MA Education

Plymouth Marjon University

Research your own passions within the field of education. Use your findings to benefit your organisation and enhance your career progression.

Course Summary

Our MA Education provides opportunities for practitioners across a wide range of contexts to research and apply theory to practice in order to drive improvements in their current professional settings. The course offers flexibility for busy professionals to engage in postgraduate study. It can be studied either part-time or full-time at our Plymouth campus or part-time at our Marjon Cornwall campus in Truro to fit in with professional and family commitments.

Our MA Education is taught in partnership with Teaching School Alliances, Multi-Academy Trusts, SCITT partners, Diocesan offices, military, health, sport, outdoor education, local authorities and a wide range of other employers and organisations throughout the South-West and beyond.

The course ethos is informed, first and foremost, by a renowned student-centred approach focusing on developing and enhancing professionals’ practice and specific subject expertise, which allows you to identify your own research focus.

What might you become?

In general terms, a Masters’ degree can enable career progression in a highly competitive market place and promote career mobility. Career opportunities will vary according to students’ fields of work, but holders of a Masters’ degree can expect to demonstrate highly flexible and transferable skills such as high levels of initiative, leadership of learning and mastery of a subject area. For example, previous graduates have progressed to County Advisor positions, middle leadership, school leadership and/or executive leadership positions.

How will you be taught?

The course is delivered to fit in with your work, through distance learning, focusing on 1:1 tutorials, practice-based conversations at your workplace, professional focus groups, Saturday workshops and occasional key-note lectures at our campuses in Plymouth or Truro. Hours per week vary depending on work, life and family commitments.

How will you be assessed?

The key assessment methodology is action research, taking the form of small practice-focused projects, a research proposal poster and a final-stage research dissertation. You'll use evaluative, investigative, and/or analytical methods to diagnose problems or weaknesses and to develop practical solutions to address them quickly and efficiently.