MA Education
Manchester, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 up to 2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 20,000 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
Blended, On-Campus
* full-time | EUR 3334 part-time per 30 credits studied
Introduction
Our MA Education Master's is a flexible course for anyone interested in critically exploring contemporary education. We offer a full-time route and a part-time route so you can study at a pace that suits you.
From early years practitioners, teachers and leaders in education, to local authority, health services and aspiring researchers, our course appeals to a variety of backgrounds and professions. You will be joining a diverse and thriving community of postgraduate students from the UK and across the world.
Examine key concepts, global issues and debates in education, from performance measurement to ethnicity, class and gender. Explore national and international policy, and consider the impact of social inequalities and the role of politics in education.
We aim to empower you to approach your own research with confidence. You’ll extend your understanding of research techniques, including empirical and desk-based projects, to prepare you for completing your own dissertation. Throughout the project, you will have access to support from active researchers in our internationally renowned Educational and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
Features and Benefits
- World-class research-informed teaching - Experience courses planned and delivered by our award-winning TEF Gold standard team and world-leading Educational and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
- National Professional Qualification - If you have a National Professional Qualification, you can apply for the learning to be recognised as a contribution towards your master's and reduce the number of taught modules you need to complete.
- Expert dissertation support - You can work closely with expert researchers as part of your dissertation module to help you shape and carry out your own research project. Expertise spans areas such as early childhood, literacy, STEM, and global educational trends.
- Join a diverse postgraduate community - You’ll become a part of a thriving community of postgraduate learners from a variety of professional backgrounds in the UK and across the world. This network helps to enhance your learning experience and further support you through your studies.
- Flexible structure – Study either part-time or full-time so that you can fit your masters around your varying commitments.
- Opportunity to specialise – Choose option modules and coursework topics to reflect your personal and professional interests. Specialise your studies to discover education in an ever-changing world.
- Study in a thriving education city – With a diverse and energetic scene, Manchester is one of the UK’s largest and most popular student cities. Our university shares the city’s strong national and international education links which can support and enhance your learning.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Several scholarship options are available. Please check the university website for more information.
Curriculum
Course information
Whether you take our part-time or full-time course, you will start your MA Education with two core modules.
In your first module, you’ll critically explore current key issues in education nationally and internationally, from performance measurement to the purposes of education. You’ll ask challenging questions and make informed judgements about your own position within debates, and how you respond to them. You’ll interrogate how ideology and culture have shaped the experience of learning and teaching today.
In the second core module, you’ll develop your understanding of these issues further by considering the theory which underpins them. Through this, you’ll start to develop your own theoretical position. You’ll evaluate and learn to think with a range of theoretical frameworks. And you’ll explore how theory informs how we interpret and analyse key issues in education today.
Year 1
Throughout your course, you’ll study four core modules including a dissertation, and one option module. If you are coming to the course with an advanced standing of 60 credits from your PGCE, you’ll complete two modules before progressing to your dissertation.
Core Units
- Key discourses, debates, and understandings in education
- Conceptualise, Critique, Create: Thinking with Theory in education
- Principles and Practice of Educational Research
- Dissertation
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Our broad and reflective course aims to progress your career in education and enhance your academic skills for further research ventures.
By choosing your own topics and option units, you can focus on your areas of interest – your priorities, targets and aspirations.
Our graduates have used our courses to help further careers, either in their current sector, or to make an informed move into a different role or field of education.
Program delivery
Study
- Full-time 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study
- Part-time 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study
Assessment
- Full-time 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination
- Part-time 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination