Education, Power and Social Change (MSc / Postgraduate Diploma / Postgraduate Certificate) - 2013/2014 entry

This programme addresses key debates in the study of education, power and social change from an interdisciplinary perspective. It examines learning from an interdisciplinary perspective. Themes, issues and methodologies are developed from a range of viewpoints, including critical theory and literary texts as well the more conventional respresentations of education in social science. The programme offers those with an interest in, or concern about, education the opportunity to explore relevant theory, research and policy developments and, where relevant, to apply these to education practices.

We explore the links between education and social and political movements and develop understandings of how 'education' as a contested field should be viewed within a globalised and post-colonial context. It will appeal to those interested in developing and extending their knowledge and understanding of education and social change.

The programme will deepen your awareness of how education shapes, and is shaped by, our understanding of the world and may contribute to your professional development. It is flexibly designed with a range of option modules, and a Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate are also available.

• A high-quality, postgraduate-level qualification for those involved, or wishing to be involved, in the interdisciplinary field of education.
• Range of option modules allows you to select pathways relevant to your professional and personal needs and interests.
• MSc students have the opportunity to develop either a dissertation or an action research project.

All MSc and Postgraduate Diploma students take the two core courses; Postgraduate Certificate students must take at least one of the two.

• Core Module: Education, Power and Resistances
• Core Module: Education, Globalisation and Change.

Options modules are drawn from a wide range of Master's programmes. You may select specified modules to enable you to specialise in your own areas of interest. Master's programmes may include:

• Development Studies
• Race, Racism, Postcoloniality
• Culture, Community, Identity
• Sexing the Body
• Lacanian Psychoanalysis
• Visual Culture: Power and the Image.  

Researching Education (double module) will enable you to complete either a dissertation or an action research work-related project.

We also have close links with the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, which also runs a seminar series, and links to other departments and research centres, including the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research and the Centre for Social Transformation and Research in High Education.

If you are interested in further research, we offer a PhD/MPhil in Education/Lifelong Learning.

Graduates go on to careers in teaching and training, youth work, education policy, or in community and voluntary sector organisations.

• Interviews throughout the year.
• Early applications are recommended, but later applications are also considered.