Education, Power and Social Change Postgraduate Diploma

Birkbeck, University of London

Is education a force for reproduction or transformation in the world? Does education change the world or maintain the current system - for example, can it alleviate the effects of poverty or does it increase existing inequalities?

These are just some of the questions we consider in this Postgraduate Diploma. This course will deepen your awareness of how education shapes, and is shaped by, our understanding of the world. We explore the links between education (all forms of informal and formal learning, across all age ranges, including adult, higher and professional education), and social and political movements, and develop understandings of how 'education' as a contested field should be viewed within a globalised and postcolonial context.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about education, we draw on the arts and humanities as well as the more conventional representations of education in social science. We explore key debates on what is the role of education and how people learn, developed from a range of viewpoints, including critical theory.

The Postgraduate Diploma is one of a suite of postgraduate courses looking at the subject of education, power and social change and is ideal if you are interested in studying this subject at postgraduate level for personal or professional reasons, but you don't want to commit to a full MA. This flexible part-time evening study course allows you to explore your passion for this subject and you can go on to complete our MA, if you wish.

TEACHING

Teaching may include formal lectures, seminars, and practical classes and tutorials. Formal lectures are used in most degree programmes to give an overview of a particular field of study. They aim to provide the stimulus and the starting point for deeper exploration of the subject during your own personal reading. Seminars give you the chance to explore a specific aspect of your subject in depth and to discuss and exchange ideas with fellow students. They typically require preparatory study.

CAREERS AND EMPLOYABILITY

Graduates go in to careers in teaching and training, youth work, education policy, and in community and voluntary sector organisations. Possible professions include community education officer, education administrator, or youth worker. This degree can also be useful in becoming a careers adviser or community development worker.