University College London (UCL)
Education (History) MA
London, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
5 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
The Education (History) MA program explores the development and evolution of educational ideas, policies, and practices over time. It offers students the chance to study historical perspectives on education in various contexts, including social, cultural, and political influences. The program encourages critical thinking about how education has shaped society and how historical knowledge can help illuminate current issues in education today.
Students will engage with a wide range of topics, from the history of educational institutions to debates about equality, access, and curriculum changes. The program typically includes lectures, seminars, and independent research, allowing students to deepen their understanding of specific areas within the history of education. Alongside academic study, there is a focus on developing analytical skills that can support careers in research, policy-making, and education management. Throughout, students are supported in applying historical insights to contemporary educational challenges, preparing them to think critically about the direction of future policies and practices.
UCL Scholarships
There are a number of scholarships available to postgraduate students, including our UCL Masters Bursary for UK students and our UCL Global Masters Scholarship for international students. You can click the link below to search via the scholarships finder for awards that you might be eligible for. Your academic department will also be able to provide you with more information about funding.
External Scholarships
Online aggregators like Postgraduate Studentships, Scholarship Search, Postgraduate Funding and International Financial Aid and College Scholarship Search contain information on a variety of external schemes.
If you have specific circumstances or ethnic or religious background it is worth searching for scholarships/bursaries/grants that relate to those things. Some schemes are very specific.
Funding for disabled students
Master's students who have a disability may be able to get extra funding for additional costs they incur to study.
Teaching and learning
Teaching on Education (History) MA takes place on a blended basis with the options to study (a) mostly face to face, (b) entirely online or (c) by a mixture of the two approaches.
Our pedagogy is based around discussion and debate which takes place face to face or online in seminars and tutorials, or online through discussion forums. We use a mixture of group seminars, group tutorials and individual tutorials to support student learning.
Students will have a dissertation supervisor to support them through the development, execution, and writing of their dissertation project. You can take part in these supervisions face-to-face and/or via distance learning. The module includes workshops, lectures, and seminars that provide a foundation in research skills and methods.
The programme is assessed through essays and a written dissertation. There are no examinations. Module essays involve critical engagement with specific area of history education - on the history elements of the programme - and of education, on the general educational modules. Students have considerable freedom to decide what aspects of history education or education to focus on in their assignments and this is particularly true of the dissertation element of the programme, chosen by the student from a range of areas covered within the module.
Formative assessment is provided by tutor feedback in tutorials and elsewhere and in comments on draft assignments.
Please note that the dissertation module listed below will change its name to 'Dissertation in Education with Integrated Research Methods' starting in 2025/26. This module supports students in undertaking an original, independent scholarly investigation in the field of education. Students often choose a dissertation topic relevant to their personal and professional interests, typically involving some fieldwork or empirical data collection.
Each 30-credit module has 300 nominal learning hours. This is made up of formal learning and teaching events such as lectures, seminars, tutorials as well independent study.
During term time you will be expected to study between 15-20 hours per module, per week, including personal time. Learning hours continue outside term and full-time study on the MA and would amount to 40 hours a week over 45 weeks.
Modules
Full-time
The programme consists of two compulsory modules (30 credits each), and two optional modules (30 credits each) and a dissertation (60 credits).
The modules that make up the Education (History) MA are:
- What is Education? (compulsory)
- Curriculum Research and Development in History (compulsory)
- Dissertation in Education with Integrated Research Methods (compulsory)
- Two optional modules
The programme can be studied full-time within one academic year. If you complete the programme full-time you will usually take two modules in the Autumn term and two in the Spring term. In Autumn term, you will complete ‘What is Education?’ (30 credits) and ‘Curriculum Research and Development in History’ (30 credits). During the year, you will also complete two optional modules and will work on your Dissertation in Education with Integrated Research Methods throughout the year in a chosen area of History Education.
You are free to select optional modules from the wider range of MA level modules offered across IOE/UCL subject to availability.
Part-time
The programme consists of two compulsory modules (30 credits each), and two optional modules (30 credits each) and a dissertation (60 credits).
The modules that make up the Education (History) MA are:
- What is Education? (compulsory)
- Curriculum Research and Development in History (compulsory)
- Dissertation in Education with Integrated Research Methods (compulsory)
- Two optional modules
The programme can be studied part-time within two years. If you complete the programme Part-time you will complete 90 credits (3 modules) in your two years of study. Typically, students take one module in each term of year 1. In year 2 of your studies, students will take one module (30 credits) and the Dissertation in Education with Integrated Research Methods (60 credits) in a chosen area of History Education.
You are free to select two optional modules from the wider range of MA level modules offered across IOE/UCL subject to availability.
Flexible
The programme consists of two compulsory modules (30 credits each), and two optional modules (30 credits each) and a dissertation (60 credits).
The modules that make up the Education (History) MA are:
- What is Education? (compulsory)
- Curriculum Research and Development in History (compulsory)
- Dissertation in Education with Integrated Research Methods (compulsory)
- Two optional modules
If you complete the programme on a flexible basis, you will have up to 5 years in which to complete the 5 modules (180 credits) needed for the MA award. It is up to you how you distribute these modules over your five years of study. You must remain enrolled throughout the five years, but you are free to decide whether or not to take modules in any particular term or year. Students studying on the flexible basis typically complete one (30 credits) or two (60 credits) modules per year and students typically complete in much less than five years.
You are free to select your optional modules from the wider range of MA level modules offered across IOE/UCL subject to availability.
Compulsory modules
- Curriculum Research and Development in History
- What is Education?
- Dissertation on Education
Optional modules
- Education and Identities: Citizenship, Rights, Narratives
- The Holocaust in the Curriculum
- Curriculum Development: Issues and Principles
- Assessment: Issues and Practice
- Educational Testing
- Curriculum, Policy and Practice
- Global Learning: Principles and Theoretical Perspectives
- Transforming the Geography Curriculum
- Understanding Mathematics Education
- Mathematics for Teachers
- Supporting Learners and Learning
- Feminist approaches to knowledge and pedagogy
- Independent Study
- Developing Mentoring Practices
- Action Research
- Teaching Controversial Issues
- Education for Sustainable Development: Perspectives from Policy and Practice
- Educating Teachers
- Professional agency and teacher activism
- Multilingual Perspectives on Education (MPE)
- Teacher as Author: Curriculum Design and Development
- East Asian Philosophies of Education (EAPE)
- The Future of Education
- Communicating Knowledge: Possibilities and Opportunities
Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MA in Education (History).
What this course will give you
The Education (History) MA Is located in the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, a world-leading centre for subject-specialist education. By studying this programme, you will have the opportunity to reflect on practice in history education and, through assignments focused on contemporary subject-specific teaching and learning, you will have opportunities to develop and evaluate interventions to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in history in educational settings and related contexts.
You will be encouraged to read widely in specialist literature and be introduced to world-leading theory and research in history education and in education studies more broadly. You will be encouraged to innovate and test ideas and to contribute to ongoing discussions about improving history education.
Our programme offers you the opportunity to study face-to-face, to combine online study with face-to-face sessions, or to pursue your studies entirely by online learning. Online learning and blended learning provide access to our courses if you are studying at a distance.
With this programme, it may be possible to reduce the cost of studying to two-thirds of the total if you already have PGCE Master’s credits. This is valid for up to 5 years after the completion of your PGCE.
The foundation of your career
Graduates of this programme are currently working across a broad range of areas. Some are working as teachers, senior leaders in schools in the UK and internationally, while others work in a range of other educational settings and for governments in curriculum design and related areas.
Employability
The programme develops your ability to think critically and analytically about theory and practice in educational settings and your ability to organise and evaluate empirical and theoretical claims and arguments about educational aims and practices. You will learn to organise, evaluate and present data and argument in robust and critically informed ways and to read, design, conduct and evaluate educational research, taking account of relevant practical, theoretical and ethical issues.
Networking
Your experiences on the course will involve mixing with the large number of students completing post graduate courses at UCL. In addition, you will work with a range of lecturers, guest lecturers and visiting academics. The Education (History) MA also involves sessions with the latest cohort of student teachers who are training to be history teachers in the UK.