your future career, including critical analysis of policy, interpreting and evaluating evidence from a range of sources, and working collaboratively with a diverse group of classmates. You’ll understand key debates, challenges and tensions in education policy and social justice, and will gain skills in bringing together theory, research, policy and practice. You will also develop your academic and non-academic writing and presentation skills, gain expertise in a variety of research methods (qualitative, theoretical, quantitative and creative), and lead a sustained research project in an area of your choice, leading to a dissertation you can be proud of.

You’ll be supported to meet your career goals through a number of events and initiatives, including networking and learning from alumni about their career experiences.