masters in education oxford

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Start dates.

September 2024 / September 2025

Harcourt Hill

Distance learning

Course length

Full time: 12 months, Harcourt Hill Campus

Part time: Two / three years depending on your chosen trajectory - part-time on campus or distance learning

School of Education, Humanities and Languages

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Take your career to the next level with an MA in Education. On this course, you’ll develop advanced practitioner skills that you can apply across educational settings. And you’ll be free to explore your interests and turn your passions into a professional specialism.

You’ll enjoy a flexible learning environment, based around the school term, including:

• evening classes during term time
• time in the school holidays to complete assignments
• digital, distance learning tools
• the ability to mix distance learning with in person classes

You’ll join a vibrant learning community of experienced and passionate professionals. You'll discuss and share case studies and debate key topics in education. And you’ll have opportunities to network and learn from each other, while sharing your own expertise.

Throughout your studies you'll grow as a leader and expert practitioner. And you'll finish the course ready to  influence change or lead best practice in your workplace.

How to apply

Entry requirements, specific entry requirements.

This MA course attracts students from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities, who are graduates with a recognised teaching qualification, or other relevant educational experience.

Applicants normally have:

• a good honours degree
• QTS (Qualified Teacher Status), other equivalent professional qualification or relevant experience

Entry with credit

Credit can be made up of appropriate work completed outside the course, for example, M level credit from PGCE awards, Postgraduate Certificates or Postgraduate Diplomas in relevant educational courses.

Please also see the University's general entry requirements .

English language requirements

Candidates whose first language is not English should be able to demonstrate a satisfactory level of spoken and written English.

• IELTS level 6.5 or above with a minimum of 6.0 in reading and writing and 5.5 in speaking and listening.

Please also see the University's  standard English language requirements .

International qualifications and equivalences

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English requirements for visas

If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements.  Find out more about English language requirements .

International applications

International students hold a conditional offer until payment of a deposit of £3,000 is received.

Pathways courses for international and EU students

We offer a range of courses to help you meet the entry requirements for your postgraduate course and also familiarise you with university life in the UK.

Take a Pre-Master's course to develop your subject knowledge, study skills and academic language level in preparation for your master's course.

If you need to improve your English language, we offer  pre-sessional English language courses to help you meet the English language requirements of your chosen master’s course.

Terms and Conditions of Enrolment

When you accept our offer, you agree to the  Terms and Conditions of Enrolment . You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.

Application process

Tuition fees, questions about fees.

Contact Student Finance on:

+44 (0)1865 534400

[email protected]

Fees quoted are for the first year only. If you are studying a course that lasts longer than one year, your fees will increase each year.

The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support.

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

• For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
• For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy  page

Additional costs

Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.

Optional costs

Funding your studies

Financial support and scholarships.

Featured funding opportunities available for this course.

All financial support and scholarships

View all funding opportunities for this course

Learning and assessment

The MA Education follows a flexible programme with the option of learning by distance or in-person. If you pursue the Open Route, you can design your course completely around your interests.

You'll need to achieve 180 credits including:

Compulsory modules (total 80 credits)

• Researching Methods (20 credits) will support your studies and prepare you for your dissertation
• Dissertation (60 credits).

Optional modules (total 100 credits)

• You can choose five modules from the optional modules listed below.

Or, the five routes below give a specialist focus to the award:

• MA Education: Artist Teacher Practice
• MA Education: Childhood and Youth Studies
• MA Education: Leadership and Management.
• MA Education: SEND
• MA Education: TESOL

We work in close partnership with a range of educational settings and services. And we can support you in accessing a placement as part of your studies. For example, you might carry out commissioned work as part of your dissertation.

Study modules

Taught modules, final project, compulsory modules.

Research Methods (20 credits)

You’ll develop your knowledge of research approaches, methods and techniques for the study of children and childhood, education and language. You’ll explore the interdisciplinary nature of work in and across these areas. After taking this module, you’ll be well prepared for the methodological aspects of your dissertation.

Optional modules

Developing ma literacies (20 credits).

You’ll develop the skills you need to be successful in your MA, in two key areas: 

• the skills you need to operate confidently within your academic community as a researcher-practitioner
• academic writing and critical reading skills for MA-level study.

Engaging with the academic community

The module will help you:

• engage with the underlying beliefs and approaches to knowledge in your field of study/practice
• become familiar with relevant journals, research articles and professional networks

Engaging with MA-level study

• develop critical thinking and reflection in your academic reading and writing 
• understand the strategies and conventions of writing in different academic genres.

Learning and Development in Childhood (20 credits)

You’ll study contemporary theories of social and cognitive development and their implications for children’s learning – both formal and informal. Using research evidence and students’ own observations, we’ll discuss alternative explanations of developmental processes. You’ll think about how children’s social and cultural surroundings affect their development and learning, and question the cultural assumptions that might underlie models of development. As a group, you’ll share your thoughts and findings, and reflect on what they suggest about the experiences and opportunities provided for children.

Diversity and Achievement (20 credits)

How are children’s and young people’s achievements affected by factors like class, gender, disability and ethnicity? In this module, you’ll analyse the factors that predict educational success and failure for children and young people. You’ll then explore the implications for school policy and practice. 

You’ll look at data from case study material, which may draw on your own working context, or your peers’. Using these data, you’ll consider issues at the level of the individual child, the family, the school and the neighbourhood. You’ll go on to compare the analysis at the level of an individual in a particular place to educational outcomes from national and international data sources.

Mind and Brain (20 credits)

You’ll explore fascinating developments in educational neuroscience, beginning with developmental changes that occur throughout our lifespan. We’ll discuss pre- and post-natal development, followed by the changes that occur in childhood, adolescence and beyond. 

You’ll explore current insights from cognitive neuroscience that have implications for education, in areas like creativity, and gaming and ICT in learning. You’ll also think about the relationships between mind, brain, self and body using philosophical perspectives. And you’ll investigate case studies, opening up discussion and debate about this complex and controversial field.

The Inclusive Curriculum (20 credits)

You’ll explore key aspects of curriculum design and delivery, in relation to access, equality of learning opportunity and inclusion. You’ll look at how cultural values influence curriculum content and organisation, and explore theories of decolonising the curriculum. The module content is relevant whether you’re a primary, secondary, FE or HE practitioner.

Leading and Managing People in Education (20 credits)

You’ll examine a range of themes and concerns in the leadership and management of staff in a range of educational contexts. You’ll cover theoretical perspectives and practical concerns about staff leadership, management and development. We’ll look at such topics as:

• leadership and management in education 
• leading teams
• inspiring motivation and improving morale
• staff development and performance management 
• social justice and managing diversity 
• managing conflict.  

Leading Change in Education (20 credits)

You’ll bring your own experience to this module, which examines the leadership of change in a range of educational contexts. You’ll engage with theoretical perspectives and practical concerns about organisational transformation in education. You’ll encounter topics like:

• leading and managing change
• effectiveness, improvement and accountability
• organisational culture and structures in education
• the influence of policy developments in transforming education
• dealing with resistance: managing people in times of change
• strategic planning and management of change.  

Children’s Literature Through the Ages (20 credits)

The history of children’s literature is an interesting one. A rich and tumultuous beginning and a growing diverse picture that we are building today. The genre leaves us with one question: who is children’s literature for? 

