MPhil in Education (Critical Approaches to Children's Literature)

This thematic route concentrates on a wide range of writing for children, including the "classics", texts for very young readers, international literature and literature for young adults. Close textual study and the history of children's literature are embedded within the route, on which students will also be expected to engage with some of the key debates in the field and to consider a range of theoretical perspectives – from Romanticism to reader-response theory; gender issues to posthumanism; historical studies to new historicism; sociocultural viewpoints to semiotics – as well as examining critically views of young readers and their reading choices.

The course is organised to include four modules: Texts, Contexts and Childhood; Perspectives on Children's Literature; Visual Texts; and Texts and Readers. It is assessed through two essays and a dissertation, each designed to be personally rewarding as well as professionally enlightening and intellectually challenging.

The main educational aims are:

• to examine the theoretical frameworks used in the study of education and its constituent disciplines;
• provide training in research methods appropriate to education;
• advance students’ capacity for professional reflection and judgement;
• cater to a range of specialists interested within the field of education or one of its constituent disciplines.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the programme, students will have:

• a comprehensive understanding of research techniques, and a thorough knowledge of the literature applicable to their specific educational domain;
• demonstrated originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in their field;
• shown abilities in the critical evaluation of current research and research techniques and methodologies;
• demonstrated self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and acted autonomously in the planning and implementation of research.

Continuing

Continuation to the PhD from Masters programmes within the Faculty of Education is not automatic, and students wishing to do so must submit a PhD application by the usual deadline.

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