Doctorate in Philosophy (Education)

A PhD can be a major step in either launching your career or in reaching your employment aspirations. The Durham University School of Education PhD programme, consisting of both training and supervised research, is perfect for those graduates who aspire to an academic career in educational research teaching in higher education institutions or to positions of professional leadership and responsibility in the field of educaiton.

Even though all PhD topics are different, all students will research a subject in great depth, acquire advanced skills in practical and intellectual problem-solving and critical analysis of theories and evidence, and contribute to an extensive piece of original work (a dissertation of up to 100,000 words) to the field of education.

Your research topic could relate to any aspect of the theory, policy or practice of education and may be drawn from any phase of education, including early years and post-compulsory education. As all doctoral students agree their topics with their supervisory team, the topic you choose must align with the research interests of a potential supervisor at the time of application.

While most of our PhD candidates study full-time, we also accept part-time applicants. Completion of the PhD usually takes three years for full-time study and six years for part-time study. As the staff research areas suggest, we can offer supervision in a broad range of areas. What's more, we welcome applications from varied disciplinary backgrounds, not just from those students possessing qualifications in education-related subjects.

Entry Requirements

We are looking for exceptional candidates who learn quickly, have the potential to contribute to the School of Education's vibrant research culture, and will go on to accomplish remarkable things in their careers. You will need to have a clear idea of what you would like to research and why, as well as an awareness of recent research in that particular field.

Applicants will normally be expected to hold a Master's degree or equivalent and should be able to demonstrate proficiency in research methods. The latter is most usually demonstrated by the successful completion of a taught Master's degree that includes substantial research methods training. If you do not possess such a degree, you may be interested in registering for our MA in Research Methods (Education) programme, from which you may be able to progress to PhD study.

Exemption from the research training requirements may be granted only on the grounds of very clear evidence that a candidate has completed comparable research training elsewhere or has engaged in extensive, wide-ranging and high quality education research activity, usually reflected in a record of publication.

If English is not your first language, you will need to demonstrate satisfactory English proficiency before the start of your programme of study.

Find out more about the Durham University English language requirements.

Candidates wishing to apply for a PhD degree are required to submit a research proposal in addition to the online application.

Find out more about the application process and research proposals here.

Staff and students attend a research group seminar on motivation