Written by adults, what do these stories tell us about our society and culture, and what political ideas do they carry? Are children aware of these ideas and their possible interpretation? 

You'll investigate its history and explore the ideas within two comparative texts from differing periods. Exploring issues relating to race, gender, politics and culture.  

This module is designed to complement the  Reading for Pleasure  module.

Reading for Pleasure (20 credits)

Reading for Pleasure has gained a strong foothold in the latest National Curriculum. Exploring what reading for pleasure is and what it can mean in and out of the classroom is a worthy exploration. Yet acknowledging the importance of the pleasure of reading is not enough. How do we cater for young readers and how do we ensure that the worlds we share are as diverse as the world in which we live in? We'll explore a range of text types. Focussing on picturebooks and the complex relationship between word and picture.  

As part of the module, you might undertake activities like:

• collaborative presentation work with peers
• critiquing and exploring ideas in children's literature together
• investigating and discussing best practice in groups
• evaluating and exploring digital media.

Multilingual Learners (20 credits)

Drawing on current practice, research and case studies. You’ll focus on children who are studying in school in a language that is not their first language. 

Your learning will include:

• analysing the development of children in second languages settings
• theories of bilingualism, translanguaging and dynamic multilingualism
• the links between first and second language, identity and self-esteem
• evaluating responses to the multilingual child from teachers, teacher assistants, parents and the whole school
• evaluating, adapting and creating resources and materials for their fit with the needs of the EAL child.  

Independent Study: Investigating Practice (20 credits)

This is a chance to carry out an independent study/practice investigation. You’ll choose your own topic, with approval from your module leader / subject co-ordinator. The topic will be relevant to your own practice, but areas of investigation might include (for example):

• developing pedagogical approaches or curriculum materials 
• evaluating learners’ achievement levels
• reviewing the evidence base for changes to educational practice
• appraising learning environments and learning opportunities.

It’s also possible to carry out a retrospective evaluation of a project, provided the project took place within the last five years. This might be on:

• the impact of a professional development programme or initiative
• the experience of designing and delivering a new scheme of work 
• the process of implementing an educational change or project.

Dissertation (60 credits)

In your dissertation or project, you’ll carry out a sustained piece of educational research. You’ll analyse and report your findings at a high critical level, justifying and supporting them with detailed reference to relevant theories and concepts. This work will comprise one third of the work for your degree.  

If you’re writing a dissertation , you'll focus on a research problem of particular interest. If you’re enrolled on a named route of the MA Education, your topic will be relevant to your route (eg childhood and youth, L&M, SEND, TESOL, higher education). 

If you’re working on a project , you’ll undertake a shorter piece of independent investigative or literature-based research. You’ll also produce a creative piece or artefact.

Learning and teaching

Teaching, learning and assessment draw on the different backgrounds, experience and knowledge of students. It also encourages critical reflection.

We use a range of teaching methods, including:

• directed reading
• discussion forums
• student and staff-led seminars
• project work.

Teaching is organised on a modular basis, each module involves approximately 24 hours of staff contact as follows:

• Part-time on campus – Modules are usually taught over eight weeks on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays at 17:00 – 20:00.
• Full-time on campus – the main study day is Thursdays with students also joining part-time students in evening modules
• Distance learning - an MA Education can be achieved by part-time online learning through the use of our Moodle platform. For each module this usually requires about 12 hours a week plus time spent on assessment. The online route is usually taken part-time over 2 to 3 years.

Assessment methods used on this course

You will be assessed for each course module separately. Assessment is coursework based, and includes:

• individual essays
• seminar presentations
• investigative research
• group work.

The School of Education, Humanities and Languages is a thriving centre for educational research and teacher professional development. Students on master's level programmes therefore join a large research community comprising researchers at all levels of higher education study.

We hold two major research conferences each year - the School of Education Research Conference and the EdD Colloquium. All students are invited to attend our annual Research Seminar Series (which attracts both internal and external speakers). We also organise a number of conferences, lectures, seminars and debates, some of which have an international reach.

The School's six research groups exist to encourage engagement in research, publication, conference presentations, seminars and workshops:

• Inclusion and Wellbeing
• Policy, Partnership and Leadership
• STEAM pedagogy and learning
• Humanistic Perspectives on Education
• Early Years
• Applied Linguistics

View all staff profiles for School of Education, Humanities and Languages

After you graduate

Career prospects.

Completion of the course shows commitment to professional development and should lead to improved prospects for career progression.

Student profiles

Grant Chapman-Clarke

"The teaching on the course is really engaging, the majority of the teaching is completed online and I meet with my lecturers to go over tutorials"

Lucy Victoria Richardson

"My interest in the teaching profession grew when I was working as a teaching assistant. This led me to return to my studies as a postgraduate student to gain a PGCE. I chose to study my PGCE at Oxford Brookes because I had such an enjoyable experience during my undergraduate studies, and its location is ideal, as my home is in Oxford."

Related courses

Programme changes : On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been published on the website. For more information, please visit our changes to programmes page.

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Masters Programmes

Our Masters programmes are designed to serve both as an autonomous degree and as a solid foundation for those who wish to pursue more advanced research in literature in Oxford or elsewhere. One of the special features of this degree is that, unlike many master's programmes, it provides opportunities for you to pursue topics across period boundaries if you so wish.

We offer a 9-month MSt programme (in each of 7 strands) and a 21-month MPhil in English Studies (Medieval Period). Further information about each of these is available below. Most of the teaching for these courses takes place during full term, and students are expected to conduct their research and writing through the vacation periods.

When selecting your course during the application process, please ensure you choose the correct period strand. This will determine the core courses that you take, but it will not constrain your choice of options.

There is no automatic transfer to study for the DPhil or MLitt. Candidates' applications are assessed on the basis of several factors, alongside applicants with Master's degrees from other universities; for more details, see the Selection Criteria .

MSt English Language & Literature (650-1550)

The course convenors are Professor Nick Perkins (St Hugh's) and Professor Marion Turner (Lady Margaret Hall).

Oxford has a long and distinguished history of studying medieval English language and literature. In 1795 it established one of the first ever professorships in English, the Rawlinson and Bosworth Chair of Anglo-Saxon, currently held by Andy Orchard. Amongst those who taught here are of course J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, people who made the motifs and languages of medieval English part of the imagination of the modern world. Other distinguished Oxford scholars of medieval English have included C.T. Onions, Helen Gardner, Dorothy Whitelock, Neil Ker, J.A.W. Bennett, Norman Davis, Ursula Dronke, Eric Stanley, Malcolm Parkes, Anne Hudson and Paul Strohm. Numerous more recent alumni of its graduate courses teach medieval languages and literature round the world. The current generation of medievalists is one of the largest, if not the largest, in any English department globally. With our 650–1550 MSt, as well as our MPhil and DPhil programmes, we are teaching future generations of scholars in these fields.

Graduate Study today

Central to that expertise is the extensive training in handling and thinking about the ‘material text’ (the ‘B course’) – how we read, date, interpret, and edit from primary sources – including coursework studying some of Oxford’s astounding holdings of manuscripts and early printed books; such training will transform the way you think about medieval literature, bringing it to archaeological life, and open up new resources for and kinds of research.

