School of Education

Taught Programmes

The Durham University School of Education is proud to offer you a broad range of postgraduate programmes, many of which are also offered on a part-time basis to enable you to study around your work and family commitments. Programmes have been designed to fit with our areas of expertise so that you can benefit from access to the most up-to-date research.

If you are interested in becoming a teacher, you should visit our Teacher Training section, which has further information on each of the courses we run which confer Qualified Teacher Status, including our Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programmes.

Regardless of whether you are a home or an international student, you will benefit most from our range of degrees if you are interested in education and educational management in schools, further or higher education, as well as in educational administration.

Programmes offered in the School of Education at Postgraduate Taught level are:

  • The MA Education provides an opportunity to study broad educational and pedagogical issues, while an individually supervised dissertation offers the opportunity to research a specific issue in greater depth. You will develop an understanding of the nature and significance of educational issues, both generic and subject specific, and examine the ways in which research in education might illuminate such issues.
  • The MA Intercultural Education and Internationalisation will enable you to develop a critical understanding of education and intercultural communication in the context of global movements and the internationalisation of education. Whether you are a student, teacher, or a policy maker, this programme will provide you with the resources to reflect on and respond to the growing need for intercultural education and communication in an increasingly intercultural/international world.
  • The MSc Mathematics Education focuses in detail on important issues emerging from research on the teaching and learning of Mathematics at all levels, particularly regarding the issue of developing understanding in Mathematics.
  • The MSc in Educational Assessment has been developed to meet the need for specialists in educational assessment and combines the expertise of two leading institutions in assessment: The School of Education and the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM). This programme is also run as an online programme.
  • The MSc Science Education aims to promote critical understanding of and reflection on aspects of teaching and learning in science education generally as well as within specialist subject areas of chemistry, physics, and primary science and biology/outdoor education. It will develop knowledge at subject, pedagogical and theoretical levels and support participants in understanding issues within extant literature.
  • The MSc Technology Enhanced Learning is available from October 2014 and has been designed to meet the demand of those wishing to use/deploy/design technology and software for use in educational settings. It builds on the research interests of a number of staff within the School.
  • If you are interested in exploring educational research issues further, you may wish to consider our MA in Research Methods (Education), a programme designed to equip you with the knowledge needed to become an educational researcher, as well as the broad analytical skills that would be an asset in furthering your career in any field. This course is an excellent route onto our Ph.D. course and funding may be available to eligible applicants though the Northeast Doctoral Training Centre.
  • The MA Education (International) - Geneva has been designed to meet the professional needs of international colleagues in all phases of Education, whether new teachers or those with more experience and for those working in other educational contexts or organisations.
  • In addition to our Masters programmes we also offer a Postgraduate Certificate in the Practice of Education. With the option of transferring to the MA in Education upon successful completion of both modules, this programme is ideal for those who are interested in postgraduate study but are reluctant to initially commit to a full Masters programme.
  • The Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching A-level Mathematics is designed for practising secondary Mathematics teachers who wish to develop or enhance their teaching at the post-16 level. In addition to developing subject knowledge, the course focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of learning advanced Mathematics and enables teachers to explore the evidence base for the teaching of one mathematical topic in more depth.

Students successfully completing a Masters programme within the School of Education may be able to continue their studies onto our Doctorate in Education (EdD)