Doctor in Education (D.Ed.)

There is no intake for the D.Ed. in 2012/13. For further information >>> Read more(PDF)

Introduction

The Doctor in Education (D.Ed.) has been set up to facilitate students to pursue doctoral level study in a structured manner, which has as its primary focus professional practice. The programme is not intended to compete with or replace the traditional PhD, but represents a different route to developing both domain specific knowledge and a high level of competence and expertise in undertaking research.

The overall aim of the programme is to prepare professionals to meet the challenge of working in a changing educational landscape at various levels (classroom based, management and leadership, policy making) and across different sectors. It will enable them to develop and deepen firstly, their critical understanding of a range of contemporary issues in education from a multidisciplinary perspective within Irish, European and Global contexts and secondly, their capabilities in undertaking research.

Course Content and Structure

Summary of the Programme

The D.Ed. is a part-time programme designed to fit with the increasing demand for this mode of study. Students will normally be expected to complete the programme over a four to five year period after having successfully undertaken 8 taught modules and the thesis which will have a maximum length of between 70,000 to 80,000 words. A detailed timetable can be found at the end of this document.

On entry to the programme (Year 1) students will be allocated their supervisor so as to enable work to begin on developing their research proposal in more detail as well as attending the first three taught modules: one core and two in research methods. The second year of the programme will operate as a continuation of the first by deepening and strengthening the students’ understanding and knowledge in research methodology and their specialist area. Students will also take two further core module and one more research methods modules.

At or near the end of the second year, students will be required to undertake an assessment in the form of an upgrade before they can progress onto the third year of the programme. The upgrade takes the form a seminar in which the student is asked to present the research proposal that will form the basis of their thesis work. This is similar to regulations for students who are studying for a PhD. Having successfully negotiated the upgrade and the taught components of the programme, the student will then progress onto undertaking their substantive research work. This should normally take two to three years part-time. In addition, during Year 3 students will be required to undertake two further ‘advanced’ research methods modules which will focus on data analysis and interpretation. These modules are compulsory but unassessed and will help guide and support them through their thesis work. 

Programme Aims and Learning Outcomes

In terms of scope the D.Ed. aims to:

• enhance and deepen professional knowledge and understanding of domain specific educational issues;
• develop expertise in and a critical understanding of the nature, design and undertaking of empirical and non-empirical educational research;
• produce an original study which demonstrates the ability to conceptualise, design and undertake educational research at a doctoral level;
• enable students to work autonomously and collaboratively in professional or equivalent environments and;
• make an original contribution to knowledge.

More specifically it is expected that on completion of the programme graduates should be able to:

• demonstrate the ability to explore and critically consider different modes and approaches to investigating specific research question(s);
• be able to critically set the research question(s) within the context of previous research and knowledge;
• be able to plan, organise and manage research projects;
• be capable of constructing and presenting (orally, visually and/or textually in different contexts) research findings and outcomes;
• be able to collect, manage and critically evaluate primary and secondary data;
• be capable of undertaking both numeric and non-numeric forms of research;
• use ICT for a range of different purposes e.g. data management & storage, data analysis, literature searches, presentation of findings etc.

Teaching and Learning Methods

The teaching and methods used within the modules will be a mixture of seminars, workshops and student-led presentations. These non-didactic modes of teaching and learning are in themselves a reflection of the programme’s philosophy, whereby students and course tutors are engaged in an on-going critical dialogue with one another. Beyond the group sessions, there is also the student’s supervision time, which particularly at the early stages of the programme, will be linked to the content of the taught modules. Each module has a total of 30 hours contact time and 170 hours non-contact time which should be used for reading, seminar preparation and so on. Teaching will normally take place on late Friday afternoon and early evening and Saturday mornings. This will occur over 9 weekends distributed over the Trinity academic year.

Taught Modules

The programme contains eight modules, six of which are presented during the first three years. Although a large proportion of the student’s development of research skills and understanding normally occurs in conjunction with their supervisor (due to their own knowledge domain specific methodologies), the modules are designed to provide a consistent and transparent grounding across an array of areas. In addition, the modules are designed to function iteratively whereby the taught and research components are interlinked. As such research will become part of the core modules through the assessment process and collaborative projects.

Assessment

Assessment of six of the eight modules will take the form of written assignments (or equivalent) of between 5000-5500 words. The two advanced modules in research methodology that will be taken in Year 3, will not be assessed at the end of the modules in a written form, but as presentations linking into the final thesis submission. It is expected that in most cases students will gain an overall average of at least 60% across the five modules in order to progress to the upgrade stage of the programme.

The function of the upgrade is to ensure that the student has progressed to a sufficient level to begin to undertake the substantive research work. The upgrade session will be structured as a form of oral examination with the student required to present to a panel their research proposal. It is intended to be both summative and formative process.

The Thesis

The thesis will comprise of a piece of research of no more than 80,000 words in length. The scope, content and final presentation of the thesis will be a matter of negotiation between the student and her/his supervisors. The examination of the thesis will be undertaken in exactly the same manner as a PhD that is as a viva voce in the presence of an internal and external examiner.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirements are:

• an appropriate Master’s level qualification or equivalent and;
• a minimum of three years experience in an educational or related context.

In addition to holding an appropriate Master’s level qualification, the application process will also involve:

• the submission and approval of an outline research proposal that demonstrates the potential to work at doctoral level and;
• an interview with the course director and (potential) supervisor to discuss and evaluate the above proposal, as well as the applicant’s suitability and potential for study at a doctoral level.

Fees

The fee structure works on a sliding scale to reflecting the relative amounts of teaching on the programme. Currently the fees for the first three years are 4,700 Euro dropping to 4,200 Euro for the remainder of the programme.

Admission and Contact Information

For details regarding the next intake please contact the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin 2, Tel. 01 896 3583 or email phdresearch@tcd.ie

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