Students then pursue their particular interests in two taught courses, choosing from a range of half-dozen or so which change each year (the ‘C courses’). Recent years’ courses have included Anglo-Saxon riddles; Cynewulf; archetypes of the high middle ages; early Middle English women’s religious writing; post-Conquest literature; Chaucer’s places; intellectual dissidence and dissent in the fifteenth century; the language of Middle English literature; Older Scots literature. Students are also welcome to choose a course offered by another MSt strand, for example in another period, or in English Language. Each student submits an essay on two of these chosen subjects for assessment.

Finally, each student prepares, with the guidance of a specialist supervisor, a dissertation (the ‘D course’) on any subject of her or his choice concerning the language, literature, or cultural history of the British Isles and the Norse world in the Middle Ages. These dissertations bring to bear the skills and perspectives acquired throughout the course on one focused piece of research. The dissertation, as well as the coursework for the B and C courses, can often become the seeds of doctoral research or a first publication.

The structure of the course

• The A course: seminars over the first two terms introduce a range of medieval literature composed between 650 and 1550 and a variety of topics and approaches for consideration, such as voice and writing, authorship, form and formalism, historicism. Students give presentations in the weekly seminars but there is no formal assessment.
• The B course: seminars over the first two terms introduce skills in transcription, palaeography, codicology and editing and introduce reflection on the significance of studying the material forms of and textual transmission of medieval literature. Students sit a short test in transcription and submit a piece of coursework demonstrating research on literature in original material form or editorial transformation.
• The C courses: students choose one C course in each of the first two terms on a range of specialist topics and are taught in weekly small-group seminars. They submit an essay of 5,000-6,000 words at the end of each term related to a term’s C course.
• The D course or dissertation: in discussion with Faculty members, students devise a research project of their own. They then receive one-to-one supervision on that research and complete a dissertation of 10-11,000 words by the end of the third term.

For those who would like to take their studies further, there is a second taught Master’s level course, the MPhil, which runs over two years, but whose first year syllabus is the same as that of the MSt course. It includes further taught courses, opportunities for more linguistic training, and a second, longer dissertation in the second year. It is possible to apply for this course from the outset or apply to switch onto it at the end of the MSt. Further details of the MPhil are available below.

Scholarships

The Faculty offers MSt funding each year through the Jeremy Griffiths Studentship, which is generously supported by John and Jeanne Griffiths in memory of their son, Jeremy, who was a graduate student in medieval literature in our Faculty. In addition the Cecily Clarke scholarship may be awarded to a student of English Medieval Studies, with a preference to subjects relating to Middle English Philology.

The intellectual life of the Faculty of English 

As well as the formal teaching and assessment, there is a thriving community of medievalists engaged in research and discussion in the Faculty. Those teaching and researching in the Faculty form one of the largest cadres of medievalists in the world, whose interests cover the full range of Old Norse , Old English, Middle English, early Tudor literature and Older Scots, as well as several members with interests in Anglo-Norman and Celtic literatures. The Faculty’s medievalists and their activities are listed here . The graduate students – many of them published scholars and adept teachers in their own right – are crucial members of this community.

The medievalists gather every Wednesday for the Medieval English Research Seminar, at which eminent visiting speakers and locals give papers for discussion, followed by a social gathering. There is a work-in-progress group for people from dissertation students to Faculty members who are studying manuscripts or textual transmission, and there are extra termly seminars of specialists in Old Norse. There are similar research seminars in other parts of the English Faculty and in other faculties (‘medieval church and culture’, medieval social history, medieval music, Anglo-Norman reading group, literature and medicine, the history of the book) at which you are welcome: the current programme for all these can be found on the Medieval Research page .

Oxford hosts annually the Oxford Graduate Medieval Conference and meetings of the student-run Oxford Medieval Society run throughout the year. The Faculty regularly hosts conferences at which our own students give papers or assist with the organization. Events in the next few years include conferences on literature after the Conquests of 1016 and 1066; on the important literary milieu of Syon Abbey; and the major international conference of the Early Book Society. The literary life of the Faculty reaches forwards too, of course, with lectures by our Professor of Poetry and special events such as the Clarendon Lectures by a distinguished guest each year. Recent years’ Clarendon Lecturers have included David Wallace, James Simpson and Brian Cummings. Each year, a distinguished medievalist is invited as a guest lecturer in Medieval Studies, and gives a lecture, seminar, and workshop with current graduate students across different faculties. Previous incumbents include Caroline Walker Bynum, Jeffrey Hamburger and Christopher Page.

MSt English Language & Literature (1550-1700)

The course convenors are Professor Bart van Es (St Catherine's) and  Professor Joe Moshenska  (University College). 

Details of Faculty members working in the Early Modern period can be found here .

In addition to the courses provided specifically for the MSt there are many other classes and seminars including two research seminars which feature visiting speakers, Early Modern Literature and Restoration to Reform. The Bodleian Library, founded in 1602, offers immense holdings in early modern printed books and manuscripts, and also has the particular interest of representing in its architecture a key moment of early modern cultural history. The Taylorian Library offers extensive holdings in Continental printed books and in modern secondary literature. Many college libraries contain unique holdings of early modern books. The period is also very well represented in the Faculties of History and Modern Languages and graduate students are able to attend lectures and seminars in related disciplines. There is active interdisciplinary collaboration with Classics and with Women's Studies. Beginners' classes in a wide range of ancient and modern languages are available through other Faculties.

A. Literature, Contexts and Approaches (Core Course)

The general classes on ‘Literature, Contexts and Approaches' introduce representative key texts and current debates on the literature and cultural history of the period.

The A Course is taught as weekly seminar over eight weeks in Michaelmas Term, and is designed to provide a solid foundation for advanced literary study.

B. Bibliography, Theories of Text, History of the Book, Manuscript Studies

This is a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms designed to train students for research in English. Within this strand, there will be classes on palaeography, offering students the skills essential to exploring the enormous riches of Oxford's manuscript collections, and on book history, bibliography, and textual criticism.

C. Special Options

Special Option courses are one-term courses on specialist themes usually relating to the current research interests of the teacher(s).

C options for this strand over the past few years have included: 'Shakespeare and the Book'; ‘The Sidneys'; 'Literature and Religion, c.1550-1642'; 'The New Milton Studies'; 'Early Modern Women and the Book'; 'Imagining Early Modern London, 1558-1640'; 'Women's Writing in English Literature 1660-1789'; ‘Early Modern Writing and the New Philosophy'.

Students take one Special Option in each of the first two terms.

The special option courses present an excellent opportunity for you to develop your research interests. You are not constrained to follow option courses within your designated period, and indeed, option courses often traverse the boundaries of the broad periods.

D. Dissertation

All students write a 10-11,000 word dissertation on a subject of their choice, but related to the work they have been doing over the year. You will be assigned to a member of Faculty who will act as your supervisor.

In addition to the dissertation, you will submit three essays of 5-6,000 words – one at the end of the first term, and two at the end of the second term – relating to the B and C courses that you have taken.

Students normally take all four components to fulfil the requirements of the degree. All course work will be completed by the end of the second term (Hilary Term), leaving the summer term (Trinity Term) for the writing of the dissertation, which is submitted in early June.

MSt English Language & Literature (1700-1830)

The course convenors are  Professor Ros Ballaster  (Mansfield College) and  Professor Nicholas Halmi  (University College).

