With over 100 lecturing and research staff and dedicated research centres, our School of Education is one of the largest research-led schools of education in the UK with a distinguished reputation for excellence in our research and teaching practice both nationally and internationally. We have a history of 5 star rated research and in the 2008 Research Excellence Exercise (RAE), 80% of our work was recognised as being of international quality. You will undertake advanced research under the supervision and guidance of an experienced member of the School of Education staff.

The Education and Learning PhD with Integrated Study programme has been developed to provide a new route to the internationally respected British PhD by incorporating subject knowledge, research training and the development of transferable skills.

Research activity will begin in year one and will continue alongside taught modules in year two. At the end of year two you will submit a formal proposal for your research to enable you to progress onto your doctoral thesis. In year three there will be an opportunity to take a transferable skill module to support the development of skills such as writing and oral presentations of research. In year four, you will focus entirely on their research, culminating in the production of an 80,000-word thesis. 

Your supervisor is the key person in providing support and guidance in your research. There is additionally a full programme of research training. Taught postgraduate students are required to complete research training modules as part of their programme of study. In addition to specific modules for research students, you may also be eligible to attend other modules on the taught Masters programme, subject to approval of the programme provider. Students are also invited to attend regular research seminars led by members of the School or by visiting speakers.

The range of subjects available in taught modules currently includes:

• Learning and ICT
• IT in Education Administration and Management
• IT in School Curriculum
• Leadership for School Improvement
• Educational Innovation and Curriculum in an International Context
• Personal Skills for Women and Men in Educational Management
• Education Policy and National Development
• Curriculum Innovation
• Human Rights, Citizenship and the Environment
• Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) Identification, Assessment & Teaching
• Policy Practice and Provision for Special Educational Needs
• Child and Youth: New Perspectives, New Themes
• Second Language Acquisition
• Language, Discourse and Society
• Communicative Language Teaching, Syllabus Design and Assessment

Our postgraduate research students conduct research into a wide range of education related topic areas, including business education, the economics of education and education policy.

Research Facilities

The School of Education is equipped with the facilities to suit your needs, whatever programme you may be studying with us. As a full-time doctoral researcher you have 24-hour access to work space in our research suite, where there are computer and telephone facilities. You also have access to University libraries and computer facilities, as well as other entitlements such as grants towards conference attendance and photocopying. Many research students work with supervisors in publishing articles and making their work public.

In addition, we have our own Education library, based within the main Education building on campus, with specialised resources including e-journals and education sector-specific literature. The education library has two group study rooms for education students. Both rooms can accommodate up to 15 people. Facilities available include PC and large smart board displays that can be used for presentations and teaching practice. We have also recently refurbished our Student Common Room facilities as an informal learning space for education students.

The Orchard Learning Resource Centre (OLRC) which is situated on our Selly Oak Campus, holds over 200,000 items, encompassing religious studies, social sciences and humanities. Collections include the European Documentation Collection (EDC) of over 10,000 items published by the European Commission and the German, Arabic and Oriental collections as well as the predominantly Russian-language Baykov Collection.

A vast array of IT facilities is available to students and staff within the school. Flexible open access computer clusters and learning suites are available, with school specific software.

To find out more about the facilities and resources available in the School of Education, including online and e-learning facilities, please visit: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/education/facilities/index.aspx

The University of Birmingham has recently been ranked 9th in the UK, and 55th in the world, for post-qualification employability in a global survey of universities commissioned by the International Herald Tribune. Over the last five years, an impressive 98.3 % of Education postgraduates have been in work and/or further study six months after graduation.

Birmingham’s Education graduates choose to work in variety of education roles in schools and administrative roles in public and private sector organisations. Work in retail, sales and administration are also popular options. Some chose to continue their education and apply for professional courses such as teacher training. It will also appeal to applicants with teaching and research interests in this area.

What type of career assistance is available to doctoral researchers in Education?

The College of Social Sciences, to which the School of Education belongs, has specially designated careers advisors and careers consultants who can provide guidance for doctoral researchers on career paths, CVs, training opportunities, application and interviews. The University’s central Careers’ Service also runs workshops and offers personally tailored advice and guidance including 1-1 careers advice and 1-1 CV advice. The Career’s Service runs CV writing workshops especially for postgraduates in the College of Social Sciences, giving advice on how to compile CVs for both employment and for academic roles.

The University also has dedicated careers advisors who run workshops and provide networking opportunities with potential employers. These are especially popular with international postgraduate researchers.