Faculty members with research and teaching interests in the eighteenth century and romantic periods can be found on the relevant period pages.

The English Faculty has expertise in poetry, editorial practice, textual scholarship, the history of the book, intellectual history, women’s writing, prose fiction, and the relationship between literature and politics. Faculty members work in collaboration with the Bodleian Centre for the Study of the Book and with the interdisciplinary Besterman Centre for the Enlightenment.

The MSt in English 1700-1830, one of five overlapping period strands, is a 9-month programme offering a broad foundation for further research and a complete, unique course of study in itself. Examples of possible work across the period as a whole might include (say) the influence of Dryden and Milton on the development of epic and mock-epic from Pope to Wordsworth and Byron; the growth of prose fiction from Behn and Defoe to Austen and Scott; or the shape of the journalistic essay from Addison and Steele via Johnson to Hazlitt and the Romantic reviewers.

Oxford possesses unparalleled resources in the literature, history, and culture of this period. Many college libraries contain one-off examples of seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth-century books. The Bodleian Library’s holdings range from single items—the autograph copy of Pope’s ‘Essay on Criticism’, Austen’s ‘Volume the First’ of juvenilia—to archives of printed ephemera, correspondence, diaries, and miscellaneous papers. Many of the Library’s first and early editions show fascinating evidence of ownership and marginalia. The Abinger collection, a major source for British literary history during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, includes Percy Bysshe Shelley’s manuscripts, William Godwin’s notebooks, and a unique autograph draft of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The cultural and intellectual progenitors of Romanticism are represented in extensive collections of antiquaries’ papers (among them John Aubrey, Elias Ashmole, and William Stukeley), and the literary remains of William Gilpin. Francis Douce, Keeper of the Manuscripts at the British Museum (1807-11), bequeathed over 19,000 printed books and 420 manuscripts to the Bodleian; his collection incorporates children’s books, broadside ballads, history, biography, the fine arts, travel, and archaeology.

There is a strong community of graduate students working in the period, with a thriving research seminar.

The MSt has four components:

The A course seeks to extend students’ knowledge of literature from 1700-1830, and encourages discussion of critical and theoretical readings of that period. It is taught as a weekly seminar in Michaelmas Term and provides a basis for advanced literary-critical study.

This range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms is designed to train students for research in English. Within this strand are classes on palaeography, offering students the necessary skills to explore Oxford’s manuscript collections, and on book history, bibliography, and textual criticism.

These one-term courses are on specialist topics which sometimes relate to the current research interests of the tutor(s). Students take one Special Option in each of the first two terms. Students are free to pursue C courses from any of the overlapping period strands which make up the MSt in English; these courses present an excellent opportunity to develop your research interests.

Possible C options for this strand include: ‘Milton’; ‘Women’s Writing in English Literature, 1660-1789’; ‘English Biography, 1683-1791’; ‘Seventeenth-Century Writing and the New Philosophy’; ‘Swift’; ‘Romantic Autobiography’; ‘Wordsworth’; ‘Hazlitt’; and ‘Writing the Nation: 1750-1830’.

All students write a 10-11,000 word dissertation on a subject of their choice, related to the work they have been doing over the year.  A member of the Faculty is assigned to each student as dissertation supervisor.

Students will submit a dissertation and three essays of 5-6,000 words—one at the end of the first term, and two at the end of the second term—relating to the B and C courses they have taken. Students normally take all four components in order to fulfil the requirements of the degree. All course work will be completed by the end of the second term (Hilary), leaving the summer term (Trinity) for the dissertation, which is submitted in early June.

MSt English Language & Literature (1830-1914)

The course covenors are Professor Stefano Evangelista (Trinity College) and  Professor Helen Small (Merton College).

The MSt in English Literature (1830-1914) offers graduate students an opportunity to expand their knowledge and critical understanding of nineteenth-century literature and culture. The responses of writers to cultural change in this period, provoked—and continue to provoke—animated debate about language and literature, aesthetics and politics, and the objects and purposes of cultural criticism. English Faculty staff teaching on this course have a wide variety of interests, and encourage a wide range of critical perspectives. Permanent postholders who research and teach literature of the long nineteenth-century area currently include Matthew Bevis, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, David Dwan, Sos Eltis, Stefano Maria Evangelista, Freya Johnston, Kate McLoughlin, Seamus Perry, Lloyd Pratt, Sophie Ratcliffe, Matthew Reynolds, David Russell, Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, Sally Shuttleworth and Helen Small.  Areas of special strength include the history and practice of cultural criticism; literature and science; English and world literature; transatlantic cultural exchange; theatre and drama; life writing; material culture; comic and nonsense literature; aestheticism and decadence. Individual profiles are available at https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/victorian-period#  

Students on the MSt programme will have access to unrivalled library and archival resources. The Bodleian and college libraries hold wonderful collections of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century manuscripts and printed texts from Britain, America and beyond, many of them by men and women who studied at Oxford or spent a period of their lives in the city. They include materials relating to Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, ‘Lewis Carroll’, Arthur Hugh Clough, ‘Michael Field’, G. M. Hopkins, Benjamin Jowett, John Keble, Edward Lear, John Henry Newman, Walter Pater, Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Ruskin, Mary Shelley, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Anthony Trollope, Queen Victoria, Mrs Humphry Ward, Oscar Wilde. The Abinger Collection includes manuscripts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Godwin’s notebooks, and many other papers belonging to the Shelley circle; the Benjamin Disraeli papers preserve the great bulk of Disraeli’s private papers and correspondence; Somerville College holds the major part of the private library of John Stuart Mill and one of the best Edward Lear archives in the UK.

There are extensive collections relevant to women’s education in the period, and the Oxford History Faculty provides regular updates on Bodleian and other archival sources for nineteenth-century women’s history. There are also fascinating collections of periodicals and ephemera, including the John Johnson Collection of printed materials about popular entertainment, the book trade, print making, advertising, and observations of politics, race, class, crime and punishment, and much else. The Bodleian has recently digitized its complete collection of the photographs of William Henry Fox Talbot. The Ashmolean Museum is home to a rich variety of Victorian and Edwardian paintings and art objects, with Thomas Combe’s collection of Pre-Raphaelite art at its centre (see https://www.ashmolean.org/pre-raphaelites) . It also holds excellent collections of objects from Asian, African and other cultures for students with comparative interests.

This strand’s A course aims to familiarise you with different approaches to the literature of the period 1830-1914, introducing important critical debates within the field. It encourages you to explore your existing critical interests and develop new ones, and at the same time to extend your understanding of the Victorian and Edwardian eras and their culture. Classes draw on primary and critical texts, ranging across genres. The A Course is taught as a weekly seminar that runs over eight weeks in Michaelmas Term; it is designed to provide a solid critical foundation for advanced literary study.

This is a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms designed to train students for research in English. Within this strand, there will be classes on palaeography, offering students the skills essential to exploring the enormous riches of Oxford 's manuscript collections, and on book history, bibliography, and textual criticism.

C options for this strand over the past few years have included: ‘Oscar Wilde and Late Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture', ‘Romantic Autobiography', ‘Victorian Sexualities', ‘Hazlitt', ‘Writing the Nation: 1750-1830', ‘Victorian Emotion', ‘Dickens and Victorian Travel' and ‘The Visionary Gleam: God, Nature, Man in Poets from Cowper to Hopkins'.

MSt English Language and Literature (1900-present day)

The course convenors are Professor Peter Boxall (Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature ) and  Professor Michael Whitworth  (Merton College).

The Faculty includes numerous scholars and teachers working in the modern period .

Within the modern period, particular areas of interest among faculty members include modernist poetry, fiction, and drama, the cultural contexts of literature, literature and science, life writing, modern drama and performance studies, contemporary poetry, post-colonial studies, and Irish literature.

The Bodleian Library, the English Faculty Library, the Taylorian, the History Library, and the Rothermere American Institute Library provide a great wealth of resources for the study of modern literature at Oxford . Students are welcome to attend lectures across related disciplines. The Faculty has a number of visiting lecturers and writers every year.

The A course on ‘Literature, Context and Approaches' will give a wide overview of genres and critical approaches in the period, covering such topics as the concept of modernity, colonial space, modernist fictional form, literature and visual culture, theatre and revolution, metafiction, and late twentieth-century poetics.

The A Course is taught as a weekly seminar that runs over eight weeks in Michaelmas Term, and is designed to provide a solid foundation for advanced literary study.

This is a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms designed to train students for research in English. Within this strand, there will classes on book history and theories of text, appropriate to the period.

C options for this strand - some of which cross period boundaries - may include (subject to availability and demand), ‘Literatures of Empire and Nation’, ‘Cinema and Modernism,’ ‘How New York Stole the Idea of the Avant-Garde,’ ‘Others and J.M. Coetzee,’ ‘Literature and Psychoanalysis,’ ‘African Literature: Testimony, Life-Writing and Literary Conversations,’ ‘Locating Contemporary Poetry,’ ‘Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot', ‘Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Life-Writing', ‘Women and Drama’, ‘Post-1945 Modern Drama', ‘Joseph Conrad', ‘Virginia Woolf, Society and Politics', ‘Contemporary Fiction', and ‘Policing Literature: 1780-1980'.

MSt English & American Studies

The course convenors are Professor Nicole King (Exeter College) and Dr Nicholas Gaskill  (Oriel College).

Members of the faculty with a special interest in this field can be found on the American Literature research pages .

The MSt in English and American Studies is designed for students who wish to complement a Master's degree in English with postgraduate training in English and American Studies.

Students will be allowed to specialize in any of the four later historical areas currently offered on the MSt in English: 1550-1700, 1700-1830, 1830-1914 or 1900-present. They will also enjoy access to the research facilities of the Vere Harmsworth Library and will be invited to attend the regular programme of lectures and seminars on American cultural topics provided by the Rothermere American Institute.

The A Course is taught as a weekly seminar that runs over eight weeks in Michaelmas Term; it is designed to provide a solid foundation for advanced literary study.

This is a range of lectures and seminars in each of the first two terms is designed to train students for advanced research.

In place of one of the regular Course C options, students will take a compulsory core course in American Studies, designed to introduce them to the methods and practices of interdisciplinary study in this field.

For this strand, students will be required to write their dissertation on an approved topic in the field of English and American Studies (broadly conceived, and allowing scope for comparative studies).

MSt World Literatures in English

The course convenors are Professor Will Ghosh (Christ Church), Professor Pablo Mukherjee (Wolfson) and Dr Malachi McIntosh (St Hilda’s College).

Members of the faculty with a special interest in this field can be seen on the World Literatures research pages .

The MSt in World Literatures in English offers a broad foundation for further research in Anglophone colonial, postcolonial, world and transnational literary studies, and a complete, unique course of study in itself.

Oxford has a distinguished record in particular in the general theoretical and literary-cultural field of postcolonial studies, in colonial historiography, in postcolonial book history, and in South Asian and West, East and southern African literatures in English (fiction and poetry). From as far back as the mid-nineteenth century, the University of Oxford developed a world-renowned reputation for fostering international (then colonial) networks of scholars and scholarship—networks which in their turn contributed to building the Bodleian Library’s rich resources in colonial and postcolonial materials, as held for example in the Indian Institute, John Johnson and Rhodes House library collections as well as in College libraries and archives. The study of colonial, postcolonial or international literatures in English, and of theories related to this field, has been carried out within the Faculty of English Language and Literature at Oxford since the early 1990s, to the extent that scholars around the world now make a strong association between this field of study and English at Oxford.

The association of Oxford English with World literary studies has been reinforced in recent years with the successes of the lively Postcolonial Writing and Theory Seminar which runs in term across the academic year. It also organizes well-attended annual or biennial conferences and workshops. In recent years the Postcolonial seminar has hosted talks and readings by, amongst others, Nobel Prize-winner J.M. Coetzee, and prizewinning authors Caryl Phillips, Les Murray and Kamila Shamsie, as well as world literature and comparative literature theorists Ato Quayson, Pheng Cheah and David Palumbo-Liu.

A. The Colonial, the Postcolonial, the World: Literature, Contexts and Approaches (Core Course)

This strand’s A course will be concerned with exploring the keynote themes and methodologies defining the field, including: the world and the globe (globalization); what was empire?; nationalism and trans-nationalism; race and race identity; cosmopolitanism and provincialism; the city and the Global South; hybridity and migration.

The A Course is taught as a weekly seminar that runs over eight weeks in Michaelmas Term, and is designed to provide a solid foundation for advanced literary study in the field.

A research methods course taught by practical class and/or seminar, covering the material histories of the colonial and postcolonial book.

MPhil in English Studies (Medieval Period)

The course convenors are   Professor Nick Perkins (St Hugh's) and Professor Marion Turner (Lady Margaret Hall)

Oxford is now very rare in offering a two-year taught & research postgraduate course in medieval studies. The time and space this affords makes the Oxford MPhil the very best preparation for later research in any aspect of medieval literary or cultural history; it also stands alone as a thoroughly satisfying qualification indicating significant levels of critical, linguistic, and historical skill, expertise, and research competence, transferable to any future career.

Students begin by following the programme of the one year MSt course (details above). This already includes a broad grounding in medieval literature and culture, technical training in manuscripts, paleography, and codicology (depending on courses taken), and the opportunity to pursue specific personal interests in coursework essays and in the MSt dissertation. In the second year students have the opportunity both to broaden and deepen their knowledge, adding further options in medieval languages, literatures, authors, philosophy, history, and palaeography, taking advantage if they wish of courses offered by specialists in other faculties.

Students finally submit a second, longer dissertation, which often forms the basis of doctoral research, or a substantial publication. Those intending to proceed to doctoral work after their MPhil should consult with their course convenors about their second-year option choices early in their first year of study.

The extra time involved in the two-year MPhil allows for internationally-recognised standards of expertise to be attained before a doctorate is even embarked upon. The opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement are multiple, and the depth of research possible is unparalleled at Master's level.

Other MSt programmes that the Faculty is involved in include:

MSt in Film Aesthetics

MSt in Medieval Studies – for further details about Medieval Studies, please see the Oxford Medieval Studies website.

MSt in Women’s Studies

MSt in Comparative Literature and Critical Translation

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The university of oxford is top in a list of the best universities in the uk 2024, which includes institutions in england, wales, scotland and northern ireland.

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This league table reveals the best UK universities and colleges, according to the trusted Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024.

The University of Oxford takes the first place position, with the University of Cambridge following in second place, while two of London’s best universities and a Scottish university complete the top five.

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Three universities in Scotland appear in the top 25 – the University of Edinburgh , the University of Glasgow and the University of St Andrews – while Cardiff University is the top-ranked Welsh university, sitting in 24th place.

For students looking to study in Northern Ireland, the best university in the ranking is Queen’s University Belfast .

Of the top universities in the UK, about 20 are in London, including well-known institutions such as Imperial College London and King’s College London.

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Top 5 universities in the UK

5.  university of edinburgh.

Founded in 1583, the University of Edinburgh is the sixth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Britain and Ireland’s seven ancient universities.

It is made up of three colleges: arts, humanities and social sciences; science and engineering; and medicine and veterinary medicine. Within these colleges are 20 academic schools.

A range of student clubs and societies is on offer, including a music society, a theatre society and a variety of sports teams including football, rowing, judo and rugby.

The student newspaper, The Student , is one of the oldest student newspapers in the UK. It was founded by the author Robert Louis Stevenson.

UCL’s main campus is in the central London area of Bloomsbury. Nearly half of all UCL students are from outside the UK, with significantly more from Asia than from continental Europe.

UCL was the first university in England to admit students irrespective of class, race or religion, and the first to admit women on equal terms with men, following the educational philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, the university’s “spiritual founder”.

For admission, undergraduate students are required to have achieved top grades in their high school exams. The most competitive degree is the BSc in philosophy, politics and economics, which receives 30 applicants for every place.

Famous alumni include Mahatma Gandhi; Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone; and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who met the other members of his band at the university.

3. Imperial College London

Imperial’s main campus is near Kensington Palace in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, with other campuses around the city. The student cohort is extremely international and is made up of more than 125 nationalities.

Imperial College London is consistently ranked among the best universities in the world for science, technology, engineering, medicine and business.

It was formed in 1907 from a merger of three colleges in London and now has 17,000 students and 8,000 staff.

In addition to top scientists, Fields medallists and Nobel prizewinners, Imperial also produces influential government advisers and policymakers. Many graduates go on to achieve breakthrough innovations in industry and business, and are highly sought after by blue-chip companies and start-ups.

The author H. G. Wells and Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, are among Imperial’s famous alumni.

Ten things every international student in London should know

2. University of Cambridge

In total, 117 Nobel laureates are affiliated with the University of Cambridge , and Cambridge-linked mathematicians have won 11 Fields medals. Notable alumni include actors, athletes, politicians, royals and cultural figures, including biologist Charles Darwin, broadcaster David Attenborough, conservationist Jane Goodall and actress Olivia Colman.

Like Oxford, the University of Cambridge is fundamentally collegiate and is also one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious universities. The town is just an hour from London.

The university is home to more than 19,000 students and 9,000 staff. There are 31 colleges, some of which date back to the 13th century, and more than 100 academic departments.

Cambridge is particularly renowned for excellence in mathematics and has educated some of the most famous British scientists.

Undergraduates are taught via lectures and supervisions – intimate tutorials with only a couple of other students at most. The workload is heavy but terms are shorter than at many other UK universities.

Cambridge libraries are home to extensive collections of medieval manuscripts, and the university museums display collections of archaeological artefacts and zoological specimens.

Oxbridge and the Ivy League: tips for applications

1. University of Oxford

More than 30 world leaders, 27 British prime ministers, 50 Nobelists and 120 Olympic medallists were educated at Oxford. Stephen Hawking, Hugh Grant and Indira Gandhi are some of its famous graduates.

Undergraduates and postgraduates belong to one of its 44 colleges and often live in the college building or college-owned accommodation.

One of the world’s oldest and most prestigious universities, the University of Oxford attracts top scholars and students. Entry standards are high and admission is competitive; on average, the institution receives five applications for each available place.

Social life and recreational activities – such as rowing, cultural events and societies – also revolve around the college. Undergraduates are taught almost exclusively by tutors in their college, while postgraduate students are primarily served academically by a centralised faculty.

There are more than 100 libraries at Oxford, the most famous of which is the Bodleian, built in 1602. The city also has a number of museums, including the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, which houses the remains of a dodo, and the Museum of the History of Science, which displays a blackboard used by Albert Einstein.

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Article contents

The city beautiful movement, 1890–1920.

• John D. Fairfield John D. Fairfield Department of History, Xavier University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.558
• Published online: 26 April 2018

The City Beautiful movement arose in the 1890s in response to the accumulating dirt and disorder in industrial cities, which threatened economic efficiency and social peace. City Beautiful advocates believed that better sanitation, improved circulation of traffic, monumental civic centers, parks, parkways, public spaces, civic art, and the reduction of outdoor advertising would make cities throughout the United States more profitable and harmonious. Engaging architects and planners, businessmen and professionals, and social reformers and journalists, the City Beautiful movement expressed a boosterish desire for landscape beauty and civic grandeur, but also raised aspirations for a more humane and functional city. “Mean streets make mean people,” wrote the movement’s publicist and leading theorist, Charles Mulford Robinson, encapsulating the belief in positive environmentalism that drove the movement. Combining the parks and boulevards of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted with the neoclassical architecture of Daniel H. Burnham’s White City at the Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition in 1893, the City Beautiful movement also encouraged a view of the metropolis as a delicate organism that could be improved by bold, comprehensive planning. Two organizations, the American Park and Outdoor Art Association (founded in 1897) and the American League for Civic Improvements (founded in 1900), provided the movement with a national presence. But the movement also depended on the work of civic-minded women and men in nearly 2,500 municipal improvement associations scattered across the nation. Reaching its zenith in Burnham’s remaking of Washington, D.C., and his coauthored Plan of Chicago (1909), the movement slowly declined in favor of the “City Efficient” and a more technocratic city-planning profession. Aside from a legacy of still-treasured urban spaces and structures, the City Beautiful movement contributed to a range of urban reforms, from civic education and municipal housekeeping to city planning and regionalism.

• city planning
• municipal reform
• urban beautification
• public sculpture
• World’s Columbian Exposition
• urban aesthetics
• Frederick Law Olmsted
• Daniel H. Burnham
• Charles Mulford Robinson

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Privatization in and of public education , edited by Antonina Santalova and Kaire Põder. Oxford university press, 2024, pp. xvi + 310 + index. (Hardbound) price: $90.00 ISBN: 978–0-19–7767350-8

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Tilak, J.B.G. Privatization in and of public education , edited by Antonina Santalova and Kaire Põder. Oxford university press, 2024, pp. xvi + 310 + index. (Hardbound) price: $90.00 ISBN: 978–0-19–7767350-8. J. Soc. Econ. Dev. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-024-00379-9

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Department of

Department of Education

Msc in medical education, scholarships.

This is a professional development course for medical education professionals, spanning all medical specialties. It focuses on the history, contemporary issues and development of the field, as well as research methods and design and evaluation of research in medical education.

This part-time course is aimed at medical professionals and health science practitioners who are involved, or intend to be involved, in educating future health professionals. These medical professionals may include not only postgraduate physicians but also a range of graduate allied health science practitioners involved in the care of patients and in the education of the future healthcare workforce.

The part-time MSc in Medical Education will be offered jointly by the Department of Education in the Social Sciences Division and the Medical School in the Medical Sciences Division, with formal responsibility for the programme resting with the Department of Education. Interdisciplinarity is endemic in education and medicine and team-teaching capitalises upon the distinctive knowledge and skills of academics within the two departments.

The course combines teaching sessions within the Department and online support through the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (Canvas).  In the second year of the course you will receive supervision of your dissertation project from a University supervisor with expertise in a particular subject.

WANT TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE MSC IN MEDICAL EDUCATION?

Watch Course Director, Dr Debbie Aitken, introduce the course:

Watch MSc student Gbemi David-West give a student perspective on the course:

Watch MSc student Chris Sparling give a student perspective on the course:

The MSc will consist of six taught modules in the first year, assessed by written assignments.  Teaching will cover the following topics:

• Patients, learners and teachers
• Curriculum and pedagogy
• Assessment issues and practices
• Educational theory and philosophy
• Work-based learning and skill development
• Educational research methods
• Equity, diversity and belonging

In the first year, you will attend six intensive teaching weekends at the Department of Education in Oxford over a Friday afternoon and Saturday. The Friday afternoon and Saturday morning sessions will consist of interactive lectures and workshops. Additional teaching and online support will be provided through the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (Canvas).

In the second year, you will undertake a research and development project under the supervision of a member of academic staff culminating in a 15,000-20,000 word dissertation.

The Department of Education is committed to attracting and retaining the very best candidates irrespective of background or ability to pay. Therefore, the Department seeks to award up to 2 scholarships to support qualified candidates to undertake the department’s MSc in Medical Education.

The Denis O’Leary scholarship is in memory of the late Dr Denis O’Leary, a highly respected Oxford educator and clinician. Dr O’Leary was a clinical psychologist, passionate about medical education – it was through his vision that the MSc in Medical Education has been developed.

Find out more about the scholarship on our dedicated webpage .

Please see the  Fees, funding and scholarship search  on the University’s web site for information about general scholarships.

Who is the course for?

This professional development course is aimed at researchers and professionals in the field of medical education.

How much time will I be expected to spend on study?

This will vary but on average you should expect to be studying for the equivalent of 10 to 15 hours per week during the eight week terms.  However, some of the work can be spread out to take place between terms, and some of your task and assignment research work will take place during your normal teaching.

How will my work on the course be supported?

Each student will be appointed a general supervisor for the duration of their studies. This person may go on to be the dissertation supervisor depending on the chosen research topic. In cases where a different dissertation supervisor is appointed they would also take on the general supervision. Modes of supervision include individual online communication via telephone, e-mail and Teams/Zoom meetings. For their dissertation project students will be allocated a dissertation supervisor by the beginning of Michaelmas Term of the second academic year. Together with the course director, the main teaching staff on specific modules will contribute to the tutoring for their respective papers. Modes of tutoring include participation in the virtual learning community and through telephone, e-mail and/or Teams/Zoom meetings with tutors. During residential periods, face-to-face meetings between tutors and students will be arranged. Pastoral support is also provided by a tutor in the College.

How often will I need to come to the Department for meetings?

The six modules are delivered in residential weekends, when you must attend in Oxford.  After that, meetings with your supervisor may be face to face or conducted electronically.

Do I have to apply to a college?

College affiliation is an important part of being a student at Oxford.  Please note that there is no guarantee that you will be placed at any given College, and a place will be found for you where possible.   Find out more about the colleges and making an open application here.

What should I include in the statement of purpose on the application form?

The statement of purpose really just tells us why you are interested in doing this course. You should include:

• your reasons for applying
• evidence of understanding of the proposed area of study
• professional experience of medical education
• your ability to present a coherent case in proficient English
• your commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course
• your preliminary knowledge of the subject area and research techniques
• your capacity for sustained and intense work
• reasoning ability
• ability to absorb new ideas, often presented abstractly, at a rapid pace
• evidence of your ability to undertake part-time study

If your ideas are less focused, it is fine simply to explain in more general terms what you are hoping to get out of the course and why you would have the support of your employer in undertaking it now.

Your statement should be no longer than two A4 pages in length.

Who should I choose as my referees?

We would expect to see at least one academic reference and two professional references.  You should choose those referees who you think will provide us with enough information to make a judgement in your ability to follow the course.

We reserve the right to request a further reference if necessary.

Will I be able to pay my course fees in instalments?

Course fees are collected by the colleges. Colleges operate their own fees schedule and this arrangement is dependent on the college.

Couldn’t find your answers under our FAQ section?

Please direct all enquiries to the administrative team and they will be happy to assist you.

Phone: +44 (0)1865 274021 Email: [email protected]

• Entry Requirements
• Fees and funding

MSc in Education (Research Design and Methodology)

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

College preference

• How to Apply

About the course

The MSc Education (Research Design and Methodology) introduces you to the range of tools and concepts that are necessary in educational research. The course aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills to undertake your own research and to evaluate the research of others.

The course covers a range of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and data analysis, and introduces you to the challenges of carrying out social research in the field of education. 

Students will normally complete six taught modules:

Five core modules:

• Foundations of Educational Research 1: Concepts and Design
• Foundations of Educational Research 2: Strategies and Methods
• Philosophy of Educational Research
• Introduction to Quantitative Research
• One of the following modules:
• Intermediate Quantitative Research
• Perspectives and Debates in Qualitative Research

One elective module:

This will normally either be Intermediate Quantitative Research or Perspectives and Debates in Qualitative Research, but may include an alternative module.

The following list provides an indication of alternative elective modules usually available (please note, this is not a guarantee of availability for any particular elective in a given year):

• Core Principles of Child Assessment
• Critical Digital Innovation
• Education, the Internet and Society
• Global Higher Education
• Researching with the South: Decolonizing communication practices in education research
• The Implementation of the Rights of Children

The teaching methods include lectures, small group work, student presentations, seminars, workshops, one-to-one dissertation supervision, and individual research projects. You will participate in classes on research design, and on the quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques used to yield research findings. Supervision sessions will support you in identifying research questions towards dissertation research, selecting areas for literature review, carrying out field work, and reviewing drafts of the dissertation. Supported ICT sessions on literature access skills (including electronic searches) will be provided by the department's library staff.

All students on this course may take part in an optional ‘internship’ in which they work with an academic/research team on an ongoing research project for a short period. During this time, they gain experience by working on the variety of activities that constitute an everyday part of doing educational research.

The MSc programme is offered on both a full time (one year) and part time (two year) basis (note: prospective students must apply specifically to either the full time course or the part time course). The degree and expectations for both modes of study are equally rigorous: part time students attend classes with full time students, but these are spread over two years to balance with work and personal circumstances. Part time students attend classes one day per week during term time and are encouraged to spend at least one further day a week working in Oxford libraries and participating in relevant research seminars and research events or taking non-assessed courses.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Department of Education. This will be done on the basis of the topic of research and the availability of individual supervisors. It is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Department of Education. Students may expect 10 hours of contact time with their supervisors over the course of one academic year. The specific timing and number of meetings may vary somewhat according to the nature and requirements of a student’s dissertation project.

Students will complete six modules. Each module includes formative coursework (typically an essay) part-way through the term, and a summative submitted assignment at the end of the module, with marks for each module based entirely on the summative assignment. Students will also complete a dissertation on a topic selected by the student and approved by the supervisor. There are no formal milestones for the dissertation except final submission in August, but each student’s supervisor will monitor progress and advise on appropriate timelines/checkpoints based on the nature and requirements of the student’s individual project.

Graduate destinations

The most recent Oxford University Destination of Leavers from Higher Education Survey made contact with 182 MSc Education students who graduated from the Department of Education between 2012 and 2017. Over 71% of alumni were in work and 20% in further study with only 6% looking for work.

Many past students who successfully completed the MSc Education (Research Design & Methodology) course have gone on to doctoral study, and several have proceeded to take up academic posts in leading UK universities (including associate professorships in the Department of Education). 

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in a relevant subject, preferably in the social sciences.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.6 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

• Part-time applicants will also be expected to show evidence of the ability to commit time to study and, if applicable, an employer's commitment to make time available to study, to complete coursework, and attend course and University events and modules. Where appropriate, evidence should also be provided of permission to use employers’ data in the proposed research project.
• Publications are not expected.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are normally held as part of the admissions process.

Candidates will be shortlisted based on academic ability, potential and fit of interests with the course content. Interviews for shortlisted candidates are normally held two to six weeks after the closing date of the admissions round. They are normally conducted by two interviewers, in person or using Teams video-conferencing, and will focus on your academic background. You may be asked to outline your research interests and how these might be developed during the dissertation element of the course, although students are not expected to already have a fully developed research plan, as this will be developed in discussions with your supervisors once you have started the course. You may also be asked why you want to study in this area and the reasons why this particular course is of interest to you.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Initiatives to improve access to graduate study

This course is taking part in a continuing pilot programme to improve the selection procedure for graduate applications, in order to ensure that all candidates are evaluated fairly.

For this course, socio-economic data (where it has been provided in the application form) will be used to contextualise applications at the different stages of the selection process.  Further information about how we use your socio-economic data  can be found in our page about initiatives to improve access to graduate study.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

The Oxford University Department of Education has been making a major contribution to the field of education for over 100 years and the department has a world class reputation for research, for teacher education and for its master's and doctoral programmes. The department combines international standing as a research-intensive department with the highest quality teaching.

In the 2021 evaluation of research quality in UK universities, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), Oxford University Department of Education had the highest overall percentage of research judged to be 4* (ie world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour) in Education in the UK. The department has ESRC recognition for its graduate training, and its teacher training was rated ‘outstanding’ by the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED) in its most recent inspection in 2019.

Research in the department is organised around three major themes:

• Language, Cognition and Development
• Policy, Economy and Society
• Pedagogy, Learning and Knowledge.

Within each of these themes there are several research groups and centres. All staff and doctoral students belong to one or more of these research groups, each of which has its own seminar programme to which graduate students often contribute. In addition, the department as a whole sponsors regular seminars and public lectures which attract distinguished national and international speakers.

The Bodleian Education Library, located at the centre of the Department of Education, specialises in material on education and related fields. As well as a print collection of books, journals and statistics, the library provides access to a wide range of electronic resources. The library also houses a collection of teaching resources, primarily in support of subjects covered by the department's secondary PGCE course. The Social Sciences Library provides valuable additional resource for students pursuing programmes in the Department of Education.

Oxford has been a major contributor to the field of education for over 100 years and today the University’s Department of Education has a world class reputation for research, for teacher education and for its graduate courses.

The department offers one of the strongest graduate studies programmes in the UK with a range of full- and part-time MSc courses and a lively doctoral programme (DPhil) which is recognised for national funding by the ESRC.

The department's masters' courses are delivered by academics and research experts, the majority of whom are permanent staff engaged in their fields of research. The department's DPhil in Education has excellent facilities for the large number of full-time research students who are well integrated into the research of the department.

The department has an outstanding research profile. In the 2021 evaluation of research quality in UK universities, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), Oxford University Department of Education had the highest overall percentage of research judged to be 4* (ie world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour) in Education in the UK. A wide range of funded research projects are based in the department and many of these projects have had a major impact on national policy.

Oxford’s PGCE course has an international reputation for the quality of its work, undertaken in close collaboration with local Oxfordshire secondary schools. Over many years, it has consistently received the highest possible designation (Outstanding) from Ofsted in inspections.

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The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the department's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Full-time study.

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Part-time study

Information about course fees

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

Please note that this course requires that you attend in Oxford for teaching, and you may incur additional travel and accommodation expenses for this. As part of your course requirements, you will need to choose a dissertation topic. Please note that, depending on your choice of topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs yourself, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Please note that this course requires that you attend in Oxford for teaching, and you may incur additional travel and accommodation expenses for this. Further, as part of your course requirements, you may need to choose a dissertation, a project or a thesis topic. Depending on your choice of topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

If you are studying part-time your living costs may vary depending on your personal circumstances but you must still ensure that you will have sufficient funding to meet these costs for the duration of your course.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students for full-time study on this course:

• Blackfriars
• Campion Hall
• Green Templeton College
• Harris Manchester College
• Jesus College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• Mansfield College
• New College
• Pembroke College
• Regent's Park College
• Reuben College
• St Anne's College
• St Antony's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hilda's College
• St Hugh's College
• Wolfson College
• Worcester College
• Wycliffe Hall

The following colleges accept students for part-time study on this course:

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable for each application to this course. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

You do not need to make contact with the department before you apply but you are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents .

For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application .

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Referees: Three overall, academic preferred

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

One of your references should be from your most recent academic tutor. If you are currently in employment, you would be expected to provide a reference from your employer alongside academic references which comment on your academic suitability for the course.

Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement, motivation and ability to work in a group.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

Personal statement: A maximum of 1000 words

Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for the course at Oxford, your relevant experience and education, and the specific areas that interest you and/or you intend to specialise in.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

This will be assessed for:

• your reasons for applying to this particular course
• the areas of study in the subject which interest you
• your relevant academic, research and/or practical experience
• what you want to achieve from the programme you are applying for
• your future aspirations, ie where you will take what you have learnt from the course
• the nature of the research project that you hope to undertake (if you have ideas about this).

Written work: Two essays, a maximum of 2,000 words each

Academic essays or other writing samples, written in English, are required. Extracts of the requisite length from longer work are also permissible.

You may submit written work previously completed for a prior course of study if the topic is relevant, ie an assignment or chapter of a dissertation etc, provided it meets the requirements.

If you do not have any existing material that fits this requirement, we would suggest that you may like to critique an article or write a book review based on the course subject.

The written work should be related to the course, and should be on two separate topics. The word count of each piece of written work should include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

This will be assessed for understanding of the subject area, an ability to construct and defend an argument, and proficiency in academic English.

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice .

Application Guide   Apply - Full time Apply - Part time

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships

Friday 1 March 2024 Applications may remain open after this deadline if places are still available - see below

A later deadline shown under 'Admission status' If places are still available,  applications may be accepted after 1 March . The 'Admissions status' (above) will provide notice of any later deadline.

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the Department of Education

• Course page on the department's website
• Funding information from the department
• Academic and research staff
• Departmental research
• Social Sciences Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 274183

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

Other courses to consider

You may also wish to consider applying to other courses that are similar or related to this course:

View related courses

Visa eligibility for part-time study

We are unable to sponsor student visas for part-time study on this course. Part-time students may be able to attend on a visitor visa for short blocks of time only (and leave after each visit) and will need to remain based outside the UK.